It’s raining boy books …
Now comes Linda Sax’s book, The Gender Gap in College, which is definitely not a manhood-as-a-kegger book. Sax’s book, explained in her commentary in the Chronicle of Higher Education (password protected), argues that just because female students dominate universities doesn’t mean life is smooth for them. In fact, the students who benefit the most from these imbalances may be the men (and not in the way you’re thinking!):
… despite the fact that college women earn better grades and exhibit a stronger academic orientation than their male counterparts, they tend to suffer from comparatively low academic confidence. In fact, women rate themselves lower than men on nearly every assessment of their academic abilities. Further, these gender differences grow during college. We should learn more about why women rate themselves lower - because they believe they are less capable, or are they simply reluctant to describe themselves as having high ability? - and what conditions account for the widening gender gap in academic self-confidence.
Finally, compared with men, women enter college with higher levels of self-reported stress and lower ratings of their physical and emotional health. Such gender gaps remain significant over four years of college and reflect the fact that men spend more time on activities that can be considered ways to relieve stress (playing sports and video games, partying, and watching television) while women often devote themselves to a range of responsibilities that tend to induce stress (studying, homework, community service, and family responsibilities). Colleges should encourage all students to strike a healthier balance between academics, extracurricular activities, and leisure. We also need to develop a better understanding of what it means for a student to maintain balance.
Although women have a numerical advantage in college, both genders face challenges to their adjustment and development. Just as we need to be concerned about high stress and low self-esteem among women, we must be concerned about growing academic disengagement among men.
Again, I will do my best to refrain from reviewing books I haven’t read. Linda Sax is an associate professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles.
