The performance of boys vs. girls in academics has been a hot topic for debate recently.
The fact is that we are starting to find that boys are lagging when it comes to college/university admissions and performance at the public school level — which is necessary to get into college, to further your education, and enjoy an intellectually and financially prosperous career.
We all know that, when looking at averages, women are not smarter than men are, nor are men smarter than women. Yes, men and women each have their strong points as separate genders, but even then, the difference is VERY marginal at best. So, there is now the question of motivating the boys at school and ensuring that they have the "tools" necessary to be able to succeed at the highest levels of education and ensuring that the growth of the disparity between boys and girls at the post-secondary level is curbed so that equality can be attained and maintained.
The facts are here: http://www.prb.org/Articles/2007/CrossoverinFemaleMaleCollegeEnrollmentRates.aspx
Yes, they also speak of women "leading in college but not in the workforce." But, the fact is that this trend will not only reverse itself, but will favour women more and more in the years to come if men do not even get the chance in the first place to attend college, and then get the jobs which they want?
From YOUR personal experience, what is the reason for this gap? From what you have seen at school, are boys just not trying hard enough, or are teachers (male and female) and the school system in general just biased towards girls now, as a result of pressures from the ongoing feminist movements? What can parents and school officials do as individuals (for as long as there won’t be any formal programs put into place to incite boys to start closing that gap, given that nobody thinks that there is a problem right now) to ensure that this gap is closed, hence assuring that BOTH talented men and women obtain the chance to enter college or university to pursue their dreams?
Thanks.
Beep, I’m pretty sure that the number of seats available in college remains FAIRLY constant over time, meaning that the statistic is reasonably valid.
That is, men and women are competing for the same number of seats in college every year.
I haven’t heard of programs which will help the universities increase the number of seats, nor have I heard of any concentrated efforts to do so.
So, I’m assuming that it’s the men who are starting to "luck out" here.
I think it has to do with peer perception. It is perfectly "cool" and even expected for a girl to do well in classes. She will be praised by the teachers but also fellow students. A woman valedictorian is normal and seen as "cool." Boys, however, are expected to put their energies into activities outside of class and school. They’re more valued by their peers, and even sometimes their parents and teachers, in sports or outdoor activities. A boy who dedicated all his time to his study is seen as less "cool," less interesting, and more of a nerd (as well as stereotyped as a virgin or social-inept geek). You have but to look at movies to see this trend. Good looking hot guy is on the football team, smart kid is a geek with glasses, allergies, and pasty and weak. Its as if equating mental intelligence with physical weakness.
Recently I believe there was a study that showed when fathers attended PTA meetings as much or more than their sons’ sports events, the son was more likely to do better in classes. The reason being is that the father showed he valued his sons academic career just as much or more than his sports activities.
I think if the perception of an intelligent high school boy was more like in Japan (where if a boy is top of his class, he’s all the more appealing to the girls around him), there would be less of a gap.
Girls, to the contrary, have no negative social stigma to doing well in schools and even receive a great deal of encouragement where as, it seems, boys are more encouraged to take part in sports.
February 20th, 2010 at 4:02 am
You know a statistic I want to see? Percent of males in college over time. I mean, are less males going to college, or is it just that there are more females now?
Don’t get me wrong- I think there’s a disparity in the educational system; but it strikes me as good to start from a statistical quantification as far as such numbers can take us before we start applying our assumptions.
Personally, I HATE college. And, yes, I’m in it. I’m the perma-student who has been around for more years than anyone knows, and I often now more than the professors who are supposed to be teaching my classes. But I’m doing it for the stack of degrees, so that I have general credibility so that, when I ask for funding for my AI project, I have evidence that, yes, I can do things that most people can’t. (Alternatively, I’ll make the damn money myself.)
But you know what I’ve hated from the beginning that only gets worse? The lack of free thought in experiments. I’m so tired of doing preconceived experiments! It drives me mad now to mix chemicals or dissect something, knowing exactly what I’m supposed to find and having to half-as$ an explanation for why it’s there, like what I did was meaningful.
I think people in general- perhaps more males?; I don’t know- would benefit from less structure and a greater demand for free thought.
References :
February 20th, 2010 at 4:29 am
When boys are sex segregated so they are taught in a way that suits their brain (rather than the way feminized brains are best taught.) they do as well as girls on the whole (although there are some definite differences, as in more males doing sports, maths, physics and computing and more females doing arts, languages e.t.c. This si down to pr oven differences between masculine and feminine brains. However not all men have masculinised brains and neither do all women, it is closer to 70% have a gender specific brain.
References :
February 20th, 2010 at 5:18 am
if i were you i would just worry about myself!
References :
February 20th, 2010 at 5:25 am
I am and have always been in favor of sex segregated class rooms, not schools.
Education is far too important to sacrifice on the altar of equality. Ask a real feminist! Education freedom was the only way women could get equality in professional and social life.
References :
February 20th, 2010 at 6:01 am
I think it has to do with peer perception. It is perfectly "cool" and even expected for a girl to do well in classes. She will be praised by the teachers but also fellow students. A woman valedictorian is normal and seen as "cool." Boys, however, are expected to put their energies into activities outside of class and school. They’re more valued by their peers, and even sometimes their parents and teachers, in sports or outdoor activities. A boy who dedicated all his time to his study is seen as less "cool," less interesting, and more of a nerd (as well as stereotyped as a virgin or social-inept geek). You have but to look at movies to see this trend. Good looking hot guy is on the football team, smart kid is a geek with glasses, allergies, and pasty and weak. Its as if equating mental intelligence with physical weakness.
Recently I believe there was a study that showed when fathers attended PTA meetings as much or more than their sons’ sports events, the son was more likely to do better in classes. The reason being is that the father showed he valued his sons academic career just as much or more than his sports activities.
I think if the perception of an intelligent high school boy was more like in Japan (where if a boy is top of his class, he’s all the more appealing to the girls around him), there would be less of a gap.
Girls, to the contrary, have no negative social stigma to doing well in schools and even receive a great deal of encouragement where as, it seems, boys are more encouraged to take part in sports.
References :
February 20th, 2010 at 6:33 am
I think a lot of blame should be placed on the shoulders of our society, which see clever men or hard working men as "nerds" or freaks. We place a lot of value on being "cool" and our expectations are far too low.
In my own circle, many of my friends sons are into drinking and experimenting with drugs. Their music and friends are more important than their studies. They’re aged about 15, and it seems to me as though the rot really sets in at this age.
I constantly tell my own daughters about the value of their education. They seem to be more focused on their goals. My daughters are 16 and 14.
I think that we glamorise the shallow vanities.
References :
February 20th, 2010 at 7:19 am
I live in Australia and go to a small private school (430 kids from pk-yr12 aka. whole school education), my year is one class of 20, I have been in the same class with the same people (mostly) for 11 years now (I’m in year 10). In my school experience it is the boys who couldn’t be stuffed to learn that let their team down. My class/year is fairly competitive when it comes to results: there are about 8 of us who battle for the top positions in each subject, most of the time only 3/8 are girls. The boys who are with the girls often couldn’t be bothered to do an assignment, don’t get it handed in on time or simply don’t put as much effort into in as the girls as a result they don’t win the top spot at the end of the year. (this is changing now because marks you get this year will effect you for the rest of your life)
I think that the gap starts when the kids are in their first years of school: the boys often mess around and don’t pay attention and as a result get left behind, it is the teachers’ responsibility to pull these kids in and get them to learn. However to do this they cannot be pulled away from the rest of the class to nurture just one child’s learning, from the first day of school we are taught ‘you have the right to learn’. these students taking the teacher away from the rest of the class are taking away that right.
I have found that male teachers are better at making ballance between helping the ratbags who need it and getting them back on track and looking after the rest of the classes intrests. Female teachers mostly get flustered and anoyed and have shouting fits etc, or just totally ignore the needs of the ratbags. Note: this is just a generalisation, there are great female teachers too.
References :