I really loved that Times article about girls out performing boys at colleges. It stayed away from giving one definitive answer for this phenomenon and hit upon all the different explainations that have been floating about. One reason that girls are doing so well saddened me a bit:
“Most college women want a high-powered career that they are passionate about,” Ms. Smyers said. “But they also want a family, and that probably means taking time off, and making dinner. I’m rushing through here, taking the most credits you can take without paying extra, because I want to do some amazing things, and establish myself as a career woman, before I settle down.”
I expected that the next generation would have the family and work thing figured out better than we do. I expected that more guys would spend time thinking about how to balance their responsibilities as a parent with their work obligations.
It seems that college girls are more aware than I was of the difficulties of combining ambition with family, but their answer is to work harder and more strategically, which I guess is somewhat an improvement, but an unsatisfying one. It’s sad that girls are forced to be serious so early. And it seems that boys are still not planning for parenthood, despite the strides by guys in our generation.
Apt. 11d 
Ugh. I hated that article. Again, it’s another one of those “look at this crisis!!!” pieces, even if they did try to give time to all the reasons why its true.
Girls outperforming boys in college is NOT a crisis as long as men still get better jobs and higher salaries. In fact, who cares about what happens in college if it doesn’t equalize the playing field of the “real world”? MAYBE I’ll start to care if men start failing to get jobs or earn lower salaries, but even then I’m would find it hard to muster the interest.
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On average, there’s a huge difference in physical and mental maturity between an 18-year-old female and an 18-year-old male–the former is basically a grown woman, but the latter is nowhere near being an adult man. Eventually (maybe around college graduation) the gap closes. I’m beginning to see the wisdom of military service or something similar for boys who have just graduated from highschool–they need a bit of extra time to grow up.
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What bothers me is the University of Alaska professor being cited in the article. In my other dealings with her she was dishonest, and “conclusions first, let me find the evidence that fits the argument I want to make.” Now she is reinventing herself again. Blech.
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What bothers me is the University of Alaska professor being cited in the article. In my other dealings with her she was dishonest, and “conclusions first, let me find the evidence that fits the argument I want to make.” Now she is reinventing herself again. Blech.
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Ianqui — Yeah, I’m not sure this qualifies as a “crisis.” I am fascinated by it, because it’s a mystery. It’s a major sociological shift and one worth watching not because boys might be getting shafted in some way, but because this is a historic shift without one clear cause.
Amy P — I’m not sure when that maturity gap lessens. I think it is closer to 35.
Western Dave — thanks for the inside scoop. Now, I’m going to reread what she had to say.
I’m also interested in this, because I would like to see what my sons could be doing better. I want them to achieve well in school regardless of their future professional successes.
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If you want your sons to do well hold them accountable. The boys at the boys school across the street who do well all have parents that do not tolerate “boys will be boys.” The also don’t go a whole lot for, my child can’t sit still – you as the teacher need to change. My pet theory is that video games and tv have largely been targeted at boys and thus diminished their attention spans and eaten up all their reading time. (all the good boy students are readers btw). Tim Burke will now tell me I’m wrong, but all the research shows girls culture is more longform (Broadway musicals largely comprise girl culture until about the age of 10 also Disney musicals which, also appeal more to girls). I’m willing to buy it, I was raised on musicals myself. My favorites as a young boy were
West Side Story
South Pacific
Oklahoma (except for the kissing parts)
The Wizard of Oz (bonus for having books)
A Chorus Line (I didn’t understand the dirty parts, also the first show I saw live at age 9)
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What do you mean by “long form?”
I think that there are a lot of things that eat up reading time for boys. Video games are targetted at boys. (Where’s Tim?) But I think that after school sports are another distraction. Don’t get me wrong. Sports are great for kids. I was an athelete through college. But it all sucks up so much time. My kid’s sports activities get on my nerves, and I skip all the Saturday games. I know some boys who do three sports per season. There’s no way that girl scouts and ballet gobble up that much time.
I’m trying to make my 7 year old into a book lover by the end of the summer. I’ll have to write a post about that soon.
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Number one son does 2 per season, number 2 does one. AND the little red-headed girl is off to kindergarten in the fall, and will likely be a soccer player. It is a big time sink, but it also does great things for them in learning to follow rules, work with others. LRHG has clear diva tendencies, I think it will be particularly good for her.
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I think after-school sports are a distraction for girls, too. When I get students one-on-one, I often ask them about reading and whether they like it and do it. Many of them do not, so I ask if their parents read to them as children. They invariably say yes, so I ask them when they stopped being interested in reading. The answer usually involves the point at which they became more involved in sports in middle school and older. This holds for both male and female students.
However, it’s not only video games that hook boys. It’s online poker. I think poker is a big problem for young men these days. One of my students last spring wrote a personal essay on his problems with online poker addiction and indicated that the problem is widespread. I certainly notice, when I have my classes in the computer lab, that quite a few students, usually male, will log on to poker sites when they have a chance. (The rest check sports and Myspace. 🙂 You can always tell when a student is checking Myspace because 90% of those damned Myspace sites have a song that automatically plays once you open the page.
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