Where The Boys Aren't

Weekly Standard ^ | January 2, 2006 | Melana Zyla Vickers

[Daralundy]

Here's a thought that's unlikely to occur to twelfth--grade girls as their college acceptances begin to trickle in: After they get to campus in the fall, one in four of them will be mathematically unable to find a male peer to go out with.

At colleges across the country, 58 women will enroll as freshmen for every 42 men. And as the class of 2010 proceeds toward graduation, the male numbers will dwindle. Because more men than women drop out, the ratio after four years will be 60--40, according to projections by the Department of Education.

The problem isn't new-women bachelor's degree--earners first outstripped men in 1982. But the gap, which remained modest for some time, is widening. More and more girls are graduating from high school and following through on their college ambitions, while boys are failing to keep pace and, by some measures, losing ground.

Underperformance in education is no longer a problem confined to black males, Hispanic males, or even poor whites. In 2004, the nation's middle--income, white undergraduate population was 57 percent female. Even among white undergraduates with family incomes of $70,000 and higher, the balance tipped in 2000 to 52 percent female. And white boys are the only demographic group whose high school dropout rate has risen since 2000. Maine, a predominantly white state, is at 60--40 in college enrollment and is quickly reaching beyond it. There are now more female master's degree--earners than male, and in 10 years there will be more new female Ph.D.s, according to government projections. American colleges from Brown to Berkeley face a man shortage, and there's no end in sight.

[BullDog108]

That does it -- I'm goin' back to school!

[Mr. Bird]

American colleges from Brown to Berkeley face a man shortage

Well, those two in particular always did, in my opinion. But they made up for it with ugly women.

[yellowdoghunter]

This is a sad commentary of what the feminist have done to our society. We have whole generations of men who never learned how to be a man.

We will reap what we have allowed to be sown.

[digger48]

Maybe they're going about it the wrong way...

[RockinRight]

This was still somewhat true even in the 90s when I was in college...yet I had so much trouble getting dates...

[ASA Vet]

Don't Google this threads title at work.

[Dan(9698)]

Guys don't want to take Girly classes.

Guys also don't want to listen to Communist Indoctinators.

[digger48]

This might be part of the problem too...

[Rocky]

But how many of the women are math majors? See, I can ask that because I'm not president of an ivy league school.

[napscoordinator]

Not this post again!

[RebelBanker]

Don't Google this threads title at work.

LOL! I was thinking the same thing.

[Paul C. Jesup]

This is a sad commentary of what the feminist have done to our society. We have whole generations of men who never learned how to be a man.

How does taking a mandatory college anti-male politically correct course make you be a man?

[SQUID]

Looks like the male future will be staying home with the children, cleaning house, making dinner, shopping, riding my hog, hunting, fishing, the latest in PC games. Hey...Not a bad idea.

[nmh]

"It seems the education system is favoring quantity over quantitative skills. The result? American companies and research organizations that need to employ graduates in quantitative fields have to turn to foreigners. Already, an astounding 40 percent of all the master's degrees awarded by American institutions in science, engineering, and information technology go to foreign students, as do 45 percent of all Ph.D.s in those fields, according to a study of the gender gap in education by the Business Roundtable in Washington, D.C."

And it gets more interesting ...

[BostonianRightist]

Good, maybe the girls will have a harder time cheating on the guy they find.

Wow. Was that too spiteful?

[nmh]

"What is going on? Schools are not paying enough attention to the education of males. There's too little focus on the cognitive areas in which boys do well. Boys have more disciplinary problems, up to 10 percent are medicated for Attention Deficit Disorder, and they thrive less in a school environment that prizes what Brian A. Jacob of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government calls "noncognitive skills." These include the ability to pay attention in class, to work with others, to organize and keep track of homework, and to seek help from others. Where boys and girls score comparably on cognitive skills, boys get worse grades in the touchy--feely stuff. Perhaps not coincidentally, boys reportedly enjoy school less than girls do, and are less likely to perceive that their teachers support them, according to studies of Hispanic dropouts.

Harvard's Jacob is one of the few scholars to have studied the gender gap in higher education. His statistical analysis suggests it is boys' lack of skill in these noncognitive areas that is the principal cause of the gap. Other factors, which include young men choosing to go into the military or winding up in prison, account for only about one--sixth of the spread, according to his calculations."

Feminism has taken it's toll ... .

[Gay State Conservative]

Assuming that the male/female ratio among college age kids
in the general population is equal,is this trend due to affirmative action or is it genuinely due to the fact that the girls work harder and/or are smarter?