Hear Women Roar.
I’m no crazy feminist, but I’m happy to take a moment to revel in some woman glory.
Postsecondary Education Opportunity, which examines public policy on education, reported at a College Board forum this week that there are only 77 American men for every 100 American women enrolled in college. And for every 100 of those women who graduate with a bachelor’s degree, only 73 men do the same.
After my celebratory dance was over (after all, Affirmative Action was created to help women get equal access to colleges and universities along with African-Americans and other minorities), I became suspicious.
What?
More recently than many think, men were enrolling in colleges and universities at a much higher rate than women — and in certain fields, like engineering and science, they still do.
So what happened?
Experts at the forum, according to a blogpost on The New York Times blog “The Choice,” said there are several reasons for the gap: schools aren’t in touch with the hands-on learning style characteristic of boys; young male students, especially at-risk youth, don’t have positive male role models in or outside of school to encourage a college education, and the image of smart young men perpetuated by the media is one of socially awkward teens who go alone to the prom.
Another problem is the disappearance of jobs in industries like manufacturing, experts said, which leaves many young men without any guidance about where else to look for a career.
It’s an interesting issue — but I can only imagine the chaos that would ensue from a college announcing they were making an effort to admit more male students …
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