Posted on 07/03/2006 4:52:05 PM PDT by paulat
Where the Boys Aren't
By Christina Hoff Sommers Posted: Monday, July 3, 2006
Education Sector, a new Washington think tank established this year by the Bill & Melinda Gates and other leading foundations, describes itself as an "honest broker of evidence in key education debates." But its first big study, "The Evidence Suggests Otherwise: Truth About Boys and Girls," is deficient in this virtue.
Resident Scholar Christina Hoff Sommers The report, written by policy analyst Sara Mead, denies that American boys are in trouble academically. "The real story," says Ms. Mead, "is not bad news about boys doing worse; it's good news about girls doing better." So why do so many fret about boys doing poorly? Ms. Mead explains: "The idea that women might actually surpass men in some areas seems hard for many people to swallow." She also hopes that the nation can have a reasonable "conversation" about gender issues "without unfairly undermining the gains girls have made in recent decades."
One looks in vain in Ms. Mead's report for any indication that anyone is undermining girls. She seems to think that concern for boys means shortchanging girls. But it does not--because education is not a zero sum game.
From the study's title, one might think that it contains evidence that boys are not languishing academically. It doesn't. In fact Ms. Mead concedes that vast numbers of boys are doing poorly. She acknowledges that more boys than girls drop out; that girls have higher aspirations and take more rigorous academic programs. The number of boys diagnosed with disabilities, she says, "has exploded in the past 30 years." She admits that "high school boys' achievement is declining in most subjects." And, yes, she says, it is true that our colleges are now 57% female.
So how does she back up her claim that "in fact, overall academic achievement for boys is higher than it has ever been"? She argues that in "absolute" terms boys are doing better today than they were 20 or 30 years ago. She adds that, in any case, the problem of male underachievement is largely confined to black, Hispanic and low-income white males. Neither claim withstands scrutiny.
The reading scores of 17-year-old boys overall have gone down in the past decade, hitting an all-time low in 2004. Judith Kleinfeld, a professor of psychology at the University of Alaska, has done a thorough analysis of the reading skills of white males from college-educated families. Using Department of Education data, she shows that at the end of high school, 23% of the white sons of college educated parents scored "below basic." For girls from the same background, the figure is 7%. "This means," Ms. Kleinfeld writes, "that one in four boys who have college educated parents cannot read a newspaper with understanding."
Education Sector's study concedes that African-American, Hispanic and low-income white males "are in real trouble." But it attributes their plight to larger social problems that have little to do with gender. Ms. Mead does not seem to have noticed that among these demographics, males are far behind their female counterparts. For example, Ms. Kleinfeld found that 34% of Hispanic males with college-educated parents scored "below basic"--compared to 19% of Hispanic females.
Today, for every 100 women who earn a bachelor's degree, just 73 men get one. Not to worry, says Ms. Mead. It is actually good news for young men, because more of them are going to college today than did in the '70s and '80s. By this reasoning, we need not worry about the relatively low wages of women compared to men, since in "absolute terms" women are doing better than in the past. Would the policy analysts at Education Sector welcome the view that when it comes to a wage gap, it’s not bad news about women doing worse; it’s just good news about men doing better?
In one characteristically free-wheeling passage, Mead says that “the current boy crisis hype” plays into “America’s deepest insecurities, ambivalence and fears about changing gender roles.” A more plausible explanation for the growing concern over boys is that teachers, parents, reporters and scholars, both liberal and conservative, have become aware that a steadily increasing proportion of the nation’s boys are poorly equipped to cope with the world that awaits them.
We are strikingly better at educating young women than young men. Boys need our attention. It is difficult to understand why an organization devoted to improving education should regard the current concern for boys as a threat to girls' progress. Education Sector would be more constructively occupied if it looked for ways to help our boys keep pace with the girls.
Christina Hoff Sommers is a resident scholar at AEI.
I would also venture to say that women get degrees in the "softer" disciplines...as opposed to math, engineering, etc.
And I also wanted to excerpt this, so it wouldn't be such a long read...but I couldn't find anything I wanted to cut.
Great example of how the drive-by media would rather report that boys are worse off as opposed to girls doing better.
To hear the college professors today, ALL college entrants fall far short in ALL areas, particularly in "thinking", both men and women. Years ago it was reported they couldn't fill out a college application properly, and it has gone down hill since then. So what else is new coming out of the public school system?
I don't understand what you mean...she shows that it's not a zero-sum game...boys are doing worse.
Am I not understanding?
yes they are moslty softer programs, the real problem is participation in the harder programs is dropping by american males as well
I have this habbit of skimming articles in about 10 seconds. Drew the wrong conclusion.
Translation: The number of boys put on drugs by the NEA/Lesbian/Psychological Services mafia for acting like boys has grown beyond all reason.
LOL! That remark got Larry Summers of Harvard fame in HUGE trouble!! I agree with the comment!
LOL!!! That's why I wanted to make the article shorter...I had the same take you did when I first read it!
Bill and Melinda Gates' Foundation is a NGO who closely works with the CFR, and because of that, I don't trust anything they say or do. When I think about the NGOS getting together (at least once a year) to plan our future, it really makes me mad!!
The fact is that men, especially white men, are mercillessly abused by the left wing teachers and administrations of todays colleges Men are not welcomed on campus as they once were.
I'm thinking of going back to school myself...I graduated in English/History/Journalism...but have developed a talent for programming...who'd a thunk? However, it wasn't done in my day....
It seems to me we're raising a generation of ignorant, fat, effeminate, asthmatics who are sensitive to second hand smoke.
Another decade and it's bound to be "hell among the yearlings." Me, I'm working on my espanol.
Bill & Melinda Gates recently funded a magnet public school in Los Angeles which promotes Mecha/La Raza principles only.
I would agree totally in the liberal arts...but I don't see how that would be in the sciences.
The public school classroom is structured for right handed girls. When I worked with learning disabled students, the vast majority of them were left handed boys. Their brains are wired differenly and need to process information differently.
The sciences have been poisoned as well, albeit to a lesser degree.
Being a new college student at the ripe age of 32 I am amazed at how little students fresh from HS know in relative to my aged mind 14 years removed from HS, I am not an average student in intellect or knowledge for sure(not bragging) but seriously I am amazed at the distance between me and my fellow students are on some subjects.
Translation: The number of boys put on drugs by the NEA/Lesbian/Psychological Services mafia for acting like boys has grown beyond all reason.
Boy...do I agree with you there!!!
Don't go out and play...don't burn off your energy...don't...don't...don't....
...and then we'll drug you until you comply....
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