Women are making strides in education, says a report by the American Association of University Women as discussed in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The bad news is that “boys are in a profound education crisis” according to Chronicle commentator, Thomas G. Mortenson. Really? He says that the effort to improve education for girls has delivered great success for them, but such efforts were not concurrently made for boys. Women earned more bachelor’s degrees than men in 2006, but vice versa in 1970. This makes sense in terms of the change in women’s roles in the past 30 years. Mortensen is not asking for girls and women to fail; he is just hoping that boys and men will receive the educational attention they need before falling further behind. It appears as though education presents a balancing act for the sexes.
Perhaps educators do need to study the male mind; after all, there could be a variety of factors limiting their academic attainment at the bachelor’s level. However, I would not wring my hands just yet. Even if women out-pace men in bachelor’s degrees, men still tend to receive greater compensation in the workplace (see an old blog of mine on women’s pay in higher education for more details). Furthermore, there is not too much for men to worry about since they still earn more doctorates than do women (see Peter Schmidt’s article in The Chronicle). Although, we are gaining on you.
-Teresa Bagamery Clark
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