Education is a core issue for men and boys, and can be categorized into three main areas: educational attainment, misandry, and civil rights. All three are severely entrenched problems.
Graduation data from the National Center for Education Statistics demonstrates that the graduation rates of men and boys are on a steep decline with no end in sight:
As educational attainment among male students has declined over the last 40 years, the requirement of postsecondary education in the workforce has radically increased. The chart to the right is an excerpt from a presentation by Judith Loredo, Assistant Commissioner for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, at the 2012 Project MALES Symposium at UT Austin:
Also, men and boys in education:
Commit 80% of suicides (overall). College men ages of 18-24 commit suicide at six times the rate of women. Sources here and here.
Are twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD and 80% of those put on Ritalin (lower ed). Sources here and here
Are 75% of students diagnosed with learning disabilities. Source here.
Are 33% more likely than girls to drop out of high school. Source: Peg Tyre, “The Trouble with Boys.” Newsweek, January 30, 2006. Data cited from U.S. Department of Education.
Are much less likely to participate in student government, academic clubs, music, the performing arts, and student clubs. Source here.
Are suspended twice as often and expelled three times as often as girls (lower ed). Source here.
By age 12, boys are 60% more likely to have repeated at least one grade. Source: Peg Tyre, “The Trouble with Boys.” Newsweek, January 30, 2006. Data from U.S. Department of Education.
Receive the majority of Ds and Fs and the minority of As (lower ed). Source: Dr. Michael Gurian and Kathy Stevens, The Minds Of Boys: Saving Our Sons from Falling Behind in School and Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005.
These gender inequities are apparent across the lines of race and class, but tend to be more severe among male students of color.
The gap between male and female students in literacy skills is six times the gender gap in math skills (where boys are ahead). Source: Educational Testing Services (ETS) Gender Study, “Trends by Subject, Fourth through Twelfth Grades,” Figure 2-1. Cited in Misreading Masculinity by Thomas Newkirk, p. 35.
The number of boys who said they did not like school rose 71% between 1980 and 2001. Source: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, Monitoring the Future Study, 1980 to 2001. Cited in National Center for Education Statistics, Trends in Educational Equity of Girls and Women: 2004, p. 45, Figure 13: “How do you feel about school?”
Misandry is sexism against men and boys. It can be expressed in a myriad of ways. For a detailed and extensive definition, please see the page on misandry. Here are two examples:
When two young men were exonerated after being falsely accused of date rape at Vassar College, the Assistant Dean of Students Catherine Comins said: "Men who are falsely accused of rape can sometimes gain from the experience. They have a lot of pain, but it is not a pain that I would necessarily have spared them. I think it ideally initiates a process of self-exploration. 'How do I see women?' 'If I didn't violate her, could I have?' 'Do I have the potential to do to her what they say I did?' Those are good questions."
Here is a poster that for years was hung on the window of the Women's Resource Center at the University of Ottawa in Canada (source here):
The most pervasive civil rights violations in schools today are free speech and due process violations. This is especially true for men and boys accused of sexual misconduct. For examples, see blog posts and videos (below) on The April 4th Directive (higher education) and Sexual Harassment Hysteria in Lower Education.
More on this page will be added in the future.