Failing Boys

The Herald reports:

Two-thirds of bachelor degrees last year went to women, the highest figure on record in New Zealand.

I find it amusing that so much time and energy is spent talking about pay gaps between men and women, and so little time about the educational chasm between males and females.

Twice as many women as men are graduating with a bachelors degree. That is huge. In one sense it is great that just a few decades on from an era where women were discouraged from tertiary study, they are doing so well. But the under-achievement of males is now endemic.

Director of the Institute of Policy Studies Dr Paul Callister said he was surprised by the latest figure. Tertiary organisations believed the gender gap had peaked.

“Universities have often argued that men were just falling behind relatively [to women]. But they are now falling behind in sheer numbers too.

“It wouldn’t be a concern if males were pouring their way into other training options. But … females are a higher proportion of all training options from Level 1 to 3 to doctorates.”

Even doctorates – that is a change.