End of Men

It has become a familiar sight on campuses around the country: a crowd of women talking around the building, with hardly a man in sight. According to Tamar Lewin's article, "At College, Women Are Leaving Men in the Dust," men now make up 42 percent of the nation's college students. Which means women make up about 58 percent, a big difference from past decades.

In her article, " Do Women Let Men Get Away with Being Slackers?" Betsy Hart asks a good question, " If men were ahead of women educationally, as was the case for so long, would anybody care?" I would have to say no. Men have been dominating women since the beginning of time and nobody thought it was a problem then. Is the idea that women could be ahead of men so shocking that some people think it must be a crisis for men?

I would have to say yes. Not only are university admission officials trying to target males, some have gone so far as to take affirmative action. An article called, "College Gender Gap Widens: 57% Are Women," written by Mary Beth Marklin states that Jim McCorkell, founder of Admission Possible, comments: "We actually did a little affirmative action. If we had a tie (between a male and a female applicant), we gave it to a boy." To think that a qualified, prepared, and motivated young women be denied a space in college for a unqualified, unprepared, and unmotivated young man just to get more guys in college, is rather disturbing.

Not all colleges have gone to the extreme of affirmative action. Some just changed their admission policy to include more male friendly classes and activities. In William A. Draves and Julie Coates article, "The Solution in Action," Robert Massa, vice president for enrollment at Dickinson, states: "The secret of getting some gender balance is that once men apply, you've got to admit them." He has changed the whole admissions policy at Dickinson College to contain more male pictures and athletes as well as, classes especially designed to target males.

Colleges just targeting more males is not enough. Men seem to be not trying as hard as women. In the article, "At Colleges, Women Are Leaving Men in the Dust," Tamar Lewin states that, "In two national studies, college men report that they studied less and socialized more than their female classmates." M en don't seem to get the message that the world is changing and they need to get more education in order to be productively employed. There used to be plenty of high-paying jobs available to men in manufacturing and construction, but since the last recession them jobs seem to have disappeared. Men need to realize that if they want to go anywhere in today's economy, they need to take college seriously. Otherwise, before they know it a women is going to be running the world.