This Atlantic Monthly article by Marshall Poe brings up the well publicized gender gap:
Three decades ago reformers' attention was focused on the "higher-education gap"—the fact that not as many girls went on to college, graduate school, and professional school as boys. Advocates of equality between the sexes fought hard to create gender-specific education programs, fair admissions policies, and professional societies for women. Their efforts were rewarded: from 1970 to 2000 the number of women attending college rose by 136 percent, graduate school by 168 percent, and professional school by 853 percent.
He then counters with the "stealth" gender gap, which no one is talking about:
Yet soon the higher-education gap opened again—but this time girls were on the other side of it. In the late 1970s more girls than boys began to enroll in college, and the disparity has since increased. Today women make up approximately 56 percent of all undergraduates, outnumbering men by about 1.7 million. In addition, about 300,000 more women than men enter graduate school each year. (The gap does not particularly affect professional school; almost as many women as men attend.) In short, equal opportunity brought an unequal result.
A few folk have pointed out this trend, yet the performance of boys in school continues to be ignored by by those in education, government and the media who could actually do something about it. The causes behind it are myriad and are very well summed up by Mr. Poe:
From kindergarten on, the education system rewards self-control, obedience, and concentration-qualities that, any teacher can tell you, are much more common among girls than boys, particularly at young ages. Boys fidget, fool around, fight, and worse. Thirty years ago teachers may have accommodated and managed this behavior, in part by devoting more attention to boys than to girls. But as girls have come to attract equal attention, as an inability to sit still has been medicalized, and as the options for curbing student misbehavior have been ever more curtailed, boys may have suffered. Boys make up three quarters of all children categorized as learning disabled today, and they are put in special education at a much higher rate (special education is often misused as a place to stick "problem kids," and children seldom switch from there to the college track). Shorter recess times, less physical education, and more time spent on rote learning (in order to meet testing standards) may have exacerbated the problems that boys tend to experience in the classroom. It is no wonder, then, that many boys disengage academically. Boys are also subject to a range of extrinsic factors that hinder their academic performance and pull them out of school at greater rates than girls. First among these is the labor market. Young men, with or without high school diplomas, earn more than young women, so they are more likely to see work as an alternative to school. Employment gives many men immediate monetary gratification along with relief from the drudgery of the classroom.
One key factor which is not mentioned is the continued lack of male teachers. For many decades, teaching was primarily a male profession, but now non-female teachers are rare, especially at the elementary level.
According to the NEA, only 21 percent of the nation's 3 million teachers are men. The ratio of men-to-women teachers is currently at a 40 year low. Only 9 percent of elementary school teachers are males. Nine percent. Assuming 6 years of elementary school (K-5), each child has a 56.8% chance of not ever having one male teacher during those years.
I do believe that female teachers are doing a good job. However, also believe that interaction with adult males is vital for young children, especially young boys. The need for men to serve as character examples for young people has never been more necessary, with the number of children growing up without a father in their home. I also believe that a male teacher is more understanding of the behavior and psychology of his male students. He is also (usually) better suited toward maintaining discipline in the classroom - especially with the boys.
(Just as a side note, in this post, Joanne Jacobs points out a new push to encourage retired military personnel to join the teaching ranks. One key attribute of that demographic is that they are likely to be male. The Washington Post article she cites is here.)
What are the future effects of this gender gap? Marshall Poe believes they are very serious:
But boys' educational stagnation has long-term economic implications. Not even half the boys in the country are taking advantage of the opportunity to go to college, which has become almost a prerequisite for a middle-class lifestyle. And languishing academic attainment among a large portion of our population spells trouble for the prospects of continued economic growth. Unless more boys begin attending college, the nation may face a shortage of highly skilled workers in the coming decades.
