<p>Our house bears many scars from the contact sports. I am not saying that all boys fit the stereotype, but when you have a crew that is just hopping with those Y chromosome, you cannot help but notice the difference between the sexes. My brother is getting his lesson late in life with a two year old son after what he thought was an active daughter. He cannot believe what a destructacon the kid is. And he is very, very normal. Am hoping that my youngest is a bit more controlled. My oldest ones were truly the typical male hellions.</p>
<p>cuz guyz are more likely to pick up a trade instead (plumber, electrician, etc)</p>
<p>The arguments re: interests (e.g., in the trades), the military, etc don’t ring true because they’ve ALWAYS been there. The question, as others point out, is: What’s different now? Demographics (e.g., older women going to school) may certainly contribute to the overall disparity. But it doesn’t answer the question re: what’s happening at good LAC’s. In a thread last winter, it became clear that places as high up on the food chain as Wesleyan were using less stringent admit criteria for males. So it’s puzzling. On the other hand, the notion that boys are somehow getting a bad deal in middle and high school just doesn’t make sense to me. As a college prof, I see the same-old, same-old dynamic in my classes: Males (though fewer in number) still dominate class discussions.</p>
<p>What’s different now? I think it’s finally socially acceptable and/or expected for girls to go to college. </p>
<p>When I graduated high school in 1982, there were still girls around me who were raised to think their role was in the home. According to their upbringing, they didn’t need a degree. Shocking, I know, but it was still happening in the post-womens-lib decade. (And this was progressive, affluent, educated, Montgomery County, Maryland. If such a mindset still existed there, it must have been more common in areas even slower to “catch up with the times.”)</p>
<p>Fast forward to now. My contemparies know ALL their children need degrees, not just the boys. So, they’re encouraging the daughters to go to college. And they’re going. </p>
<p>When you consider this social change in combination with trade schools, military, and the pure fact that girls simply outnumber boys, I think it’s easy to see why boys are the minority on campuses.</p>
<p>more men drop out of high school. also, more men are in the military or in jail.</p>
<p>Lots of these ^^ = good reasons. And when it comes to high school underperformance (a huge problem in almost all of the h.s. boys I encounter in my work), it is often very much related to the lack of goals. Guys perform when they see a direct, concrete purpose; they tend to be very, very goal-driven. In my job it is very difficult to convince them that it is valuable to get a 4-year degree even <em>if</em> they choose a trade. (More options) That’s even when their teachers encourage them in that direction, explicitly tell them they’re college material, etc. </p>
<p>So (1) unless it’s a very education-oriented family, they can have trouble seeing the pertinence of high school <em>subjects</em> to life/career, (2) they fail to see the value of a 4-year general degree that is not specific enough to a single career & likely to earn immediate money.</p>
<p>There are a lot of wins for a girl to attend college vs not to attend.
- The pool of eligible males is high, even though the ratio of B/G is bad.
- The selection of eligible males is high. Geeks to freaks, Muscle man to mouse.
- Get a college education and trade.
- Network with peer group (girls).
- Open more options.
- Play the field in a friendly environment.
7, Some familiarity before date or try before increased level of commitments. - Cheap to date.
9+ etc. </p>
<p>For males, the situation is slightly different in that the know that getting a date is not all that difficult if you only want a date.</p>
<p>Cadbury, if you look at the numbers, the rate of college attendance for both men and women has been increasing steadily for a long time. It’s just that, for women, the increase has been much steeper, and from a lower starting point, so that it’s much more noticeable. So the answer to “what’s changed for boys?” is mixed: There are fewer good jobs around that don’t require at least some college as a practical matter, but still a lot more for men than for women. And the military and prison populations soak up excess men, and more men operate in the underground economy – just as in the past.</p>
<p>Mom of two sons and a daughter here. The education being provided in our schools favors girls. Few teachers (female dominated profession) understand how to motivate boys and mixed classrooms complicate things futher. Personally I’d like to see the sexes separated and different learning styles employed for the boys. I bet there would be a big difference in outcomes.</p>
<p>I’m not convinced we’ve hit on the “real” answer(s) yet. Teachers in elementary , middle and HS have ALWAYS been predominantly female. Most schools have ALWAYS had both males and females in their classes. Males and females have ALWAYS had to read and sit quietly in their classes. As I said earlier, I haven’t seen much (or even any!) evidence that the guys in my classes have been feeling inhibited or disadvantaged in their education. Quite the contrary! Males have ALWAYS been more attracted to the trades, the military, etc. The over-riding message for many years has been that virtually EVERYONE (male and female) needs a college degree. So what’s different? </p>
<p>The world is a multi-determined place. I suspect several factors including simple demographics are in play. But I can’t help but feel that it’s more than these things. I think it’s possible that there may be a cultural sea change of huge proportions that we can’t quite put our finger on yet. Does anyone know someone who is studying this issue in a systematic fashion?</p>
<p>Yep. Agree (as a long-time teacher) with post 29. It’s absolutely my observation as well. This is the second reason why single-sex learning environments (combined with dual-sex social environments) make a lot of sense. They are successful both for boys & for girls.</p>
<p>I also agree with post 29. Now that girls are more encouraged to seek higher education, the current failure of the system to help boys is more obvious. Boys used to do better because, well, girls weren’t motivated to do well at all. Now that they are as driven as boys, the boys are behind because the system is inherently attuned to female learning styles. Boys are getting lost in the push for girls.</p>
<p>With all due respect…I’d like to see some evidence (versus anecdotes) regarding the assertion that the system is failing boys and that “schools are attuned to female learning styles”. Does anyone have a citation that offers data, versus simply an anecdotal or emotional argument, on this issue?</p>
<p>I know Newsweek ran a cover story about our educational systems failing boys . . . about a year or two ago.<br>
I’m a parent of 2 sons and I see how graduation requirements have gotten more and more complicated – and testing is “fussier”. If you are asked “Susan has two apples and Donna has two pears, how many pieces of fruit are there?” You can’t just answer “4”. You are supposed to write out "Two apples plus two pears equals four pieces of fruit. " Time and again I see my brilliant sons get the right answer but be knocked down on points for sloppy handwriting or incomplete sentences. After awhile, many (emotionally honest) young men say “SCRXX IT” and leave school.</p>
<p>Many males just need a bit longer to get their act together in the neatness and completeness categories. But, man, under today’s society, you have to be neat and complete NOW to have a shot at being accepted into a quality school. No wonder so many young men choose not to bother. </p>
<p>Citations: The Trouble with Boys by Peg Tyre. Newsweek January 30, 2006 also on MSNBC.com
See also these books “The Men they will become” and “Raising Cain”</p>
<p>[‘Stop</a> feminising our schools - our boys are suffering’ | Mail Online](<a href=“'Stop feminising our schools - our boys are suffering' | Daily Mail Online”>'Stop feminising our schools - our boys are suffering' | Daily Mail Online)</p>
<p>cadbury, I don’t have statistics to prove my thought that the current educational system is failing our boys while trying to raise the success for girls. The above article is interesting and may enlighten people to the experience of boys in school. I’ve had many discussions with my sons and their friends regarding their experiences in the classroom. The common feeling shared by the boys during our discussions was that they felt that they were indeed treated as “second class students” in the public school system. What bothered them the most was when teachers would ignore their questions while praising the girls for asking similar questions. Although the article talks about an experience in the UK, it’s very similar to what goes on in the public school system here.</p>
<p>[Are</a> Schools Failing Our Sons? Why Boys Are Struggling](<a href=“http://parentzone.babyzone.com/school/a2316/1]Are”>http://parentzone.babyzone.com/school/a2316/1)</p>
<p>Another interesting article.</p>
<p>Boys should have literature and writing classes with topics, assignments, and discussions that appeal to them. Boys need a kinesthetic learning environment. Their handwriting and art should not be viewed in the same light as their female student counterparts. Female teachers often have unrealistic expectations for boys.</p>
<p>Anecdotal, but as an example:
This year in my son’s French 1 class they had an assignment to create a local map. They were required to label the map in French. The teacher provided a list of what locations and labels were expected on the map. My son was in a group of four boys (the four boys in the class). Their map correctly identified all required locations and the labels were accurate. They were given a grade of C for, “lack of neatness” by the female teacher. There were very few grades that contributed to the point total for final grades and this map was worth 300 points. </p>
<p>In my sons 8th grade History class they were assigned to choose any topic on the Civil War and write about it. My son chose weaponry. He was marked down by his female teacher on the finished project (she approved his subject in advance) to a B because his essay was, “too technical.”</p>
<p>I do not know if my experience is typical but when I was high school, we had more men teachers then women. Now it seems to be the opposite…Men do have different teaching styles and expectations and I think boys have lost out as a result.</p>
<p>Most of the other factors already mentioned will factor more heavily into the percentages of females versus in college today, but here’s one that might also be at work/play in some families.</p>
<p>Boys seem to be considered “brilliant” more often than females within the same family (at least this is what I have both read and observed growing up in my neighborhood where almost all the families had at least one male and one female) and also more often were expected to take over the family run business, and between those two, grades and college education were not as stressed for the males as the females. In my own family, my parents never cared about my brother bringing home B’s or C’s or even got very concerned about his D in 12th grade English as he was always viewed (by those in the family <em>and</em> outside it) as brilliant and people all felt that he would do quite well in life no matter if he liked playing the academic game of teacher pleasing for grades or not (and they were right; he’s an eminent multi-millionaire today). Meanwhile, my parents viewed me (quite understandably and I think again realistically) as “slightly above average in intellect” and thus with me, they felt A’s were important starting 7th grade as was a college degree and graduate degree as I wasn’t going to be able to get by on brains (and Lord knows not beauty or personality or really any talent of any kind) alone.</p>
<p>My own child also showed a rather “different” brain and numerous talents (musical, visual, social, etc.) early in life and so I never felt formal education of any kind was necessarily going to be helpful to him and indeed have always questioned if his formal education to earn three degrees to date might not have lessened his creativity, drive to produce real things rather than merely conceptualize, etc. (and we can never know as there wasn’t a copy of him that didn’t go to college and graduate school).</p>
<p>So it could also be that parents of boys are less inclined in current times to urge male children to go to college compared to female children (again, I don’t know if this is the case, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me). A few generations ago, women were more expected by parents to get married and stay home to raise children (things my mother never expected me to do as she hadn’t done these herself and felt all women should have paid jobs) where now I have the feeling most parents would feel it foolish to raise a daughter to expect to marry and be supported financially by the husband.</p>
<p>[United</a> States - Age and Sex](<a href=“http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0101&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_]United”>http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0101&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_)</p>
<p>If I am reading that chart correctly, it’s not till age 50 that the females are really outnumbering the males in this country. In the 15 to 24 age range, males outnumber the females.</p>