Higher ed panics as more men opt out of college for the real world
It’s no longer just a trend, but a reality. The gender gap on college campuses continues to widen, nationally and in Minnesota. This threatens the viability of the higher education system as we know it, and also shatters the longtime leftist myth about females not receiving the same academic opportunities as males.
Females enrolled in post-secondary education outnumbered men by 60 to 40 percent last year nationally, a record gap. But the disparity between the sexes was even higher on some Minnesota campuses, according to the Post Bulletin.
The trend is not a new one at Rochester Community and Technical College and Winona State University. Both campuses have had sizable gender gaps for years. What is striking is that the gap continues to widen.
The gender gap at RCTC, for example, stood at 59 percent women and 39 percent men in fall 2015. (Two percent of the total was not reported.) Six years later, the gap is closer to 2-to-1 (64 percent women and 35 percent men).
At WSU, the ratio of women to men has gone from 61-39 in 2015 to 67-33 in 2021. At Riverland Community College, it stands at 60-40.
After being demonized in much of the college curriculum for years, perhaps guys figure it’s not worth the price of admission, not to mention mounds of student debt. Regardless, some college administrators suddenly have discovered a newfound empathy for the species.
“It’s a huge concern,” said RCTC president Jeffery Boyd. “The message of the importance of higher education — it’s a marathon, not a sprint — has gotten lost.”
Many are aware of gender imbalances on college campuses, but even educators are surprised at how lopsided it has become.
College-age students who pass on college often begin flashing warning signs as early as elementary school.
“Some of it goes back to middle school and elementary school, where they have an interest and then they start losing that interest,” said Denise McDowell, WSU vice president for enrollment management and student life. “Once they sort of get behind, we see that even the drop-out rate for young men is higher than for young women.”
None of this is new, but the increasing attention suddenly being paid to the academic challenges faced by males after decades of neglect stands out.
College-age students who pass on college often begin flashing warning signs as early as elementary school.
“Some of it goes back to middle school and elementary school, where they have an interest and then they start losing that interest,” said Denise McDowell, WSU vice president for enrollment management and student life. “Once they sort of get behind, we see that even the drop-out rate for young men is higher than for young women.”
On the other hand, maybe these young men entering the workforce straight out of high school or trade school know more than the academic establishment thinks.
For Jackson Kennedy, a Kasson-Mantorville graduate, college was never part of the equation. Soon after graduation, he started working as an excavator, moving dirt with a skid loader and other earth-moving equipment.
At age 18, he now owns and operates his own excavation firm called GroundWorks. He owns a truck-and-trailer and mini-excavator.
Kennedy said the work appealed to him because it was hands-on. He doesn’t expect a college education to be an option for him later in life. Whatever new things he needs to learn can be learned on the job.
“College to me looks like another four years of school,” Kennedy said. “And I see a lot of people go into college, they study hard for a degree, and it seems a lot of them come out and don’t even use that degree.”
Not to mention being your own boss at the age of 18. That’s more than anyone can put a dollar figure on.