Women with university degrees are more than men, why?

According to the latest census data, American women have, for the first time, passed men in gaining advanced college degrees as well as bachelor's degrees. Amongst Latinos, a similar trend exists, where females are obtaining the majority of college degrees compared to their male counterparts.If that was not enough, Latinas are also the fastest growing segment of the female market and the most influential group within the Hispanic population in the United States today. While the success of all women is something to be celebrated and encouraged, it is important to ponder why males, especially males of color, are not achieving the same success in academia. So, here are a few, but very prevalent reasons as to why males are not being successful in our education system: 1. Schools are not meeting the developmental needs of boys. A highly publicized 1992 report by the American Association of University Women titled, How Schools Short-Change Girls, got people to focus on girls by presenting vast amount of research on gender inequalities. This, in turn, meant expanding curriculum in ways that suit girls rather than boys, with an increase of discursive, 'soft' subjects like general studies, sociology or drama. However, the evidence suggests that boys and girls learn in different ways. According to Melanie Phillips's "The Feminisation of Education, "girls gain more satisfaction than boys from understanding the work they are doing. Boys, on the contrary, are more 'ego-related', gaining more

satisfaction from competing with each other. Nevertheless, education policy denies such differences and imposes instead an agenda of 'equality'". 2. An over-representation and over-labeling of minorities in special education classes, specifically emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) classes, exists. One of the reasons for such over-representation and over-labeling of boys of color could be attributed to the lack of male teachers of color in the U.S. educational system. The contrast in cultural backgrounds between the students and their European American teachers may be the source of misunderstandings, differential treatment of students of color, and cultural mismatches between them. 3. Studies show that boys from fatherless homes are much less likely to attend college while the same effect has not been apparent in girls. 2009 estimates indicate that 41 percent of U.S. births occurred outside of marriage. According to Child Trends, "In 2008, 72 percent of all births to black women, 66 percent of births of American Indian or Alaskan native women, and 53 percent of births to Hispanic women occurred outside of marriage, compared with 29 percent for white women and 17 percent for Asian or Pacific Islander women". Consequently, we have a large proportion of fatherless children, which is due to factors such as unequal divorce and parental rights for men as well as U.S. immigration law failure to unify and reunite immigrant families. The high drop-out rate of males, especially males of color, failure to graduate from high school and go onto higher education is attributed to a variety of factors. While the short list provided above is neither extensive nor comprehensive, it helps illustrate how there is no simple solution to reforming the U.S. education system to better serve all students, regardless of race/ethnicity and gender. So while it may seem like proper education of our children is a problem rooted in wide social, economic, and political systemic flaws, it is important to

acknowledge that parental involvement can make all the difference in a child's world and is perhaps our best tool to ensuring our children's success in academia.