1. Start with how they are, not how you would wish it to be. Maybe the class of kids with no fathers could motivate and encourage each other. They could form study groups, and have some healthy rivalry to try to keep up with or move ahead of each other. They do it on the basketball court, in a sense. They could also do it academically. At my kids’ school, the motivated kids are a good peer influence on each other, although I admit that it is not as strong an influence as their motivated parents.
2. Young men need to start to have some pride in their future as fathers, as respectable men, and make decisions about sex, marriage and parenthood accordingly. They need to pick women who, like them, have accepted “the mission” of making the raising of their family the main goal of their lives. There was a book awhile back about “the mission”. It seems that the author established that it wasn’t whether you were rich or poor that made a difference in your kids. It was whether the parents were dedicated to “the mission.”
Interesting question. Part of my job is to help kids get back on track when they are having difficulty. Many times people don’t see the reason why they should bother doing the heavy lifting and the hard work when they can have everything provided for them without having to do so.