Seminal moment arrives in the ‘boy troubles’ debate
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, referring to what I’ve been writing about — along with parallel reporting by U.S. News & World Report — launches an investigation into colleges discriminating against women by favoring men in the admissions process. It amounts to affirmative action for men. Here’s the Chronicle’s version. For an idea of how this bias plays out behind closed doors at college admissions offices, see this New York Times op-ed.
In the long run, the investigation could force the U.S. Department of Education to begin research into the real issue — why boys are struggling in K-12 grades and either not graduating from high school or arriving in their senior year lacking both the aspirations to go to college and the skills required to survive in college. Currently, the United States lags far behind countries such as Australia and England in pursuing this research.
Two thoughts about the probe: Is it really illegal for a private college to discriminate against women in the admissions process? That’s never been clear to me. I’m not sure it is, but the mere exposure of this will infuriate women, especially high school seniors who will learn about the longer admissions odds they face. As the father of two daughters I can tell you their reaction: They won’t be happy.
Also, if it’s not illegal, is the pro-male admissions bias good policy? That’s a very tricky question. Colleges don’t favor men to help struggling boys. They do it to keep their gender ratios from pushing past the dreaded 60% threshold where men become abusive in their personal relationships. Never heard of the “operational sex ratio”? Neither had I until I started researching this issue. See this piece I wrote about James Madison University.
Regardless of their motives, however, the admissions bias does end up helping struggling boys. Is that good or bad policy? Tom Mortenson argues that colleges should be forced to maintain gender-neutral admissions policies. That will expose the struggle boys are having in the K-12 years and force schools to take action. True, but peeling back what appears to be a massive affirmative action for boys will only hurt men more at a time when it is increasingly important for them to earn four-year degrees from respectable colleges.
Any way you look at it, this is explosive stuff, and although the probe is designed to prevent discrimination against women this is not an investigation feminists will welcome. Any attention paid to the lopsided gender gaps in college — close to 58 percent of graduates of four-year colleges are women — drains credibility from their portrayal of women as a class in need of special help in the education system. See this piece I wrote for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Tags: admissions bias
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:43 pm
The story has already ignited a firestorm of comments in the NY Times. What most people there or elsewhere don’t seem to realize is that test scores and grades don’t predict much. As a wise old admissions officer told me thirty years ago - grades predict grades, and nothing else. Grades don’t measure initiative, willingness to try new things or take big risks or just about anything related to leadership, including to get along with other people. Grades certainly don’t predict anything at all about the wider world. Finishing college in 1993, especially with a degree in computer science, did not have the same outcome as finishing college with any degree whatsover in 2009.
Still, it remains true that a college degree is a necessary credential for membership in the middle class and for employment in an increasingly wide variety of occupations. A declining percentage of men in college should be a worry to educators and policy makers.
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Ya know…after all the bias told girls it is high time the table turns toward the male. Yes, I benefited from affirmative action as a female. Yet, the tables turned in school against my boys. It is past time for government schools to remember the boys…they are the ones they messed them up…
The good thing is schools are looking for the students that make their student body more “well rounded”. If that means more males…I am all for it…I like the ideas of my boys benefiting from affirmative action…it is past time for affirmative action and reverse discrimination to end…look at the total person…is the school a fit or not for both parties — student and school…
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:58 pm
I would love to believe that one of the side effects of this investigation would be to put more focus on the educational problems of boys in K-12. But looking at the material from the hyperlinks, it seems doubtful to me. The direct issue is interesting, though. Apparently, private colleges can admit students on any basis they want to. So they do so towards what they consider their best benefit. It will be interesting to see if a result of this investigation is for these colleges to stop the practice because of some sort of legislation, from some sort of pressure from groups like the AAUW, or from the growth of a sense that the practice of favoring males to achieve balance just isn’t morally right.
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Extending the construct “affirmative action” to gender considerations in college admissions generates heat, but little light.
Girls acquire spoken language expertise faster than boys. Experimental child psychologists have studied the cultural characteristics that account for the difference. Girls and boys are also treated differently in school and these differences have also been documented. With further schooling, boys consistently score higher on math tests than boys, which can be accounted for by course-taking patterns. But as others have pointed out, these differences are not large enough to be deal-breakers for colllege success–even in the most highly selective universities. Deliberating these matters under the banner of “affirmative action” is counter-productive.
I’d say that current college admission practices warrant thorough airing and reconsideration, but that’s a whole nother story.
November 4th, 2009 at 1:02 am
That’s some feat!
November 4th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Yikes! Proof reading obviously takes more than SpellCheck. Sorry,
November 7th, 2009 at 9:39 am
[...] Look at the underlying issue, Richard Whitmire at Why Boys Fail. Too many boys do so poorly in school that they’re not prepared for college or not motivated to try it. Why? [...]
December 28th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
[...] into college admissions discrimination directed at women (InsideHigherEd; Chronicle of Higher Ed; WhyBoysFail.com). Citing reporting by Richard Whitmire and U.S. News & World Report, the commission said it [...]