Posted on 12/28/2005 10:30:39 AM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
That's an interesting explanation.
Good for you! If traditional college (what I call four years of butt tax) doesn't get you where you want to go, it's a waste all the way around.
Yeah, people argue you need a college degree to make it in the workplace, but some people are BEYOND the workplace. They WANT to be outside that box, so the degree doesn't matter.
Plus, there are plenty of ways to be working on a degree while going ahead with your life. That's impressive in its own right and many employers like the looks of that kind of initiative. And the person doesn't start his first job with oodles of education debt hanging over his head.
I said it first: Most of college coursework today is like being forced to endure an EXTENDED CHICK FLICK.
You know that Budweiser daredevil guy who does stunts such as "listening to my girlfriend for 5 minutes"? That reminds me of what most college courses must be like for guys today. I mean, I couldn't sit through that crap and I AM a gurl!
The first time I saw a similar article I thought it was limited to primarily liberal arts schools. The thrust was that the men have sworn off plastic BA degrees and are gettting degrees that actually have a chance of landing them a job.
This article is in the Weekly Sstandard with no solid sources seems to be derivative of the earlier article but missing the point.
Did I miss something?
What may---and I emphasize, MAY---be happening (because I don't see any actual evidence yet) is that more men are just ignoring college and becoming entrepreneurs, which is usually the quickest route to wealth.
Years ago, however, George Gilder in "Men and Marriage" argued that "credentialism," which emphasized degrees, testing, certificates, etc., worked against males who tended to be performance, rather than test, oriented.
I'm telling you, for a smart, aggressive person who has a good head for business, the trades can be a goldmine.
Think of how often you've called, say, a bunch of painters and you were grateful if just one showed up to give an estimate. You end up thinking something like "I'd pay any amount of money if I could just find someone who would do this job promptly, honestly and well!"
There are people who understand this. They understand that it doesn't matter if you are selling lawn services, painting, floor installation, whatever. If you learn the trade skills AND put your mind to growing a successful business, people will beat a door to your path.
That would explain upper level ratios, where men had a chance to HEAR the "girly" instructors---but not the actual applications, where 12th graders had applied for the first time. Something else is at work there. It has to do with the higher test scores of girls over boys and national merit scholars/GPA kinds of things that usually have girls somewhat ahead coming out of 12th grade.
Well, I doubt that, but thank you.
In my college classes, because of the nature of courses I teach, I probably get a 65/35 male/female mix. Inevitably MOST of the boys do better than MOST of the girls---possibly because the subjects (business/economic and military history) are more "male" subjects, but inevitably I get 1-2 girls per semester who are at the very top of the classes.
As a college prof, I'd say that not only have the "useless" subjects proliferated, but even the so-called "traditional" courses have been heavily "feminized," not that they teach about "women's issues," but that the whole pedagogy is "discussion group"/feelings oriented, not fact-based.
I think what the world really needs is more people who are good at carrying on a discussion abjout applying queer theory to radical feminist poetry of the 1960's and how that differs from the patriarchical world-view of the oppressive and repressive white male power structure.
All within the context of Dada-ism and the game-theory socioeconomic underpinnings of "Brokeback Mountain."
Particularly in a post-colonial mode.
Tempting, isn't it?
In my college, there were 4.25 men for every woman.
In my college:
503 women
8 men
Since she'll be 50 this year, with no relationship in sight, that's pretty certain...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.