Degrees of Separation: Gender Gap Among College Graduates Has Educators Wondering Where the Men Are

Washington Post (Lead and Fair Use Only) ^ | June 25, 2002 | Michael A. Fletcher

[SBeck]

BALTIMORE -- As Morgan State University President Earl S. Richardson surveyed the sea of newly minted graduates at the school's 126th commencement last month, his joy was tempered by a question that has grown too conspicuous to ignore: Where are all the men?

Not only were the head of student government, the senior class president and 96 of Morgan's 141 honorstudents women, but so were two-thirds of the university's 860 graduates.

[SBeck]

I can think of several reasons for this depressing state of affairs:

• The divorce situation in the US. With a rate of about 50% and with the majority of the boys ending in their mother's custody there is no male role model around full time to teach the meaning of hard work, sacrifice and discipline.
• The lack of meaningful, fulfilling work. Years ago American men built things: railroads, automobiles, skyscrapers and the like. There was a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. Back then a college degree in the engineering, architecture and even the humanities meant something because men knew they could use the knowledge to conquer the physical world. Nowadays a college degree gets you the "opportunity" to push paper in a cubicle environment or worse yet peddle some insignificant product under the ruse of marketing. This is unfulfilling to most men.
• The emasculation of the Armed Forces. Yes we're still number one, but have you noticed that the traditional crucible for toughing up American men is made up of a core of 10% warriors and 90% "others" (don't get me started). Men who were unprepared for college going into the military came out and became top achievers in the academic environment because they understood the meaning of mission and always had a sense of urgency about their studies.

Feel free to add.

[evolved_rage]

Affirmative action.

How do they count transvestites and transsexuals?

[SBeck]

Toughening vice toughing
Take out the 'the' in front of engineering.

[SBeck]

Ping.

[BlessingInDisguise]

I'm a 22 year old college student who had yet to earn my Associate. I think it has mostly to do with that guys my age would rather be out screwing around than sitting in a classroom 'learning'. Not that you actually learn anything in school, but you know what I mean. I know several women with bachelors degrees who make less money than I do.

[RightResponse]

Let's see.. what comes after Title IX ?

[mad puppy]

Men are the last bunch you can legally bash without anyone defending them. We are told we are either too competative in everything we do, or not trying hard enough. When everyone gets a blue ribbon just for showing up, who wants to bother trying hard. When there is something to really win and we go after it and win, well, its because we have an unfair advantage. In this regard white guys are starting to follow the black guys of years ago. Let these super-smart, over achieving females figure out what is wrong with us. They probably already have a list.

[camle]

maybe they don't want to go where they ain't wanted?

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

"I don't understand what is happening in the male community that is making education seem less attractive and less compelling."

It probably has something to do with the special treatment that men are forced, by law, to give to women.

With women in the workplace, men have to be constantly paranoid of saying, doing, displaying, or thinking anything that can be remotely interpreted as sexual harassment or bias while women talk all day about how stupid and lazy men are. Men are forced to play slow-pitch softball while women can and do play hardball all the way.

In a corporate environment, any woman with a degree and a pulse is put on the promotion fastrack. Companies don't have a choice. Passing a woman over for promotion is automatically sexual discrimination. The ACLU and skiffy lawyers are just waiting to pounce. No CEO or supervisor (both of whom can be sued PERSONALLY) is going to risk that.

Women are allowed by law and required by their female peers to dominate and humiliate men in every arena: the home, the workplace, sports, education, the military. After working so hard to beat men down, now they wonder why so many men stay single and work trades where they don't have to put up with it. Now that the women have gotten 100% of what they want, they have the nerve to complain about the results.

[Republic If You Can Keep It]

For years now the NEA has imposed its liberal, feminist agenda on the nation's public grade & high schools.

"The War Against Boys" & other books have documented the constant favoritism of girls by teachers & school administrations, which takes numerous forms.

A girl can wear a tee-shirt saying "Girls Rule!".....but would a boy DARE to wear one saying "Boys Rule!" ?

There is "Take Your Daughter To Work Day", but usually no equivalent for sons. And the forced medicating of boys who supposedly have ADHD (i.e., they are behaving like boys)to make them behave "normally" (i.e., like girls).

It goes on & on. Is anyone surprised at this outcome?

[mo]

Bingo! Why go into all the debt for a liberal brainwashing posing as an education? Anybody with raw ability today can really get decent OJT-and with decent people skills that will take you a lot farther than a modern BS degree.

[ladylib]

Why would any self-respecting guy want to continue the inane insanity of his public high school years in college? Today's public schools, with their ritalin drugging, nazi-feminist teachers, wussy male administrators (no kickball, tag, going "bang, bang" with your fingers), extreme environmentalism, sensitivity training for guys who don't buy the homosexual agenda or are somewhat aggressive, etc., etc., makes any further education (more of the same, but you pay for it yourself) extremely unattractive.

[SBeck]

Bingo! Why go into all the debt for a liberal brainwashing posing as an education? Anybody with raw ability today can really get decent OJT-and with decent people skills that will take you a lot farther than a modern BS degree.

I beg to differ, without a degree, which is not only a prerequisite to success but a requirement, the average male will end up as one of those "men of quiet desperation".

True story, I was the supervisor of a brilliant coder. This gentleman had a depth of knowledge, ranging from HTML through SQL Database to XML that was unsurpassed in my shop. However, I could not promote him because he lacked a degree. My supervisor, a woman who I despise to this day, would under no conditions allow me to promote him because he lacked - her words - the proper credentials. Meanwhile, she informed me that her good-for-nothing niece, who also worked in my shop (don't get me started) was to be promoted at the earliest opportunity (the niece had a degree in graphic arts).

Trust me on this, you can succeed without a degree to a certain point, but you'll have an equal if not greater chance of being frustrated without one. The imbalance that exists in terms of this discussion is a dangerous precedent.

[EverOnward]

This situation does not surprise me. I raised two sons and battled the public schools whose teachers faulted the boys NOT their own awful teaching styles for the learning problems they tried to pin on my sons. I ended up homeschooling for several years. They both graduated from public high school. One graduated from college, the other will continue college this fall after he gets out of boot camp. The public schools teach in a learning style geared towards girls. Boys are more active and hands on. However, we live in a gender neutral society that refuses to acknowledge the learning styles of boys. Don't get me started...

[glory]

You are right about that. I am a female who did not finish my associates. I found college intolerable. Instead I perused the papers for oppurtunities(in the early 90's there was lot's of oppurtunity for anyone, including those without degrees willing to work hard and with an excellent level of customer service). I got hired as a broker trainee with a large brokerage, got my license, and was making nearly triple what I started at in 5 years time. I Know that at the bach. degree level anyway, I was making more than most of my friends who had them. And this isn't to denigrate a college education, just that forging a place for oneself can happen independent of it.

Anyway, after 5 yrs, I left after the birth of my 1st child. I just had no interest anymore in being in the workplace.

[dennisw]

Excellent analysis.

[luckystarmom]

You just got me going. My son just finished 2nd grade at a private Christian school. His teacher all year long kept saying that she thought he had ADD. When they had the standardized test, she wanted to give him accomodations during the test. I said no.

Well, he scored over 90% on the reading, spelling, and language portions of the test. His math sections were only 75%, but I blame that on the teacher. All year long my son said math was toooo easy. He wanted it to be harder, and I complained to the teacher.

My son is very bright, but he has a hard time with his fine motor skills. He was also a young 2nd grader. He could not keep up with the writing assignments. The other thing is that I think he got bored with writing. He wanted to learn about science with his hands. He is a very hands on learning.

I think his teacher was totally geared toward girls. Most of the parents of the boys in the class also agree.

We're actually going to public school this next year. If it doesn't work out, I may try homeschooling.

[captnorb]

It's a shame; Bill Gates would never have made in this environment.

[SBeck]

This may sound like a rebuke but it's not intended as such to you. Bill Gates is one guy, there are 100 million men in the U.S., please do not put one example (or two or 10 or 100 or 1000) against 100 million. That's like pointing at Tiger Woods and saying that anyone can do what he has accomplished in golf.

[Toast on a Stick]

As often as that 50% divorce rate number is thrown around, I sure would like to see some proof.