<p>*why are some campuses so short on males? *</p>
<p>For one thing, high school graduation rates for boys are lower than for girls, regardless of ethnicity. Thats why qualifying boys have an advantage in the admissions process today; theyre in relatively short supply.</p>
<p>drizzit, it is often history. They were originally girls schools. And even now, they retain something of the culture of girls schools. My daughter goes to a terrific private HS that was a girls school. It is highly sought after and is now 50/50. But, it is really good at dance, art, writing and has no football or hockey team. I just took my daughter shopping for shoes to their formal (it’s a small school so all grades can go) and at 5’8" with high heels, I pointed out to her that she’s going to be taller than all the boys in her group. There is a small sample issue there, but the macho guys generally do not go there. This is combined with what PayFor is addressing, lower HS graduation rates for boys.</p>
<p>NEMom, I don’t think the coupling is the big issue. Based upon what I read, I think the big issue from a social standpoint is likely to be that boys in a 70/30 F/M setup are often pretty exploitative of the girls. This is consistent with the article cited by the blog Payfor to which supplied the link. Boys in that environment don’t have to learn social skills that boys in a 50/50 or 70/30 M/F environment have to learn to get dates, have sexual relationships, find girlfriends. I am sure coupling happens, but my impression is that the other issue may be significantly greater. Without even trying to be exploitative, this is what HoppingLass’s nephew was experiencing: he didn’t have to do anything but be there for requests to help with math and moving (well, he did have to move a lot of sofas) and girls would drop by.</p>
<p>I would also let my daughter attend a school that is 70% male. </p>
<p>I agree that there may be some social consequences to the gender imbalance, but if it’s OK with the student, it’s OK with me.</p>
<p>It’s not at the college level, but my daughter attended a high school IB program that was more than 70% female. It made dating difficult (for the girls), but it also led to people traveling in packs – even to homecoming and prom – with less of an emphasis on pairing off than you would see at most schools. I see nothing wrong with this.</p>
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<p>Because more women than men go to college, and when at college, more women than men major in the liberal arts. Thus, liberal arts colleges tend to be majority female. If you want a 50/50 ratio, look for a university that has an engineering school (and perhaps also a business school). Engineering schools still skew heavily male, and business schools skew male to a lesser extent. The presence of such schools on a campus would tend to offset the female predominance in the liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Well, I worry about my son, and not about him exploiting women. Frankly, he is a gentleman with very good social skills (I know, I am his mother, but it really is true). I would like to keep it that way. I want him to have a good college experience, without being coupled off within 2 weeks, and I really will need to look at male graduation rates, bc I do believe that there is such a thing as tailoring classes toward the majority (in this case women). The link about why males fail was an eye opener for me.</p>
<p>Please, enlighten us as to how these girls post stellar scores in the math and sciences? Is there a version of standardized tests that comes with a pink cover, a sparkly pen and points are given for writing “Me + Math=TruLuv4ever”? Do you not have to take the test if you have cramps? Do they substitute questions on Physics with an evening gown section?</p>
<p>As you probably know, girls score lower than boys do on standardized math tests.</p>
<p>Hey, I have a story about sparkly pens & such. My son, who is a history buff and scored 800 on his world history SAT test, used to get dinged in middle school history class because his class notes were too messy and disorganized. Once, when he borrowed a female classmates notes who had received As for that part of her grade, I noticed that HER extremely neat notes were written in various colored inks and had heart-shaped dotted is. It was then that I realized my son didnt have a chance for an A in that class.</p>
<p>Well, of course, payfor. Everyone knows that only people with a uterus can learn to be organized and that it’s an impossibility for the fellas to learn how to be organized. </p>
<p>Ohmygoodness, that explains my infertility issues! I am a naturally disoranized woman. It’s so clear now. Stupid uterus not doing it’s job!</p>
<p>What I know about standardized tests is the gap between boys and girls scores in science and math is much smaller than the gap between boys and girls in the other subjects. </p>
<p>Which is why the author of the blog you posted to wrote this:
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<p>By they way, I have a son. When his teachers took off points for being disorganized (as my teachers had done with me. see: uterus-yer doin’ it wrong!), we sided with the teachers (especially his father, who is, in my opinion, unnaturally organized. uh-oh…maybe I"m not the only problem in this unholy union we’ve got going.)</p>
<p>Instead of blaming multi color pens and hearts drawn in margins, we taught him the skills to be organized. And we’ve been teaching and supporting him that skill for the past ten years. Just as we do with other life skills that come naturally to some but not to others.</p>
<p>I will second the idea running thread that the 70/30 ratio will not make his likelihood of coupling up that much higher than at a 50/50 ratio. If your son is interested in a relationship, he will probably end up in one. Most males in the college age bracket do not want relationships–they want hookup buddies and one-night flings, so even at a school with a 50/50 ratio, if your son wants to couple up, he will–because in “balanced” schools there are always far more single girls looking for a relationship than single men. You’d need to go far into the other direction–30/70 where men have to start competing for women–in order to for his coupling to be less likely.</p>
<p>I had to add to pugmad’s “sparkly pen”, girls and math reply. My D’s idea of socializing is having friends over to spend 8 hours on Saturday studying math (and then bragging that they did.) She loves to hang out after school - in her math room w/teacher and a handful of students - some moms and I brought them pizza and drinks on Friday. She doesn’t use a sparkly pen…but loves her purple dry erase marker!</p>