Colleges Have a Guy Problem Article Analysis

The Unities States of America passed the law Title IX as part of the Education Amendment in 1972, prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any school receiving federal funding. At last, women were given an equal and fair opportunity to pursue higher studies and close the gender gap. Women have fought long and hard for every educational opportunity available while men seemingly had everything women strived for in the palm of their hands. After 40 years of Title IX being passed, why is it that men are treading behind when it comes to pursuing higher studies? In the article “college guys have a problem” the author, Derek Thompson, brings light to the gender gap in post-secondary enrollment that has been long ignored, and explores its deeper roots. Thompson suggests men haven't grown out of their old school ideology of masculinity and is overall the reason behind the wedge driven in the gender gap. This is significant because the slow-developing ideology of men directly affects young boys in whether they peruse post-secondary or not.

The idea of masculinity hasn't been developed to be connected to pursuing post-secondary education, instead, it gives young men false ideas of what it means to be a man and ultimately leads them in the wrong direction. Thompson featured the input of a Harvard professor, Claudia Goldin, on how men are more likely to indulge in riskier lifestyles. According to Goldin “historically, men have been more likely to drop out of school to work in hot economies, whether it’s in the factories of World War II or the fracking mines” (Thompson). Men not being inclined to pursue post-secondary for short-term physical labour jobs is an occurrence that the youth will observe and ultimately follow. This type of lifestyle may be sustainable for young men but for only a short time.  Down the road, they will “realize the best jobs require a degree they never got” (Thompson). Physical labour jobs can wear on a person after a while, once men realize they are too old/weak to continue these types of jobs they will regret it. Men pursue physical labour jobs and realize they should have gotten post-secondary education to work a job easy to maintain well past their prime, this is the example set which the male youth will follow, misleading them to the very same cycle.

Alongside the youth seeing men fall into physical labour jobs right after high school, there are no positive male role models in the community to lead the youth or for them to look up to. Men who live life without getting college degrees are most likely to live “haphazard” lives. According to Kathryn Edin, men without college degrees have been “detached from family, faith, and work”(Thompson) and that “male haphazardness might be reproducing itself among younger generations who lack stable role models to point the way to college”. Not only do men who decide to live haphazard lives, ruin their own futures, but they also ruin the futures of their sons not being able to be a stable role model in their lives. With the youth lacking a stable role model in their household the next place for them to turn to is school. Unfortunately, the male youth did not luck out in this area either as, “about 75 percent of public-school teachers are female”(Thompson). The male youth do not have any stable role models at home or at school leaving them no one to turn to or to point in the direction of college leaving them to fall into this same cycle as those who came before them.

The slow-developing male ideology is the culprit behind why young boys are not enrolling in post-secondary education, which pushes young boys into a never-ending cycle that will continue to expand the gender gap even further. Although men not enrolling into post-secondary is not uncommon, is more prevalent than ever before. It is in the hands of men to guide the male youth and lead them in the right direction towards enrolling in post-secondary education. This is a deep-rooted issue and needs to be addressed at the early stages of adolescence where a strong foundation must be laid out for young boys to successfully build upon.