“For every 100 American women enrolled in college, there are only 77 men. And for every 100 women who graduate with a bachelor’s degree, only 73 men accomplish that, according to data from the Postsecondary Education Opportunity.” These facts, cited in a blog in the NYTimes, are well known to PowerProfs as Fritz and I co-teach a class on Contemporary Gender Models of Health Care Leadership. I was eager to read more.

The article goes on to say: “This gap is chalked up to a myriad of reasons. Traditional schools aren’t tuned in to the hands-on learning styles of boys; the media portrayal of smart young men generally is of socially awkward boys who don’t get dates to the prom; and young male students, particular at-risk youth, lack positive male models in and out of the classroom.”

Hmmm…..There was no research cited to support these reasons so I assume they are speculations. As such, there appears to be a glaring lack of logic used to reach these conclusion.

• Traditional schools, using a lecture model approach, have educated males for centuries. In recent years, one could argue that schools are taking a more hands-on approach with active learning activities both in the classroom and online. Therefore, boys should be gaining, or at least holding their own, not losing.
• The media portrayal of smart young women also tends to be geeky: the bookworm with the mousy hair and glasses. Or, perhaps more common, the gorgeous blond who gets ahead without the smarts. True, there are more smart, successful females being portrayed, but they have not usurped successful males.
• The fact that at-risk youth lack role models outside of the classroom is true for both genders. True, there are more positive female role models inside the classroom, but this has been true for decades, so why would it account for a decline in boys’ achievements now?

I would love to see more research in this area; our gender leadership course uses an evidence-based approach and there are certainly gaps in the literature. Achieving equality is education is an important goal. But I believe we also need to look at the whole picture and acheive equality across the full spectrum:  women now make up half the workforce. Despite the gains in academia, the average full-time employed woman earns about 80% of what men make, while still doing more at home.

We still have a long way to go.

Tags: education, gender

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 8:49 am and is filed under Ann writes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.