How completely strange that the subject of diversity/inclusion/sustainability is, first, discussed as a single topic on this thread and second, presented as an explanation for the apparent gender gap in educational outcomes. Seriously, people! Environmental science is science! Sustainability is also science! And do you really think that boys somehow react fundamentally differently to the incorporation of “diversity” in history, for example? What does diversity even mean in this context? If mentioning one or two contributions made by females in the course of human history turns off boys, my goodness, what to say!
Majors like Gender and Women Studies and Black Studies are just as rigorous as any other History/Sociology- type major. They are often interdisciplinary, require students learn analytical thinking skills and how to write, and most important, do not have any connection to diverging educational outcomes by gender! Any student not interested in those majors has a simple choice - do not major in one of them. The mere presence of interdisciplinary majors has virtually no impact on the quality of chemistry or biology courses.
On the comment: " …even science has been brought down to the emotional side." – What can that possibly mean?!! Seriously! Science is not science anymore? Woe is me, poor boys!
This whole thread got off topic. The original poster discussed diverging educational outcomes by gender. Others commented that this has been an issue of much research for many years, but there are no easy answers and even the broad social implications are complex.
Some posters very casually blame parents - somehow, we hold our sons to different academic standards or permit more unacceptable social behavior from boys. But this is typical - when in doubt, blame bad parenting. I guess it is easier than considering that even with focus and effort, each child is an individual and we as parents cannot totally control our children’s destinies.