Skip to main content

Males and College Enrollment

Since 1987, more women have been enrolling in college than men (1). In 2010, for example, the American Council on Education found that 57 percent of those attending college were female, and 43 percent were male (2). One commentator from National Public Radio explained this by saying that “boys are directed toward sports and rewarded more for their athletic [ability] than for their classroom work” (3). While this may be an oversimplification, it does make you wonder why males aren't keeping up with women in college attendance. Perhaps males choose careers that offer comparable wages, but that do not require a college education (construction, for example); perhaps kindergarten through twelfth-grade education somehow caters to females (though I do not personally see that in our junior high school program, at least); or perhaps our culture communicates the message to males that academic achievement is not valued as highly as other forms of achievement (including sports). Like many historical events, it is likely a result of more than one cause.

It isn't as though males are choosing not to attend college. Indeed, in 2009, the year for which the most recent data is available, 38.4 percent of all males aged eighteen to twenty-four were enrolled in a two- or four-year institution, a number higher than any previously recorded year (4). Still, the growing number has not kept pace with the number of females attending. Something other than college is catching males' attention.

1. Taylor, Paul, Richard Fry, et. al. "College Enrollment Hits All-Time High, Fueled by Community College Surge." Pew Research Center. Washington, DC: 29 October 2009. Web. 21 December 2011.
2. “College Gender Gap Appears to be Stabilizing With One Notable Exception, ACE Analysis Finds.” American Council on Education. Washington DC: 26 Jan. 2010. Web. 9 December 2011.
3. Deford, Frank. “Sports Obsession Holds Boys Back in College.” National Public Radio. Washington, DC: 13 September 2006. Web. 9 December 2011.
4. National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC. Web. 21 December 2011.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Heroes

Although we have several examples of heroes in our day, one of the best known is of a woman named Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (“Gonja Bojaju”), who devoted her life to sustaining the “poor, sick, orphaned, and dying.” Her venue was Calcutta, India, where she served as a teacher until she began to take notice of the poverty there. Seeking to do something about it, she began an organization that consisted of just thirteen members at its inception. Called the “Missionaries of Charity,” the organization would eventually burgeon into well over 5,000 members worldwide, running approximately 600 missions, schools and shelters in 120 countries; and caring for the orphaned, blind, aged, disabled, and poor. As her personal work expanded, she traveled to countries like Lebanon, where she rescued 37 children from a hospital by pressing for peace between Israel and Palestine; to Ethiopia, where she traveled to help the hungry; to Chernobyl, Russia, to assist victims of the nuclear meltdown there; and to
2 comments
Read more

Movie Night

We did it again. My leadership class and I put together another event. We invited the school to watch Dispicable Me . The movie was a hit, so much so that one little girl got up to dance with the main character at the end of the movie. It was a wholesome family night, and on a Monday no less! There were very few issues. It was just a relaxing evening. We're going to use the proceeds to pay for our leadership conference in late March and early April. It should make for a meanigful experience. Signing off...
1 comment
Read more

Comparative Medical Care

One thing I'd like to understand is why there is such a difference between medical costs here and those in Haiti. At the time the book Mountains Beyond Mountains was written, in 2003, it often cost $15,000 to $20,000 annually to treat a patient with tuberculosis, while it cost one one-hundredth of that-- $150 to $200-- to treat a patient for the disease in Haiti. Even if the figures aren't completely accurate, the sheer difference would still be there. Indeed, the United States pays more per capita for medical care than any other country on Earth. My first guess for why the disparity exists is that there is a market willing and able to pay more for medical treatment, so suppliers see the demand and respond with higher prices. According to at least one doctor (go to http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2009/05/what_is_the_cause_of_excess_co.php), part of the reason is administrative prices here. People here have a higher standard of living, and so the cost of care is shifted to
2 comments
Read more