Understanding The College Gender Gap

The author sort of describes the gender gap but doesn't really explain it. The "understanding" part isn't there. It's more of a description. One thing it does seem to show is that prospective female students appear to apply in higher numbers than prospective male ones. No discussion of why, though.

Boys and men perceive space better than girls and women.

No one knows why this is: the jury is still out on whether it is nature or nurture; but it is reality.

I have taken the SAT and have looked at those tests.

(Now, before I continue, let me add that I am a tenured, full professor of engineering.)

The ONLY reason girls have caught up with boys on the SAT is that they removed all questions that could also be solved with internal visualization - by looking at the problem. (This, in itself, is sexist against boys, but let's set that aside for a moment.)

So, as a result of this societal manipulation, we "expect" that girls should then be doing better in post secondary engineering schools. But that fact is that in the in the Sophomore year, we lose the girls in math. And the attrition rate for female engineering students, skyrockets.

Now you would think we'd step back from this social manipulation and - with an objective mind (Egads! is is possible to be objective and not blame evil men for all the world's problems?) realize that something else is going on... We are STILL, in college, teaching math by relying on internal visualization.

So, the girls hit the wall.

We could address this. We could use 3D computer graphics to level the playing field. But such an action is not even being considered. Rather, it is easy to PROLONG the argument, and lift the sexism into post-secondary education and continue to blame the men.

But even that will not fix the problem. My fear is that we will continue to bash and bash and bash men, endlessly, for every obstacle faced by female students of engineering. Now, there are articles in engineering education theory that claim sophomore boys are sexist. We just can't seem to stop hounding men.

(Besides... if we were to revisit the problem properly, we would realize that we are socially manipulating the data. And that we should be teaching boys and girls differently. But if we did that, then the scores of boys would go even higher... Certainly, we cannot allow that. Why... that would be fair to men!)

Go to the web site of the American Society of Engineering Education.

There are HUNDREDS of programs, sponsored by the government in each state, to recruit women in engineering. They are given clubs, meeting rooms, special tours, special lectures. There is not a single program to recruit boys to reading (where the problem is worse).

Men MUST start objecting to this. We are using tax dollars to suffocate boys.

Not really surprised by this article. In the 70's, we were told any disparity in outcomes was a result of gender discrimination against women. Now, after 40 years of pushing for reform in education to encourage and promote girls and women, all the while, painting men as bad, women as good (just as this article does by pointing to boys being bad, dropping out, getting arrested, while girls are superior, with better study habits, etc... well, no kidding. I'd be getting into trouble too if I was always being told how much of a monster I am.), we see the results of this biased system. And now that the outcomes favor women... all of a sudden discrimination can't be a factor, and we shouldn't worry about equal outcomes, it's equal opportunity we should be concerned with... so stop with the affirmative action that favors men... oh, and men still dominate STEM fields, so keep up the affirmative action for women there, we need equal outcomes! Hypocrites and supremacists.