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Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Education Failure - Boys Doing Badly

Richard Whitmire's article about the declining presence of young men in college and the overall decline of the male gender performance in the academic world, appeared in The New Republic today.

There is a lot of controversy about the statistic that shows males represent only 43% of college students today. And there seems to be a lot of anguish. Is it because boys are suddenly less capable than girls? Is it because girls really are intellectually superior to boys and recent opportunities for girls to get college educations reflect that superiority? Is it because boys have different thought processes than girls which make girls better students than boys? Or is it something else combined with some of those mentioned speculations?

My own experience tells me that there are dynamics at play that may favor girls. First let me state that my own three sons have done extremely well in college. The older two have Masters degrees and the younger one a Bachelors degree. The older two were tested back when I.Q. tests were still considered okay to do, and had results in the 150 range. The youngest wasn't offered that opportunity, but he seems quite capable of holding his own. They all read and write very well, thank you.

Okay, that's too small of a sample. Agreed.

My wife says boys get their intelligence from their mothers and girls from their mothers and their fathers. Given the performance of boys these days, I can only conclude that this generation of boys had dumber mothers than last generation since the female offspring of last generation's men seem so much more intelligent and more capable of attending college. Read that again, slowly.

Okay, maybe intelligence is not related to college participation or test results. After all, how could there be that many dumb mothers out there?

So, maybe something else is causing boys to stay away from college in droves.

Could it be:

  • Colleges actively seeking girls
  • Curriculae altered to include courses not interesting to boys
  • Teaching altered to facilitate female learning versus male learning (oh, believe me, there is a difference)
Or could it be a generation of parents who don't set the expectations or get involved in their boys' educations?

As a high school student and an undergraduate many years ago, I noticed a peculiar difference between the young men and women: women learned what was taught better than boys. Boys applied what was taught better than girls. For example, girls who took geometry did well and memorized theorum and axioms more quickly than boys. Boys seemed to be able to translate the knowledge into hands on applications a little better... for example, building a structure using geometry without actually having to measure the materials with a tape.

It seems the emphasis is now on learning what is taught more than applying what is taught. You know, be patient and learn now. You can get "hands-on" later. Boys may simply be getting bored.

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There is always an easy solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.
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“The Divine Afflatus,” A Mencken Chrestomathy, chapter 25, p. 443 (1949)
... and one could add "not all human problems really are."
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FEDERAL RESERVE & HOUSING

SEARCH BLOG: FEDERAL RESERVE for full versions... or use the Blog Archive pulldown menu.

February 3, 2006 Go back to 1999-2000 and see what the Fed did. They are following the same pattern for 2005-06. If it ain't broke, the Fed will fix it... and good!
August 29, 2006 The Federal Reserve always acts on old information... and is the only cause of U.S. recessions.
December 5, 2006 Last spring I wrote about what I saw to be a sharp downturn in the economy in the "rustbelt" states, particularly Michigan.
March 28, 2007
The Federal Reserve sees no need to cut interest rates in the light of adverse recent economic data, Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday.
The Fed chairman said ”to date, the incoming data have supported the view that the current stance of policy is likely to foster sustainable economic growth and a gradual ebbing in core inflation”.

July 21, 2007 My guess is that if there is an interest rate change, a cut is more likely than an increase. The key variables to be watching at this point are real estate prices and the inventory of unsold homes.
August 11, 2007 I suspect that within 6 months the Federal Reserve will be forced to lower interest rates before housing becomes a black hole.
September 11, 2007 It only means that the overall process has flaws guaranteeing it will be slow in responding to changes in the economy... and tend to over-react as a result.
September 18, 2007 I think a 4% rate is really what is needed to turn the economy back on the right course. The rate may not get there, but more cuts will be needed with employment rates down and foreclosure rates up.
October 25, 2007 How long will it be before I will be able to write: "The Federal Reserve lowered its lending rate to 4% in response to the collapse of the U.S. housing market and massive numbers of foreclosures that threaten the banking and mortgage sectors."
November 28, 2007 FED VICE CHAIRMAN DONALD KOHN
"Should the elevated turbulence persist, it would increase the possibility of further tightening in financial conditions for households and businesses," he said.

"Uncertainties about the economic outlook are unusually high right now," he said. "These uncertainties require flexible and pragmatic policymaking -- nimble is the adjective I used a few weeks ago."
http://www.reuters.com/

December 11, 2007 Somehow the Fed misses the obvious.
fed_rate_moves_425_small.gif
[Image from: CNNMoney.com]
December 13, 2007 [from The Christian Science Monitor]
"The odds of a recession are now above 50 percent," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "We are right on the edge of a recession in part because of the Fed's reluctance to reduce interest rates more aggressively." [see my comments of September 11]
January 7, 2008 The real problem now is that consumers can't rescue the economy and manufacturing, which is already weakening, will continue to weaken. We've gutted the forces that could avoid a downturn. The question is not whether there will be a recession, but can it be dampened sufficiently so that it is very short.
January 11, 2008 This is death by a thousand cuts.
January 13, 2008 [N.Y. Times]
“The question is not whether we will have a recession, but how deep and prolonged it will be,” said David Rosenberg, the chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch. “Even if the Fed’s moves are going to work, it will not show up until the later part of 2008 or 2009.”
January 17, 2008 A few days ago, Anna Schwartz, nonagenarian economist, implicated the Federal Reserve as the cause of the present lending crisis [from the Telegraph - UK]:
The high priestess of US monetarism - a revered figure at the Fed - says the central bank is itself the chief cause of the credit bubble, and now seems stunned as the consequences of its own actions engulf the financial system. "The new group at the Fed is not equal to the problem that faces it," she says, daring to utter a thought that fellow critics mostly utter sotto voce.
January 22, 2008 The cut has become infected and a limb is in danger. Ben Bernanke is panicking and the Fed has its emergency triage team cutting rates... this time by 3/4%. ...

What should the Federal Reserve do now? Step back... and don't be so anxious to raise rates at the first sign of economic improvement.
Individuals and businesses need stability in their financial cost structures so that they can plan effectively and keep their ships afloat. Wildly fluctuating rates... regardless of what the absolute levels are... create problems. Either too much spending or too much fear. It's just not that difficult to comprehend. Why has it been so difficult for the Fed?

About Me

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Michigan, United States
Air Force (SAC) captain 1968-72. Retired after 35 years of business and logistical planning, including running a small business. Two sons with advanced degrees; one with a business and pre-law degree. Beautiful wife who has put up with me for 4 decades. Education: B.A. (Sociology major; minors in philosopy, English literature, and German) M.S. Operations Management (like a mixture of an MBA with logistical planning)