R.J. Yancey
Staff Writer
rjyancey@valdosta.edu

Men and women enrolled in college are not equal academically. Women, as a whole, perform better. Compared to men, women have a higher enrollment rate, higher grades, and also a lower dropout rate. In comparison, as of 2006, male enrollment has been on the decline, making up 42% of the nation’s college students. So what’s the deal here? As a male college student, I’m a little embarrassed. Aren’t men supposed to be competitive? It turns out we are, just not so much when it applies to school. Studies actually indicate that on average men dedicate about 11 hours to recreational activities per week. Interestingly, women spend about that same amount of time each week focused on their studies.
To be honest, I really don’t know why men feel the need to neglect their school work. I’m not going to even pretend to be the exception. I wake up late, show up to class without any paper, and sometimes don’t even ask questions when I’m confused. Somehow I remain content by telling myself that it’s OK. As long as I get a grade and least make some sort of effort I’ll be fine. All I need is a degree. Businesses don’t look at your grades. All they want to see is a piece of paper showing that you invested the time. That may be kind of cynical, and is not completely representative of my personality, but it still represents a large number of male viewpoints.
What bothers me is that it really doesn’t come down to whether or not girls or boys are smarter. It is more about women being more dedicated than men. Women have more focus and ambition than they ever had. It can be hard to accept for some men, but women just aren’t content washing the dishes and watching over kids anymore.
In defense of the nation’s men who do perform exceptionally, it is interesting to note that after college, men still make up the majority in science and math related fields. Are these spots reserved for men based on decades of tradition? I would like to think not, especially considering that math and science portions of national assessments are dominated by men. With that said, it would be unfair not to acknowledge the fact that after college more women are taking on administrative roles.
So what have we learned here? Basically, men are trying just about as hard as we always have, whereas women are striving to break out of the “stay at home” model that their mothers and grandmothers represent. By doing this, women are becoming more successful not only in college, but also in their careers. If men want to catch up they will have to find a source of motivation. Perhaps the current state of the economy is enough for men to start striving to be more than average.