At colleges across the country, 58 women will enroll as freshmen for every 42 men. And as the class of 2010 proceeds toward graduation, the male numbers will dwindle. Because more men than women drop out, the ratio after four years will be 60--40, according to projections by the Department of Education.
The problem isn't new-women bachelor's degree--earners first outstripped men in 1982. But the gap, which remained modest for some time, is widening. More and more girls are graduating from high school and following through on their college ambitions, while boys are failing to keep pace and, by some measures, losing ground. . . . The consequences go far beyond a lousy social life and the longer--term reality that many women won't find educated male peers to marry. There are also academic consequences, and economic ones.
Why is this getting so much play? And why do people think that it is such a serious problem? I, for one, hope that this does not lend itself to government intervention claiming that men are being discriminated against. Or that men need special protections to be given “equal opportunity” in higher education.
It really is easily explained, at least to my simple mind. Men are disproportionally represented inmilitary, jail and in overpaid, unskilled union jobs – why is it surprising that women are over represented in higher education? For years the balance of women were just staying at home and if they aren’t staying at home they had to go somewhere didn’t they?
I guess I do hope that this leads to Congressional action – the end of Title IX.
Update: Another reason for the disparity just occured to me - the IT explosion over the last decade. The IT industry is largely male dominated and requires suprisingly little traditional education. You can make a remarkably good living with little or no advanced education, which I think is a good thing. Perhaps I'll blog more on the subject in the future.
HatTip: Instapundit
Update: More thoughts at DinoCrat
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