When journalist Peg Tyre wrote a cover story for Newsweek magazine in January 2006, the "boy crisis" was a relatively new topic. The response was astonishing, she said. Hundreds of parents dealing with the underachievement of their boys wrote or e-mailed her. And some feminists complained that the subject was part of a "backlash" against girls.

The investigator in Tyre wanted to know more about the story. With six months of research already under her belt, Newsweek agreed to give her a six-month leave to continue her research. The result was a book, The Trouble With Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Schools and What Parents and Educators Must Do. It became a bible for those concerned about what is happening with boys.

"What I saw after being in schools for a couple of years is boys lag behind in almost every measure," Tyre explained in a recent phone interview.

She will be in Santa Fe to offer a free talk about the issue today. The event is sponsored by the Santa Fe High School Parent Teacher Coalition, the Santa Fe Boys Newsletter, Santa Fe Public Schools and Monte del Sol Charter School.

In her book, Tyre reports that boys are more likely than girls to have behavioral problems, more likely to get detention and less likely to do homework. She found that there were 2.5 million more girls than boys attending college in the United States.

"That's a number that grows by 100,000 every year," Tyre added.

This trend needs to be addressed because it has the potential to affect society, she said.

"Educational attainment is a huge lever to change culture, so when you see a split between any group — whether it's racial or genderwise — you know it's going to have an impact on the culture," Tyre said.

She cited the example of how the G.I. Bill affected society.

"We know the G.I. Bill gave a whole generation of working-class men (the chance to go to) college," Tyre explained. "We know what that did for America. It basically created a solid middle class in this country."

Tyre said one of the main causes of this underachievement in boys is that over the last 15 years, schools have started to focus on academics at an earlier age, which has "created a narrowing of the curriculum and a focus on standardized testing." As a result, recess times and physical education have been reduced — and in some cases cut all together — which has hit little boys the hardest.

"Everybody needs to move around, but people who move around the most are overwhelmingly little boys," Tyre said.

Tyre said she hopes her book will help parents, teachers and policy makers help come up with solutions.

"My goal was to create a document for parents and teachers, so if you have a problem with boys in schools, you can use my book as a source of information and a good source of research and data," Tyre said.

Tyre has continued to report stories on the subject including a piece for Newsweek last September ("Struggling School-Age Boys") about a new National Center for Health Statistics report on the emotional and behavioral problems of boys.

Marcelle Grant, president the Santa Fe High PTC, said she notices the trend here in Santa Fe, which is why the talk is important.

"We're trying to bring awareness about these issues to the community," Grant said.

Grant says Tyre's book presents facts and does not place blame.

"One of the things I think is great about her book is that she's not blaming anybody," Grant said. "She's saying, 'Here are the statistics; here is the data. There is a problem here.' "

Grant hopes parents who see their sons facing this issue can come together.

"Parenting can be a very lonely experience," Grant said. "If you are the mother of a kid who is having trouble, you don't really talk about it. ... We're hoping that this shows them that there are issues and encourages people to talk about them."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Talk by journalist Peg Tyre, author of The Trouble With Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Schools and What Parents and Educators Must Do

When: 7 p.m. today

Where: Educational Services Building, 610 Alta Vista St.

Cost: Free

Information: Visit www.pegtyre.com