Education not about boys vs. girls
Toolbox
Published: August 4, 2006
Recent news reports have lent credence to claims of a "boy crisis." Some critics have blamed Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education, as the cause of the supposed crisis and called for its repeal. Others have called for single-sex education as a solution. I join with the American Association of University Women in maintaining that the real story is about girls doing better, not about boys doing worse.
As the AAUW's Vermont state education foundation representative I would like the general public to know the facts. New research by Education Sector, an independent education think tank, refutes claims that there is a "boy crisis" in education or that Title IX is the cause of it. This report shows that the perception that boys are in crisis comes from inadequate research, sloppy analysis and discomfort with the fact that although the average boy is doing better than before, the average girl has gotten ahead of him.
While the recognizable success of Title IX can be seen by the improving numbers of women in all levels of academia and across the professions, the battle for true equality continues. Gender bias and unfair gender stereotypes continue to impact females' opportunities; science and engineering are good examples. These differences have negative affects on the careers and wages of individual women, which in turn undermines the nation's ability to capitalize on the talents and abilities of all citizens to compete in the global marketplace.
Title IX opponents have created the troubling myth that expanded educational opportunities for girls have come at the expense of boys. They point to some statistics showing areas where girls are outperforming boys, discounting that many girls still struggle and many boys do well. Critics also point out that women make up the majority of students at four-year colleges, forgetting that more women and men are going to college than ever before, and that men are still the majority in the Ivy League. To view education in a "boys vs. girls" fashion oversimplifies a much more complicated issue. We also must consider a variety of factors, including race, geography and economic status. Gender distinctions are not the determining factor. Sadly, pitting one gender against the other misses the real point, and could lead us to false solutions.
Kathleen Corrao
Randolph Center
71