Posted on 12/03/2005 8:39:34 AM PST by Daralundy
In the 1990s, I taught for six years at a small liberal arts college in Spokane, Wash. In my third year, I started noticing something that was happening right in front of me. There were more young women in my classes than young men, and on average, they were getting better grades than the guys. Many of the young men stared blankly at me as I lectured. They didn't take notes as well as the young women. They didn't seem to care as much about what I taught -- literature, writing and psychology. They were bright kids, but many of their faces said, "Sitting here, listening, staring at these words -- this is not really who I am."
That was a decade ago, but just last month, I spoke with an administrator at Howard University in the District. He told me that what I observed a decade ago has become one of the "biggest agenda items" at Howard. "We are having trouble recruiting and retaining male students," he said. "We are at about a 2-to-1 ratio, women to men."
Howard is not alone. Colleges and universities across the country are grappling with the case of the mysteriously vanishing male. Where men once dominated, they now make up no more than 43 percent of students at American institutions of higher learning, according to 2003 statistics, and this downward trend shows every sign of continuing unabated. If we don't reverse it soon, we will gradually diminish the male identity, and thus the productivity and the mission, of the next generation of young men, and all the ones that follow.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Actually it makes sense. Men have the ability to earn a living with their brains and with their brawn. Not all women have that option.
A young man can earn much more by doing construction and eventually could have his own company. A woman used to have the option of typing, making coffee and answering the phones. Those jobs have pretty much dried up.
The girl better go to college - unless of course she's a 'hottie' and some Freeper will marry her and support her.
Some of what this author says is true, but the other side of the coin is not that males are "floundering," but that colleges/universities are floundering!
IOW, higher education today, in the old way of sitting on your butt for four years in expensive classes, just doesn't make sense for a lot of aggressive, know-what-they-want to accomplish men. They may not know its name, but they recognize PC drivel when they see it and they run---as surely as they run from chick flicks (unless of course that's the price of being with The One They Love :-)).
Go-getters today can get a college education in many ways---part=time, online, etc.---all the while pursuing their lives, working, starting businesses, etc.
The primarly gloom and doom here is for the colleges, not men. Men are finding their way without jumping through the increasingly stupid and obsolete hoop of traditional sit-down, pay-up, bide-your-time college.
Some of what this author says is true, but the other side of the coin is not that males are "floundering," but that colleges/universities are floundering!
IOW, higher education today, in the old way of sitting on your butt for four years in expensive classes, just doesn't make sense for a lot of aggressive, know-what-they-want to accomplish men. They may not know its name, but they recognize PC drivel when they see it and they run---as surely as they run from chick flicks (unless of course that's the price of being with The One They Love :-)).
Go-getters today can get a college education in many ways---part=time, online, etc.---all the while pursuing their lives, working, starting businesses, etc.
The primarly gloom and doom here is for the colleges, not men. Men are finding their way without jumping through the increasingly stupid and obsolete hoop of traditional sit-down, pay-up, bide-your-time college.
Bingo!!!!
Our young men have been told and shown for decades that they're dumb, violent, sexist and as necessary as a bicycle for a fish.
Then, we wonder why our young men aren't much of anything.
Duh.
This exposes the flaw in the author's premise: going to college checks the block, but that's about it.
He was teaching "The effects of PMS on American Society 311"
It has been said that the problem with a college degree is that you end up working for someone who does not have one.
Absolutely! Do a job interview on someone who graduated from an Engineering school in say India or Korea. Ask them which humanities coursed they had to take - probably none.
They concentrate on the subjects that matter - math, physics, design, computer stuff. They may have taken a few technical writing courses, but generally they hammer them with heavy career oriented course work.
I have a degree in computer science. To get it I took algebra, trig, and 2 calculus courses, assembler, and two programming courses plus an elective for a total of 18 credits out of 120 required. The rest was crap - music appreciation, anthropology, creative writing etc. The classes were interesting in some regards but I can't think of one that contributed to my being able to perform in the I.T. department other than I can write fluffy reports.
So in spite of the comments from some that these liberal arts things are important to effective job performance I see no value in requiring them. Teach our youth how to be really good engineers like they do in Europe and Asia and we will see a resurgence in our technical advantage. Continue to require humanities (2 years worth!) and we will continue to see what we see today.
Just my thoughts.
You Rule, AlphaNerd Beakydoll.
The balance will tip to Asian men.
Awww geez... go on you... *blush* ;-)
I watched an engineer from Ukraine take the California Mechanical Engineering Professional Engineering exam. Its an 8 hour test.
He handed in his test after three hours. He passed.
I took the full eight hours and passed. I sweated the result.
He said it was ridiculously easy.
"Not a problem, then. You'll be working for the women who do find them valuable. The ones who can write a decent report or memo. The ones who have some idea of what makes folks tick when they make decisions. The ones who understand that literature pretty much covers every aspect of human behavior."
I don't care how well written someone is, if the content is sh*t! Look at the "well written articles" in NYT, and WP. Very well composed, but they say NOTHING. Then read some of the blogs posted by our fighting men and women. Misspellings, dangling participles, over use of gerunds, etc., but so rich in content.
It was not our superiority in literature that made us a super power.
The Oprahfication of our nation will be our downfall.
Well, I agree with your statement but not your conclusion. Writing skills are key to success in virtually any field, engineering and CS included. Also, learning how to write well is a form of mental discipline that broadens the mind wondrously.
And it's not that hard. We had a HS exchange student living with us last year. Of course, English was not his first language; so he started as a considerably below average writer. I worked with him for about a week on one ten page essay applying simple rules--no passive tense, short sentances etc.--back-and-forth many times. By the end of that week, he was a much better than average writer.
To reverse your statement, it doesn't matter if you have great ideas if you cannot communicate them.
Something like that happens in higher education...those with Ph.D.'s in academic subjects wind up working for those with Ed.D.'s in "higher education administration."
Howard University is named for General Oliver Otis Howard, head of the Freedmen's Bureau during Reconstruction and later involved in some of the Indian Wars. Dee Brown in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee describes him thusly: "straitlaced New Englander, graduate of West Point, hero of Gettysburg, loser of an arm in battle at Fair Oaks, Virginia..."
Not only was he a white male, but he probably voted Republican...
Right on fightnback!
Young men of today are fighting back in the same way you and I came out--by going out into the world and making a life for themselves. We did not need a Hillary Clinton and her suffocating village to see the world with our own eyes and make our own tracks. Anyone, today, who relies on the so-called pundits for reliable information about any matter after witnessing the MSM debacle over Katrina ain't going very far. Who are these self-appointed and probably delusional busy-bodies who think they and their cronies are needed by the next generation of independent, rational males to pave a way for their entry into the world?
The kids are attending local tech schools studying electronics, auto repair, basic structural engineering etc....
A much better choice IMHO.
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