<p>NBC News with Brian Williams is doing a series tonight on the difficulty girls are facing today in the admissions process. The trailer hinted that it will discuss and explore the rising trend of admissions being slanted toward boys, and how there are more girls in the pool & on college campuses, etc. Sounds very interesting and timely.</p>
<p>Thanks for reminding us of this.</p>
<p>Did the series start on Monday or is it starting this evening? I just saw the commercial this morning. Hope I haven’t missed any of it!</p>
<p>Yesterday there was another report about education issues; that one was on single-sex K-12 classrooms in public schools.</p>
<p>As a dyed-in-the-wool feminist and mother of a boy, I have to say that K-12 schooling generally favors girls nowadays. (Definitely <em>not</em> the case when I was in school, back in the dark ages, but things have changed.) Girls–grossly generalizing, I know-- are more inclined to be compliant, follow directions, like working cooperatively, enjoy crafts/art components of projects, be able to sit still for long periods, talk about feelings, communicate on a personal level with teachers, and so forth. (I would not discount the possibility that rebellious girls who do not conform to these expectations are viewed even more dimly than boys who don’t conform.) Since schools generally reward girls more than boys, it is not surprising that there is a more of a competitive crunch for them in college admissions.</p>
<p>The declining performance of males in K-12 is disturbing. In our country, we are developing a culture that tells our youth that school and good grades are for girls, while athletics is for boys. There is tremenous pressure on HS boys to be mediocre. I know our sons were chided by other boys as being “sissy” and “gay” for striving to get good grades…even though they were all-district athletes and generally dated the prettiest girls in their grades.</p>
<p>Our oldest S was valedictorian last year, the first male val at our HS in many years. In fact both val and sal were male last year, and nobody remembers the last time that happened. Nevertheless, 80% of the honor grads in that class were female. </p>
<p>It’s even more pronounced with our younger son, who is at the top of his HS junior class. He is one of only two males in the top 5% of the class (of 300+). Year before that, he was the only male.</p>
<p>There are many possible explanations…over-emphasis on athletics for boys; the fact that most teachers are female; the reluctance of many fathers to make time for academic functions, while never missing games; the explosive growth of video games and online gaming, etc. But, it’s a reality.</p>
<p>I never thought I’d see the day when colleges would begin giving white males a “boost” in the admissions process. Wow!</p>
<p>Says it airs tonight–</p>
<p>College: getting inPosted: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 11:59 AM by Barbara Raab</p>
<p>By Savannah Guthrie, NBC News correspondent</p>
<p>Should it be easier for boys than girls to get into college? The simple answer, of course, is no. But as we prepared the third installment of our series, “The Truth About Boys and Girls,” we learned that nothing is simple when it comes to the college admissions process. </p>
<p>The story starts with some good news: girls are shining academically. Girls have done so well, in fact, they now represent the majority of the student body on many campuses nationwide. </p>
<p>But all that success has led to some unintended consequences. At certain schools - particularly, liberal arts colleges overloaded with female applicants - the only way admissions offices can keep a gender-balanced student body is to admit a greater percentage of boys and reject more girls. That means better qualified girls are sometimes turned away just to increase male enrollment. An admissions dean from Kenyon College caused a firestorm in the academic world for acknowledging as much in a New York Times op-ed entitled, “To All The Girls I’ve Rejected.”</p>
<p>On the other hand, many schools point out that a diverse student body - whether it’s by race, gender, or geography - is a legitimate goal for colleges. </p>
<p>“As far as I’m concerned,” one admissions officer told us, “not only is there not anything wrong with that, but we ought to be doing that, because we are all about building a community here.”</p>
<p>By the way, during our encounter with high school senior Courtney Duffy, we came across her charming - if unorthodox - college admissions essay. Her chosen topic: why she loves milk. You may be wondering what milk has to do with getting into college. So were we. Click here to see Courtney explain it, and here to read the essay that got her admitted to her first-choice school, Trinity College in Connecticut.</p>
<p>Editor’s note: Savannah Guthrie’s report airs tonight on the broadcast.</p>
<p>Girls are the new Asians? I guess it would be hard to make applications gender-optional; all the supporting material would use pronouns.</p>
<p>Part of the reason we decided to homeschool our kids was due to the focus on the girls in the classroom. In fact, before kindergarten began for my son, the teacher actually told me, “Well, until middle school, we just try to corral the boys,not actually teach them.” </p>
<p>I feel the biggest problem in schools is that the entire system is set up for “crafty” and “co-operative” girls. When our children were young, they had 1-2 full HOURS of outside activity, almost always highly aerobic exercise, before they came inside to learn the 3 R’s. Then, after their school work, it was time for the park, or damming up the backyard creek, or bike riding, etc. Lots of exercise - that seems to be a key for boys (at least boys who live here!).</p>
<p>Here is the daily schedule of my next-door neighbor’s 8 year old boy-girl twins:</p>
<p>bus arrives: 6:50 a.m. (for 8 year olds!! They get up at 5:30 and go to bed at 7:15)
School starts: 7:30
“Seat Work” (worksheets, etc) until 8
Reading, Math, etc. till 11
11-11:20 - lunch
11:20-11:35 recess (usually inside Nov- April)
11:35-2:15 afternoon classes - music, art, social studies
3:15 arrive home
3:15-4:30 homework, piano
evening: sometimes soccer, brownies, cub scouts</p>
<p>Girl: Straight A’s in 3rd grade. Boy: held back in first grade, put on Ritalin. HATES everything about school.</p>
<p>In mid-winter, these kids are never even outside in full daylight!!!</p>
<p>Momof3teens: Can you post the link for Courtney’s essay? It didn’t work when you copied the whole article. Thanks. </p>
<p>(For now, we’ll call it The Missing Link. :))</p>
<p>Sounds like another media story blowing something out of proportion, creating its own news. </p>
<p>I would agree girls benefit in the earlier school years now and that colleges have to seek a balance so girls may be disadvantaged number-wise in some places. </p>
<p>But having said that, it’s also mostly going to be media hype here. We are talking about at the margins at some schools in some majors. The reverse is probably true (girls favored over boys) in other schools or other majors (e.g. CalTech, CMU, MIT). But I will bet that won’t be part of the story. </p>
<p>Moreover, given that schools seek balance and diversity, the more you are part of <em>any</em> larger rather than small pool of any kind that matters (ethnic, region, major, ECs), you might have a statistical disadvantage. But again, at the end of the day, how much does it really make a difference to one individual.</p>
<p>The numbers are out there and they are striking at some schools and not so much at others. It’s worth looking at closely. Despite the hype there are schools which still admit a higher percentage of female applicants despite having greater than 50% female students.</p>
<p>Here’s the link to the essay:
[How</a> do I love milk? Let me count the ways… - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com](<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22683943]How”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22683943)</p>
<p>That was a lovely and original essay! I’d say she wrote it herself!</p>
<p><a href=“I%20would%20not%20discount%20the%20possibility%20that%20rebellious%20girls%20who%20do%20not%20conform%20to%20these%20expectations%20are%20viewed%20even%20more%20dimly%20than%20boys%20who%20don’t%20conform.”>quote</a>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Though not rebellious, my D’s are divergent, independent thinkers and do not conform to the usual expectations teachers have for girls’ learning styles and preferences.</p>
<p>I can definitely vouch for the fact that this noncomformity is viewed rather dimly… but, only by female teachers - male teachers tend to regard my D’s rather highly.</p>
<p>I think boys like competitive grading way more than girls; in some elementary schools it is all stars and smilies and glitter and everyone is special so boys do well later on.</p>
<p>Both my son and daughter were very good and motivated students all through school, but I must agree with post #16 above in regard to competiion, at least as far as my kids are concerned. My son was very sport-oriented and his highly competitive attitude carried over into schoolwork. He would be thrilled if he could say that he earned the highest grade by far of anyone in his class on a difficult test. My daughter’s attitude was 100% opposite. She would come home and say, "I am so happy because we had a really hard test and almost everyone in the class got an A 
"</p>
<p>So much for those of us of a certain age (over 40) who believed, when we were in our 20s, that there were really no innate substantial differences between males and females and that most of the differences that existed could be attributed to enculturation. 
As the mom of two amazing girls, I KNOW that there are (in general) vast differences between the natures of females and males. But, as they say, viva la difference!</p>
<p>I disagree- from personal experience, I would say that the girls I have know have been every bit as competitive as the guys, even back in elementary school.</p>
<p>EDIT: Xposted with above- this was in response to #16 and #17.</p>
<p>Well, that was a short segment. I disagree with the statement that “we are rewarding boys for underperformance”. I feel that one could say that about some of the URMs who are admitted with lower stats too. LACs need to build a diverse campus. If someone from Nebraska applies to the University of Delaware, they might also be at an advantage a student applying from NJ. Many of the female seniors I know do not want to attend a school that is 70% female. It does effect who will decide to attend.</p>