KENNESAW - America has failed to assist boys as they deal with life challenges during their transition into young men, says H.E. "Doc" Holliday, Ph.D.

In a new self-published book titled, "Boys Transitioning from Athletic Aggression to Academic Affirmation," Holliday, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Kennesaw State University, identifies academic, emotional and physical issues he said many boys have had to navigate alone and outlines strategies to help them and the parents, guardians, educators and coaches in their lives.

"You think about the number of dropouts; we had over 1.2 million last year," said Holliday, who made history as the first black high school principal in the Cobb School District. "When you look at the economy, we can't afford to have young men dropping out of the school."

Boys can start veering off onto an undesirable path as early as the second-grade, said Holliday. And he said society must get to them early and not wait until junior high school before addressing their transition from one stage of life into another.

Holliday said boys need skills that will lead them well into the 21st century.

"We have outstanding athletic teams in the same building with miserably failing academic programs," he said. "If those same students can be successful in athletics, why can't we learn some lessons and transition some of those skill sets into teaching our kids in the academic realm?"

In the book, Holliday identifies what he refers to has "core values," that boys must learn to embrace. He lists 30 of them, which includes attaining a quality education, respecting women and authority, developing self-discipline, saving money and setting personal goals.

"Those are some of the things that we're not having constructive conversations with young men about," he said.

"I know a great deal of the problem is a lot of these boys don't have positive male role models. I know we have a lot of single parent families; a lot of good ladies are raising young boys. But, somewhere down the line they need to come in contact with a positive role model, a male, who can teach them some of these things."

Holliday said he wrote the book for students as well as adults. He said it's important that parents and guardians affiliate themselves with organizations that can help them raise their boys.

"We've been sitting back and allowing these things to happen," he said. "We need to step forward and at least try to make a positive impact and at least be a positive role model for some of these males who may not be your blood relation."

Holliday will be hosting his first booking signing from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday at his home at 932 Village Green in the Village at Barrett subdivision in Marietta. The public is invited.

For more information about the book, visit www.boys transitioning. com.