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Male trends spark university action |
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Tuesday, 06 February 2007 |
Editor’s Note: This is the third of a three-part series on the higher education gender divide.
by LILLIAN HOGAN
News Editor
The university is hard at work trying to answer the question of why the six-year graduation rate for Appalachian State University males is over 10 percent less than females.
Problems many males face in college first originated during childhood.
 | Wallace
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Women
tend to engage more on campus because as children they are raised to
value relationships whereas men are less encouraged to do so, Dr. Diane
M. Waryold, a human development and psychological counseling assistant
professor, said.
While women seem to be conditioned for “helping professions,” they are
missing in science and engineering fields, Beth Davison, associate
professor in the department of sociology and social work, said.
This is troubling because these fields have a higher market value, she said.
Nationwide in 2004, women made up 27 percent of computer science
majors, 22 percent of engineering majors, 38 percent of math majors and
32 percent of physical science majors, according to the National
Science Foundation.
On the other hand, in North Carolina public and private institutions,
the average psychology class is 80 percent female and the average
education class is 83 percent female, according to research compiled by
Jeff Doyle, director of Housing & Residence Life.
Numbers still show, however, that women are surpassing men in leadership, grade point average and graduation rates.
“Women, from an emotional and mental perspective, are given many more opportunities to build support systems necessary to succeed in school,” Waryold said. “Women are more likely to have elaborate social networks and be plugged into their community at a greater rate.”
Socialization, which seems to come more naturally for females than males, could explain why Appalachian women hold more leadership positions on campus than Appalachian men.
In terms of leadership, relationships often have a one-on-one focus and require an “emotional intelligence” that appeals more to women, Michael R. Reed, Interfraternity Council president and senior exercise science major, said.
Reed said Appalachian can increase male interest in leadership positions by offering emotional development courses geared toward men.
“Everything [Appalachian] does for women is great,” Reed said. “At the same time, we can’t forget that men need programs too.”
However, enrolling males in such programs could be a challenge.
Behaviorally, men tend to gravitate toward less community-engaged activities.
The Bart Simpson syndrome, which is the inclination men have to excel at exercising, partying, watching TV, relaxing and playing video games, is one of the theories as to why men aren’t as successful in college as women, according to research compiled by Doyle.
“Video games are definitely a distraction, like TV, but [the issue] is a lot more complicated than one reason,” Phillip A. Zucchino, ASU Gaming Club president and senior geography major, said.
However, Appalachian men are much more engaged in video gaming than their female counterparts.
At ASU Gaming Club’s last big event, there were 150 participants – 10 or less of whom were female, Zucchino said.
Appalachian’s other struggle is to recruit males to helping professions. Waryold said typical “helping profession” career paths don’t pay much.
“Many men still plan to play the traditional role as the family breadwinner,” she said.
However, Waryold pointed out, women are now expected to take on traditional household responsibilities while excelling in the workplace.
She likens females with professional and traditional tasks to Superwoman.
“On the outside we look successful professionally, but the stress is increasing,” she said. “Women are running around with ‘S’s’ on their chests. This will continue to happen until we break down stereotypes of traditional roles in the household or start to appreciate women’s work in the home.”
Although higher education gender issues are troubling, many experts say the real divide is based on ethnicity and class.
“At the end of the day, ethnicity attached to being economically disadvantaged is the biggest challenge,” Cindy A. Wallace, associate vice chancellor for Student Development, said. “We don’t have structure in higher education to support those groups yet.”
The gender gap is greatest among low-income students of all races according to the “Gender Equity in Higher Education 2006” report by The American Council on Education.
The college-going rate for low-income individuals is a particular concern for Appalachian administration.
“Nationally, figures show more females than males enrolling in college, but if you look at it in terms of class, males at the lower end of the socio-economic ladder tend to be worse off,” David P. Haney, associate vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, said. “I don’t know how that translates here because [Appalachian] students tend to be at the higher end of the socio-economic levels.”
Appalachian teams of faculty and staff meet regularly to discuss troubling higher education questions.
“What are we going to do for this first-generation, low-income group to graduate from high school and persist to college?” Wallace said.
With so many concerned members on campus, Appalachian seems to be on the right track.
“I think we are really discovering that Appalachian is well-positioned because we’re paying attention to these trends and we’re verifying them,” Wallace said.
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