How boys are falling behind in education
Years ago, boys were expected to put in a full day of men’s work, which often required them to forgo a college and, many times, even a high school education in order to enter the workforce. Meanwhile, the public consciousness focused on boosting female academic achievement while males steadily slipped through the education gap, unnoticed. However, a new report highlights the need to shift the attention back on males because the economic changes in today’s work environment mostly requires post-secondary education and some males’ inability to adapt accordingly is resulting in aversive implications.
“The world of work for men is changing rapidly, and men are not adapting easily or readily to this new world. A growing share of men is not adapting at all, and as a result their lives are falling apart,” writes Thomas Mortenson in the statistics-driven report, The Impact of Economic Change on Male Achievement and Its Implications for the Education of Boys. The report was compiled and published in May by The Boys Initiative, a non-profit organization focused on sharing “documented trends in recent years pertaining to the decline in boys’ and young mens' achievement.”
“In recent decades specialized efforts to boost girls' achievement have had major success in advancing their academic performance and professional options,” further states The Boys Initiative website. “This is testimony to the hard work and determination of those who have fought for needed women's rights. Meanwhile, [however] boys have slipped further and further behind, opening a new achievement gap that threatens the futures of millions of young men and affects those in their lives. Our children's advancement is not a zero-sum game; we need to address all of their needs to insure that all of them have the opportunity to lead fulfilling lives.”
Changing times
The statistics outlined in this report indicate the male labor force in 2010 dramatically differs from the work scene since labor force data first became available after World War II. In fact, male labor achieved new, all-time data lows in 2010 compared to 1948. For example, the report notes the male labor force participation in 1948 peaked at 89.2% versus 74.1% in 2010. The unemployment rate also peaked in 2010 at its highest, or 10.5%, since data first became available in 1948. Further, males’ median annual income dropped in 2009 to $36,801or 13% below the peak in 1973, which was $42,288.
“Since World War II, the American economy generally and the work force in particular has gone through substantial changes,” the report states. This includes an overall employment jump in the United States from 45 million people in 1948 to the 131 million employees in 2009. Adversely, the report shows males represent “the largest share of employees in the industries facing the greatest declines: construction, mining, manufacturing, and agriculture.”
The manufacturing industry, for example, shrunk by two-thirds from 1948 to 2009. Agriculture employment nearly became extinct during the same time frame with total employment declining to 1.6% from 14.5%, according to the report.
“Males (also) tend to be the smallest shares of industrial employment in those industries growing the fastest: education and health care, leisure and hospitality,” the report further states.
Educational attainment
Although it’s promising that the educational attainment among males tends to be highest in these growing industries, there are still males not adapting quickly enough. As a result, the report indicates they face serious personal and social implications.
“In the world of work where the jobs being created require substantial post-secondary education and training, males have been largely unresponsive. School enrollment is legally compulsory through age 16. After age 16 school enrollment is voluntary and this is where males start to opt out of education.”
The report notes generally more females tend to enroll in high school compared to males. Males also trailed behind females in terms of being high school graduates or possessing GEDs by the time they are 25 to 29 years old. This translates into 87.4% of males compared to 90.2% females in 2010. However, the report does indicate both of these figures rose more than 10 percentage points since 1970.
Since 1981, females also surpass males in college enrollment for each age bracket between 18 and 24 years old. For those education-minded males, the share of all degrees conferred to males dipped between 1970 and 2009. According to the report, the share of degrees awarded to males in the United States during this time frame is:
- Associate degrees: declined from 57.0% to 37.9%
- Bachelor’s degrees: declined from 56.9% to 42.8%
- Master’s degrees: declined from 60.3% to 39.6%
- Doctoral degrees: declined from 86.7% to 47.7%
Personal and social implications
“The changes in the working lives of men have consequences for family life … [and] in broader social measures men are struggling too,” states the report.
From a personal perspective, males are choosing to marry less, have more children out of wedlock, and live with their children less since relevant data were first reported for each category. Socially, men are struggling to stay out of state and federal prisons with the male incarceration rate in prisons at 949 per 100,000 in 2009 compared to the rate of 149 in 1925, according to the report.
“The scope of the problem is broad, but the information available makes it clear that the problem is not an isolated academic issue but is part of a more disturbing trend,” further states the website.
