"Why can't a boy be more like a girl?"

"College administrators are really worried as school admissions approach 70% female. They're concerned because women won't choose a college with no men in it."

Part of me thinks it's a natural conclusion of boys being told they are insignificant compared to the uber-humans that women are.

but part of me thinks that it's perhaps the natural correction of women being suppressed for so long.
I'm wondering if you looked at the actual numbers (%-age of the population) of young men going into college, if the numbers are really all that different, and it simply reflects the increase of women entering college, and the work force.

Young men are still entering the work force, however low-tech it may be. We still need plumbers, electricians, auto-workers, mechanics, etc. None of these require a college degree, but a simple trade schooling, or Union training (IBEW does apprenticing for electrical workers).

Young men are also told, increasingly, that the military is the best way to go, then getting blown to hell in iraq, Afghanistan, or some other damned 'stan and returning a mess, unfit for college education. Sadly a love-interest sees the air force as his only way to get ahead in life, even though he's a brilliant programmer and 3D artist.

I am glad to see more women in university, of course, but I am disturbed a bit by this study.
My ex-boyfriend (who i still love dearly) also has a real lack-luster for doing anything with his life. His family has set up a trust fund so that all members get a free ride to college, and he simply has no ambition.

So it makes me wonder. I imagine that the push to improve girl's self image towards the positive has caused boys to be left behind.

that is, while it's good that girls are being encouraged to aspire to more than just being house wives, boys are simply being ignored, and not really given any alternative.

Geeks are still shunned, there are no sci fi programs on TV worth watching, and science education has been brutally raped since * got into office. There is no real push for boys to do anything worth while, no inspiration, and no one seems to care.

I imagine this will be corrected in the near future, when people realize that along with making girls feel better about themselves, this can not be done at the expense of boys. That is, boys need to be encouraged to strive for more in their lives as well.

Also, maybe it's time to admit that not everyone is cut out for college. That trade school is not a dishonorable way to go.

*shrugs* i dunno. i've had a long-ish day and im tired, but that's what my gut is telling me anyway.

There was a strong voc-ed program. A student could take horticulture, carpentry, shop, metalshop, electronics, reporting, graphic arts (offset printing), mechanical drawing, "office" (typing - what can I say, I'm old), or nursing.

For students who didn't feel like they fit in grade school, there was bound to be something to hold their interest well enough to get them through high school and perhaps beyond. In those days, nearly half of grade school teachers were men.

Now, new teachers don't have any direct knowledge of boys, nor are there any other teachers at the school who can give them that perspective. When boys get to high school, all of the activities which might hold a young man's interest have been eliminated because they are too expensive, interfere with state mandated activities or pose too much of a liability risk.

In my experience, 80% of teachers are well intentioned but ignorant of what makes boys tick, and 20% are openly hostile. They are on a mission to fix the world. The fact that their male students are failing is, at best, their own damn fault for being such slackers, or worse; justice.

My district's last male grade school teacher retires this year.