December 7, 2000

10:39 AM

The Male MinorityThe percentage of men enrolled in higher education has dropped below that of women. Are men not encouraged as much as women to go to college?
posted by amanda (15 comments total)

Men get lower grades in high school ... men are more likely to be diverted by the military, crime, streetlife, etc. ... men have dramatically better access to the sorts of jobs which are well paying but don't require college, such as building trades (construction, plumbing, electricians), public safety (police, firefighting), skilled manual labor (like long-haul trucking, auto manufacturing, heavy tooling, etc.)

(A man who gets regular journeyman construction work makes VASTLY more money than the typical white-collar/pink-collar job that a woman with 2 years of community college and 2 years of state college to a BA.)


posted by MattD at 10:44 AM on December 7, 2000

I do suspect that you're right, MattD. It seems to me that women still have two options in life: go to college or get stuck. Is it really a "crisis" then? Do colleges need to actively start recruiting men?
posted by amanda at 10:58 AM on December 7, 2000

Maybe they need to start "men in college" programs and "go to work with your son" days...
posted by gyc at 11:01 AM on December 7, 2000

Not to mention replacing four years of college with six weeks of MCSE.

I know how to fix this: resurrect the draft.
posted by dhartung at 11:49 AM on December 7, 2000

Or else they can become web designers out of high school, and make even more money. =P

Oh boy, here come the flames...
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 12:07 PM on December 7, 2000

Clearly the admissions process is gender biased. Quotas must be imposed.
posted by seitz at 12:13 PM on December 7, 2000

Well, the University of Waterloo (where I'm studying) seems to be having the exact opposite problem, although it seems to be getting better over the years.

55 males : 45 females on campus, and for upper year computer science courses, the ratio is probably closer to 10:1. Ugh. :(
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 12:22 PM on December 7, 2000

But then Waterloo is known for their engineering and computer science departments right?
posted by gyc at 12:41 PM on December 7, 2000

my school, vassar college, has about 60 female to 40 male and about 40% of the males are gay. there are four straight boys on campus and they never go to class cause they're too busy getting laid 24/7
posted by palegirl at 12:43 PM on December 7, 2000

My computer science department was more like 50:1 male-female (really! there were probably two females in the department of around 100 students). At a university that's 60% female overall. It was pretty disheartening.
posted by daveadams at 12:57 PM on December 7, 2000

damn I knew I should've gone to Vassar
posted by gyc at 1:40 PM on December 7, 2000

Ohh yes, Long-haul trucking pays. VERY, VERY WELL. You can even afford food sometimes. hehe.
posted by tiaka at 2:03 PM on December 7, 2000

Why fight it? What we really need is to donate money to the Hoppers to fix up that gender inequity in the CS departments... come on all y'all HS graduates pulling down the $$$...
posted by daver at 2:39 PM on December 7, 2000

palegirl: LOL too funny. you can come meet some "nice" (read: nerdy) boys here at Waterloo. =P
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 8:19 PM on December 7, 2000

I think it's definately time to stop worrying about numbers and start considering whether it's possible/difficult for a given group to a get a particular job/education opportunity.
posted by davidgentle at 8:30 PM on December 7, 2000