Male/female high school dropout ratios show huge gap

Submitted by Matt on Thu, 2010-03-11 20:44

Story here. Admittedly, this is just one city, and one that has been under great educational distress for some time. But it does reflect the larger trend: girls are beating boys solidly in terms of graduation, and not by a mere couple of percentage points but by solid margins. They are also clobbering boys in terms of grade performance as well, but this is hardly news. And yet feminists still insist there is no boys' education crisis. Excerpt:

'The state education department released graduation rates this week for all high schools and school districts across New York.

Rochester's four-year graduation rate dropped from 52-percent to 46-percent. News 10 NBC wanted to know how the numbers break down for male students and female students.

The city school district today released those numbers. Fifty-two-percent of girls graduate on time while only 39-percent of boys graduate on time.

Dropout numbers are also revealing. According to state figures for the 2008-09 school year, more male students dropped out than female students. Twenty-nine-percent of girls dropped out, while 35-percent of boys did.

Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy is seeking approval in Albany for a City Hall takeover of city schools. City Hall contributes $119-million annually in property tax revenue to the schools. He has a plan to keep boys and girls in school to graduate. "I think first of all you have to meet them where they're at. And one of the things, making sure they are in school," said Duffy.'

39/52 = .75. Boys this past year in Rochester graduated from high school at 75% the rate of girls. For every 4 girls graduating, 3 boys are doing the same.

And the overall numbers are abysmal. Forty-six percent. It's unfathomable to me. I grew up in a small town where people were expected, generally, just to make it out of high school. The graduation rate was nonetheless solidly above 90%, closer to 95%, consistently across years. And you could count on two hands and two feet the number of people with degrees beyond high school in that town, population 5,000. Nonetheless, the H.S. graduation rates were that high. (I'll tell you what, too, people were very slow to get divorced when I was growing up, and despite the fact that sounds like I am referring to 1867, it was not that long ago; it was the 1970s and early '80s. You could safely assume any kid in your school had mom and dad, both living under the same roof.) Now look at what things have come to. These numbers are consistent with what I'd expect to see from a second-world country.

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The article correctly pinpointed the gender component in the dismal graduation rate. And, remarkably, both the mayor and superintendent rightly diagnosed it as a boy problem, and better still, promised actions to make it better. So even if the national gov't turns a blind eye, local governments are getting religion.

P.S.: For the sake of your sanity, ignore the dumbass comments section. Someone told me that upstate NY is like the deep South. Whew!

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Submitted by Hunchback on Fri, 2010-03-12 02:38

The whole educational system is biased towards females. Private schools are not exempt from this. Almost all schools are dominated by females such as teaching, develop curriculum, implement policies and procedures and even assessment methods. Schools are run by women from the ground up.

Many schools across our country are out of compliance with national PE requirements. Childhood obesity is on the rise, and boys are being accused of not being able to sit still - but no one cares.

I don't even know where to start on this issue. But lets start in kindergarten. Many districts even have pre- enrollment tests for K entrance that require activities that girls tend to excel at that age.

Many boys are 'diagnosed' and medicated because they have concentration and hyper activity issues. but think about. Most kids do not walk to school anymore. They arrive after sitting on a bus for 30 minutes and then they sit at desks that are arranged in groups (facing each other). This is for 'networking' as schools now promote the 'sharing of information' (socializing tends to be a characteristic of girls- how nice that the schools now promote it).

The testing that is now required (remember "No Child Left Behind"?) take a look at the testing companies which also supply the curriculum, it is way more feminized and for the first time boys are now lagging in math compared to girls and many of these test scores serve as "gatekeepers" to move on into other classes or into the next grade. These "tests" and "assessments" are not as harmless as they seem and are not always based on what you and I might consider "basic skills". In traditional skills tests boys still rule, but most states have dropped the traditional testing methods, plus traditional teaching methods are no longer used. (google "discovery math" to see how math is feminized. That's right -they even changed math to be based on thoughts and writing, but NOT accuracy and computation!)

I am not trying to sound paranoid, but education here in the USA is being hijacked and males tend to not be so compliant and are getting the boot

If you really want to get paranoid, google Marc Tucker and his "Dear Hillary" letter (referring to Hillary Clinton). Marc Tucker and the Clintons wanted to make a "cradle to grave" system where everyone is tested and assessed within the educational system and this information follows you around and would be used for employment throughout your life. (Marc Tucker was president of National Center for Education and Economy & Hillary Cinton was a boardmember).

The testing companies loved this idea and campaigned and contributed $$ heavily.

Anyway, most of what I speak about happened in the late 1990s. My mom preached all this to me as my brother and I were growing up. (probably why I never had much respect for teachers and school) I am not sure what is going on now, but I think the 1990's was a turning point in education and has had an ongoing effect in the feminizing of education in the USA.

I had my boys in public school for four months this year and I did not see any sign of boys or masculinity valued at all. Leadership is now called "over-aggressive", not talking to others is now "un-expressive", working independently is now "doesn't share", expressing a preference to physical work is "can't contain energy", etc. They are literally trying to mold boys into adapting female traights.

The schools slowly chip away at strong male characteristics and pretty soon the boys drop out.

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Submitted by Kris on Fri, 2010-03-12 05:26

Kris said:

....... They are literally trying to mold boys into adapting female traights.

Kris, you're a danger to society (sarcasm), you have our educational system figured to a tee.

Trying to mold boys into girls results in failure (news flash: boys aren't girls). Schools label boys as failures for not being girls and the boys believe the authority figures and live their lives accordingly. And when it's boys somehow low self esteem is never the cause.

Result: dropouts, crime, a male underclass. To a feminist, that's real progress.

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Submitted by Arty on Sun, 2010-03-14 16:57