The Future of Education in America

[LFC]

Adding this to Economics since the two are so tightly coupled.

This article (archived from WSJ) discusses the dropping rate of white males going into and finishing college. The trend isn't just visible, it's getting blatant to many of those who work in the university system.

At the close of the 2020-21 academic year, women made up 59.5% of college students, an all-time high, and men 40.5%, according to enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit research group. U.S. colleges and universities had 1.5 million fewer students compared with five years ago, and men accounted for 71% of the decline.

This education gap, which holds at both two- and four-year colleges, has been slowly widening for 40 years. The divergence increases at graduation: After six years of college, 65% of women in the U.S. who started a four-year university in 2012 received diplomas by 2018 compared with 59% of men during the same period, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

In the next few years, two women will earn a college degree for every man, if the trend continues, said Douglas Shapiro, executive director of the research center at the National Student Clearinghouse.

No reversal is in sight. Women increased their lead over men in college applications for the 2021-22 school year—3,805,978 to 2,815,810—by nearly a percentage point compared with the previous academic year, according to Common Application, a nonprofit that transmits applications to more than 900 schools. Women make up 49% of the college-age population in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau.

“Men are falling behind remarkably fast,” said Thomas Mortenson, a senior scholar at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, which aims to improve educational opportunities for low-income, first-generation and disabled college students.

White males from less affluent backgrounds are failing without a system that props them up.

The college gender gap cuts across race, geography and economic background. For the most part, white men—once the predominant group on American campuses—no longer hold a statistical edge in enrollment rates, said Mr. Mortenson, of the Pell Institute. Enrollment rates for poor and working-class white men are lower than those of young Black, Latino and Asian men from the same economic backgrounds, according to an analysis of census data by the Pell Institute for the Journal.

What's next? A sort of affirmative action for white males? Maybe, but I'd love to hear Tuckums try to justify that one. Of course he may not want to. Ignorant, uneducated, and face it just plain stupid white males are his bread and butter.

Young men get little help, in part, because schools are focused on encouraging historically underrepresented students. Jerlando Jackson, department chair, Education Leadership and Policy Analysis, at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Education, said few campuses have been willing to spend limited funds on male underachievement that would also benefit white men, risking criticism for assisting those who have historically held the biggest educational advantages.

“As a country, we don’t have the tools yet to help white men who find themselves needing help,” Dr. Jackson said. “To be in a time when there are groups of white men that are falling through the cracks, it’s hard.”

Keith E. Smith, a mental-health counselor and men’s outreach coordinator at the University of Vermont, said that when he started working at the school in 2006 he found that men were much more likely to face consequences for the trouble they caused under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

In 2008, Mr. Smith proposed a men’s center to help male students succeed. The proposal drew criticism from women who asked, “Why would you give more resources to the most privileged group on campus,” he said.

Funding wasn’t appropriated, he said, and the center was never built.

[goldenvalley]

I'm sure someone is going to come out and say that public education has failed boys because all affirmative action was aimed at girls.  Therefore send money destined for public schools to the parent of a boy and let them choose a school that won't let them girls git ahead of boys.  

It really is hard to see what the issue is with boys.  Looking at my 25 year male child's friends I see two with plenty of brains that just don't like school, never did, never will.  (ADHD mostly)  And I see them all talking (maybe it's just idle talk) about someone who started a company on the internet and made money.  Sometimes I think they believe that's what they can do if they just find the right idea.  

Perhaps it all begins at the elementary school level.  Think about it.  Almost all elementary school teachers and administration are female.  Boys at an early age see only females in those positions and have the impression that school is a girl thing.  And then they see the girls being successful.  For those boys who are not identified early as "gifted" those that are merely average or could be average, it makes school something that they cannot succeed in, so why try?

[Bact PhD]

I’ll concur in part, Gv, especially WRT the preponderance of elementary, and even middle, school teachers being female. My observations suggest it’s got a lot to do with rewarding “female” behavior of “sit down, be quiet, cooperate”, especially in the early grades. Dear Daughter, who was nothing if not active and contrary as a school kid, had a hard time—one teacher was convinced she had ADHD and wanted the kid put on meds pronto. An evaluation by a psychologist suggested a far different root of the problem, one that Ritalin wouldn’t fix.

Dear Son was struggling, but managed to fall in the cracks to a large degree…until the standardized test bit him in the rear in third grade. Ed psych evaluation revealed nothing amiss, just plain behind. Some intensive reading instruction and a switch to private school (without looking back) later, he’s been doing relatively well. Nevertheless, he grouses about the girls getting “better treatment.” In his small cohort, I couldn’t tell you off the top what the gender distribution is of the top ten in the class—maybe 6 girls, 4 boys?—which would align with the stats in the WSJ piece.

There was a fair amount written about 10-15 years ago about the preponderance of boys being diagnosed with ADHD and getting the meds—I cannot help wondering what other interventions, if any, were carried out at the time of diagnosis to get these boys caught up, or were they and the families told in so many words, get the meds or else.

Another anecdotal observation about the gender distribution: Vet schools have been running 60/40 female (give or take) for some years. Even when I was in a grad program housed in a med school 3 decades ago, the proportion of women was pretty high. I gather many of the med schools have been 50/50 if not slightly skewed female, for at least the last decade as well.

[pnwguy]

I think differing employment opportunities is also a factor. Far more men can find well paying jobs in skilled trades that aren't as appealing to women (or who have been hostile to women), like construction. Women see college more as a ticket to financial and personal independence, and they are more motivated to stay academically engaged.

[LFC]

More on the trend of fewer white males attending and graduating college. I addition to covering the WSJ data (see post above) he notes an impact on marriage, something I had not heard of before.

Galloway told CNN that the problem is much bigger than just the current numbers because men drop out at greater rates than women.

"College is becoming the domain of women and not men," he said.

The issue he said is being driven by the rising cost of college without much change to the quality of education. Elite universities, he said, are focused on giving a luxury experience and not expanding enrollment.

Additionally, he said, college-aged men have more options than their female peers.

"You can walk onto a construction site in Florida, you can turn on an app — cop, firemen, trade job — which at the age of 18 if you can make $100 to $200 a day that feels like real cabbage," he said.

But Galloway warned that beyond the classroom, the gap is causing an "existential threat to society," and that we are creating a "dangerous cohort."

"We have mating inequality in the country," he said, adding that women with college degrees don't want to partner with men who don't hold a degree.

"The most dangerous person in the world is a broke and alone male, and we are producing too many of them," he said.

He said the most "unstable violent societies in the world," all have one thing in common: "Young depressed men who aren't attaching to work, aren't attaching to school, and aren't attaching to relationships."

The Journal reported that there's no "reversal" insight for this gap. Women make up 49% of college-age people in the country, but in the 2021-22 school year, there were 3,805,978 Common App college applications by women compared to just 2,815,810 by men.

In the fall of 2020, while the University of California, Los Angeles expanded enrollment by 3,000 students, 90% of those spots were filled by women. That same semester, only 41% of those enrolled in UCLA were men, The Journal reported.

[pnwguy]

Oct 4, 2021 18:42:31 GMT LFC said:

More on the trend of fewer white males attending and graduating college. I addition to covering the WSJ data (see post above) he notes an impact on marriage, something I had not heard of before.

"The most dangerous person in the world is a broke and alone male, and we are producing too many of them," he said.

He said the most "unstable violent societies in the world," all have one thing in common: "Young depressed men who aren't attaching to work, aren't attaching to school, and aren't attaching to relationships."

Thus, the Rise of the Incels.  Once Dumpster starts promising them 72 virgins, we're in a lot of trouble.

[goldenvalley]

Oct 4, 2021 20:20:44 GMT pnwguy said:

Oct 4, 2021 18:42:31 GMT LFC said:

More on the trend of fewer white males attending and graduating college. I addition to covering the WSJ data (see post above) he notes an impact on marriage, something I had not heard of before.

Thus, the Rise of the Incels.  Once Dumpster starts promising them 72 virgins, we're in a lot of trouble.

Kids today...

I wonder about the impact on marriage thing.  Are college educated women not marrying or dating men who didn't go to college because they decided they only want college educated spouses or is it just that the social sphere these women operate in is a college sphere where they don't meet non college students?  And that bleeds into the work world as well once they graduate and get jobs.   

Maybe this is a way to motivate males to go to college...to meet and ultimately date college educated females...   Instead of "I got my Mrs. degree" it will be "I got my Mr. degree"?  After all that was seen as the only reason for women to go to college back when...to find a husband that was upwardly mobile.

[LFC]

Oct 5, 2021 19:14:21 GMT goldenvalley said:

I wonder about the impact on marriage thing.  Are college educated women not marrying or dating men who didn't go to college because they decided they only want college educated spouses or is it just that the social sphere these women operate in is a college sphere where they don't meet non college students?  And that bleeds into the work world as well once they graduate and get jobs.

I'm beginning to think it could also be due to a growing political gap. We know that Trump's biggest support came from white males with no college degree. As more and more women become educated and they're looking at the views and beliefs of that pool of suitors they may be thinking "Oh HELL no!" We've even posted on TRS (maybe the old one) about Republicans in D.C. having trouble getting dates.

There's a look at the past few elections at Vox. Look at white college vs. white non-college figures below. Dems are now landing over 50% of white college educated voters but less than 40% of the non-college white voters. Then add the female vs. male college educated skew we're seeing. Are these women really interested in a Faux News believing MAGAt hat wearing man? Who knows, it could also be a driver of increased interracial marriage.

[LFC]

Teachers in Columbus, OH voted to go out on strike. I wonder if state Republicans will try to replace them with vets and their spouses who got a C+ on some college credits they took.

The Columbus Education Association union voted to go on strike on Sunday, just days before the start of the school year, according to NBC4. Classes were to begin on Wednesday.

According to the Columbus Education Association, 94 percent of CEA members voted to strike for the first time since 1975.

"BREAKING: 94% of Columbus Education Association (CEA) members voted to reject the Board’s last, best and final offer and go on strike for the first time since 1975."

Union spokesperson Regina Fuentes said that teachers were striking over building conditions, class size, better pay and the lack of art and physical education classes.

“We understand that parents are in a difficult space right now, but we also want them to understand we are doing this for the students of Columbus, and we truly are making this sacrifice because we want the schools that Columbus students deserve," said Fuentes. "They need to come through with accountability to let our students, our parents know that they are actually going to fix these schools. We will continue fighting until we have safe, properly maintained and fully resourced schools in every neighborhood," she added.

[LFC]

This is just so wrong.

School districts in Northern California and Colorado are providing a vivid new illustration of the United States' housing affordability crisis and chronically low wages for educators, as superintendents have reached out to local families for help with housing teachers who can't afford to live near their schools.

"That this retrograde solution would be considered in this day and age is appalling."

A spokesperson for Milpitas Unified School District in Santa Clara County, California put a positive spin on the district's decision to reach out to families in the district, telling the Washington Post Friday that 53 households in the community had offered rooms for rent.

Families were asked this week to fill out an online form if they "have a room for rent at your home and would like to share the housing opportunity with our Milpitas Unified School District educators."

But readers of the newspaper's story were horrified that housing prices in Milpitas have left teachers without any options other than finding work elsewhere, with 10 educators leaving the district at the end of the last school year.

"I think my head is about to explode reading this," said one commenter. "Asking college educated, professional teachers to shack up with their students' parents has got to be the most inane idea I think I have ever heard. Not only completely outrageous but does absolutely zero to solve the real problem of unsustainable rental pricing absent any commonsense rent control laws and [regulations.]"

I remember reading years ago that both companies and towns in the Silicon Valley were giving teachers 0% mortgages as an incentive to move there.

[goldenvalley]

Sept 2, 2022 20:15:32 GMT LFC said:

This is just so wrong.

School districts in Northern California and Colorado are providing a vivid new illustration of the United States' housing affordability crisis and chronically low wages for educators, as superintendents have reached out to local families for help with housing teachers who can't afford to live near their schools.

"That this retrograde solution would be considered in this day and age is appalling."

A spokesperson for Milpitas Unified School District in Santa Clara County, California put a positive spin on the district's decision to reach out to families in the district, telling the Washington Post Friday that 53 households in the community had offered rooms for rent.

Families were asked this week to fill out an online form if they "have a room for rent at your home and would like to share the housing opportunity with our Milpitas Unified School District educators."

But readers of the newspaper's story were horrified that housing prices in Milpitas have left teachers without any options other than finding work elsewhere, with 10 educators leaving the district at the end of the last school year.

"I think my head is about to explode reading this," said one commenter. "Asking college educated, professional teachers to shack up with their students' parents has got to be the most inane idea I think I have ever heard. Not only completely outrageous but does absolutely zero to solve the real problem of unsustainable rental pricing absent any commonsense rent control laws and [regulations.]"

I remember reading years ago that both companies and towns in the Silicon Valley were giving teachers 0% mortgages as an incentive to move there.

Yeah but there is simply a shortage in housing that is at the right price for teachers.  Maybe paying teachers more would make more sense.  I'm sure though that no one will ever seriously entertain that as a solution.

[jackd]

Building affordable housing will take awhile but would help. Of course that would adversely effect existing property vales so.. . no, there must be some other solution.

[gp]

Sept 2, 2022 21:45:47 GMT jackd said:

Building affordable housing will take awhile but would help. Of course that would adversely effect existing property vales so.. . no, there must be some other solution.

[Darwin]

Sept 24, 2022 14:26:33 GMT gp said:

Sept 2, 2022 21:45:47 GMT jackd said:

Building affordable housing will take awhile but would help. Of course that would adversely effect existing property vales so.. . no, there must be some other solution.

I would like to imagine that there was some order, some rational reason for the gov to leave out incentives for teachers, like say more education means more civil unrest or say the economy needs more manual labour, but I don't.

That isn't the way things work at Washington or state level.

[LFC]

On the upside the crazies who sued Merrick Garland for reaching out to schools and administrators being threatened, probably by those same crazies, lost their case. Ever the criminals yet ever the victims.

In fact, the memo expressly supported the First Amendment rights of parents or anyone else to speak their mind about school policies.

“While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views,” the memo noted. “Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values. Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety.”

Within weeks, a group calling itself the Saline Parents — named after a city in Michigan — filed a federal lawsuit with four other plaintiffs from the Great Lakes State and Loudoun County, Va., which landed in federal court in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit labeled Garland’s memo “a heavy-handed, direct threat by a powerful government agency designed and intended ‘to intimidate individuals based on their views.'”

In fact, Judge Friedrich noted, the memo did little but “announce a series of measures” and directed the FBI to convene meetings with leaders in each federal judicial district, opening lines of communication for threat assessments.

For that, multiple GOP members of the right wing of the Senate Judiciary Committee last year called for Garland’s resignation, including Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Josh Hawley of Missouri. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas claimed, inaccurately, that the memo treated mothers and fathers as possible domestic terrorists. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee went farther, saying the Justice Department likened those parents to Oklahoma City bomb conspirators Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Garland famously prosecuted them early in his career, an experience that he emphasized during his confirmation hearings.

For Judge Friedrich, the memo was much more modest.

“Further, even if the alleged policy contained any kind of restriction, regulation, or proscription, it would not apply to the plaintiffs’ conduct,” the ruling states. “The plaintiffs represent that their conduct includes verbal opposition and peaceful protests, akin to ‘private citizens petitioning their government officials for a redress of grievances,’ but never ‘threat of criminal violence.'”

[goldenvalley]

Sept 24, 2022 19:49:47 GMT LFC said:

On the upside the crazies who sued Merrick Garland for reaching out to schools and administrators being threatened, probably by those same crazies, lost their case. Ever the criminals yet ever the victims.

In fact, the memo expressly supported the First Amendment rights of parents or anyone else to speak their mind about school policies.

“While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views,” the memo noted. “Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values. Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety.”

Within weeks, a group calling itself the Saline Parents — named after a city in Michigan — filed a federal lawsuit with four other plaintiffs from the Great Lakes State and Loudoun County, Va., which landed in federal court in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit labeled Garland’s memo “a heavy-handed, direct threat by a powerful government agency designed and intended ‘to intimidate individuals based on their views.'”

In fact, Judge Friedrich noted, the memo did little but “announce a series of measures” and directed the FBI to convene meetings with leaders in each federal judicial district, opening lines of communication for threat assessments.

For that, multiple GOP members of the right wing of the Senate Judiciary Committee last year called for Garland’s resignation, including Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Josh Hawley of Missouri. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas claimed, inaccurately, that the memo treated mothers and fathers as possible domestic terrorists. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee went farther, saying the Justice Department likened those parents to Oklahoma City bomb conspirators Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Garland famously prosecuted them early in his career, an experience that he emphasized during his confirmation hearings.

For Judge Friedrich, the memo was much more modest.

“Further, even if the alleged policy contained any kind of restriction, regulation, or proscription, it would not apply to the plaintiffs’ conduct,” the ruling states. “The plaintiffs represent that their conduct includes verbal opposition and peaceful protests, akin to ‘private citizens petitioning their government officials for a redress of grievances,’ but never ‘threat of criminal violence.'”

It's all about the spin.  These plaintiffs and their lawyers clearly didn't read the memo.  The judge did so they lost.  But they don't care. They made BS statements about it that were spread far and wide to a receptive, willing, and unquestioning audience.  The game was played.  Mission accomplished.  The law doesn't matter. They won't tell their audience that they lost in court and if they did admit it, they would spin and say the judge was appointed by Obama or Clinton.