Why aren’t males attending college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK- just a working theory with no data to back this up… but the “whole word” reading approach really hosed a whole swath of kids of which boys are typically more vulnerable readers than girls. Fast forward… your crew of struggling readers that were never taught phonics all the way and have now always been behind the 8 ball in the classroom. Setting the stage for poor academics and more likely disinterested in the high school classroom that was already set up for girls. By 12th grade these boys are done and want to be working or outside the classroom where they can be successful at something.

Or it could be that they dumbed down the SAT, which boys were traditionally much better at, so that girls could get comparable "high" scores in order to make some of them have the same scores as the top scoring boys. Lowering the difficulty ceiling to harmonize the genders. This is why a score of 1350 30 years ago equals 1550+ today. Now every kid is grade inflated to a 4.5 GPA and they all have 1500s in their SATs so you can't differentiate who is actually smart. When that doesn't work, you just say screw it and make applications TO and holistically select for certain people through essays and gender-specific ECs and awards that only girls are allowed to partake in.

"Every" kid has a 4.5 and 1500's? I don't think so.

I guess you're not looking at kids applying to T10 schools where many of these high stats kids are denied. In the past a 1500 would have been almost automatic when that meant 99+ %ile.

[Anonymous]

Girls are generally better behaved, they sit still, and they listen. I remember in school, girls were always more organized and attentive in class. I’m sure it’s both biological and socially taught.

[Anonymous]

I think men want a sure path to being a provider and having a friend group and they don't feel at the end they will have those things. I'm sure the jobs were worse before for them but it'd perception that matters.

[Anonymous]

Maybe girls are better at thinking and planning ahead at an earlier age? That can be significant in the college application cycle where even a few months can be a big deal. I have a son (high stats, strong student, leader, motivated peer group) and it wasn’t until after spring break junior year that he really started taking the initiative on college-related things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Girls are generally better behaved, they sit still, and they listen. I remember in school, girls were always more organized and attentive in class. I’m sure it’s both biological and socially taught.

It’s not biological. You can get boys to sit still and pay attention with the right approach. However, female teachers largely cannot manage this approach, and male teachers are not allowed to use this approach because the school system is feminized.

[Anonymous]

Because many male high paying jobs, truck driver, car salesman, trades, military construction, fireman and cops don't require college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are busy voting for maga perhaps?

As opposed to accumulating massive debt over useless degrees?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are busy voting for maga perhaps?

As opposed to accumulating massive debt over useless degrees?

DP. This thinking really the issue, right? (And it’s not wrong in many cases.) In which case, why is it a problem that boys aren’t going for college in greater numbers? We have need for lots of workers that don’t require a college education. I’ve had two electricians working in my house all week. They’re in high demand, constantly busy and getting paid well. The older one owns his own business and his young assistant looked like a catch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Completely agree gaming at a young age and what that’s done to attention spans and socialization coupled with teen years sucked into an echo chamber on their phones.

OK, but it's not like girls aren't obsessively poking at their phones all the time, so that's not it.

Sure, but think of the difference in content that’s being pushed to them. I’m guessing it’s a slightly less steady diet of porn, violence, and misogynistic trash talk that girls are stewing in. Less likely to feel ashamed, hopeless, and wronged all at the same time.

It's not like society is sending women a message that they are being oppressed or anything?

It's not about oppression. It's about teaching methods, learning styles, and brain development. Many boys are struggling and no one is doing anything about because "my son got straight As and went to Harvard, therefore there is no problem."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are busy voting for maga perhaps?

As opposed to accumulating massive debt over useless degrees?

DP. This thinking really the issue, right? (And it’s not wrong in many cases.) In which case, why is it a problem that boys aren’t going for college in greater numbers? We have need for lots of workers that don’t require a college education. I’ve had two electricians working in my house all week. They’re in high demand, constantly busy and getting paid well. The older one owns his own business and his young assistant looked like a catch.

You would not want my son working on your electric system. The skilled trades also require specific abilities that lots of kids don't have. Those kids need the education system to work for them because they will be excluded from the military and never get a job in the manual trades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because many male high paying jobs, truck driver, car salesman, trades, military construction, fireman and cops don't require college.

Tell me you will hire an ADHD boy with motor skills issues for any of those jobs? Oh right, they are disqualified. Car salesman is the only option that might work, unless they are also introverted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are busy voting for maga perhaps?

As opposed to accumulating massive debt over useless degrees?

DP. This thinking really the issue, right? (And it’s not wrong in many cases.) In which case, why is it a problem that boys aren’t going for college in greater numbers? We have need for lots of workers that don’t require a college education. I’ve had two electricians working in my house all week. They’re in high demand, constantly busy and getting paid well. The older one owns his own business and his young assistant looked like a catch.

You would not want my son working on your electric system. The skilled trades also require specific abilities that lots of kids don't have. Those kids need the education system to work for them because they will be excluded from the military and never get a job in the manual trades.

So what would we, as a society, want your son working on? And what does he need to be able to achieve that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Girls are generally better behaved, they sit still, and they listen. I remember in school, girls were always more organized and attentive in class. I’m sure it’s both biological and socially taught.

It’s not biological. You can get boys to sit still and pay attention with the right approach. However, female teachers largely cannot manage this approach, and male teachers are not allowed to use this approach because the school system is feminized.

If this is the case, why is it that boys that attend high-performing, public high schools/magnets and private schools, attend college in the same numbers as girls?

The entire issue in this thread is a socio-economic issue, not a boy vs. girl issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weed, laziness, crumble immediately in the face of anything that is difficult or unpleasant.

~Prof for 31 years.

It's the plot of Pinocchio written 150 years ago: boys are natural scoundrels who succumb to vice and games, squander the money their parent scraped together for school, and become beasts of burden. The rare example pulls it together and joins the PMC.

[Anonymous]

Because college is becoming less and less of a value proposition. Sure, college graduates earn more but it's not always the degree doing the heavy lifting.

For a lot of guys, working 4 years earlier and avoiding student debt is the better move vs. getting a psych degree from a 5th tier college.

For some people putting the money into an S&P fund instead of college is the better move.

Here is some data from the social security administration. https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/research-summaries/education-earnings.html