Women Outpace Men In College Success By Big Margin

From Real Clear Education

 

Gender Gap: It’s been well documented that women are outperforming men in education, especially in higher education. There are approximately 2.2 million more women than men enrolled in college today. And, according to a new Atlantic piece by Alana Semuels, the gender gap is particularly exaggerated among low-income students. “Women from low-income and minority families especially have made great strides in recent decades,” writes Semuels. “Just 12.4 percent of men from low-income families who were high-school sophomores in 2002 had received a bachelor’s degree by 2013, compared to 17.6 percent of women. And in 2016, 22 percent of Hispanic women ages 25 to 29 had a bachelor’s degree, compared to 16 percent of Hispanic men.” The piece goes on to examine why this trend is occurring and why men are generally less interested in education and pursuing a postsecondary degree. One way to entice more young men may be to emphasize trade skills and vocational education. In a new piece for RealClearEducation, Jim Clements, the Trade Instructor of Mechanics, Carpentry and Welding at Boys Town High School, explains how teaching trades can be appealing to at-risk youth and can also help them perform better in traditional classroom settings.