Women 35% more likely to go to university than me.. and the gap is widening

[Spectral]

So women are better educated and still get paid less than men?

No, they're not "better" educated. They're more likely to get undergraduate degrees; this is not synonymous with "better educated". What those degrees are in matters a lot.

[Deleted]

Just because you're going to university doesn't mean that you will be more successful and better paid than someone who didn't go to university. From my own experience it feels like women are taking more useless courses than men.

[Jibjub]

The education system in the US (and I would assume most Western cultures) is overwhelmingly feminine--so this isn't really a surprise.

I recommend you look at the works by Lionel Tiger to get a good idea of how and why this is happening. (great name, by the way -- AND he works with another anthropologist named Robin Fox. You just can't make this stuff up)

This is long but very much worth watching:

[tankbug]

Then why aren't they becoming engineers? It would have been nice to have some female coworkers. Could it be that teachers in a technical education are mainly male, and thus we get the same, yet opposite effect as in high school etc, where teachers are often female?

[AeneasBK]

You're drowning in opportunity in the UK. That or you're lazy, pick one.

[Kalis]

I had a conversation with someone on here before - possibly the OP - and later a similar conversation with someone else who has three children in the school system, and the problem seems to be that our education system has developed to repress typical boyish behaviour.

Boys generally develop later than girls and a one size fits all system is unhelpful.

[Spectral]

I had a conversation with someone on here before - possibly the OP - and later a similar conversation with someone else who has three children in the school system, and the problem seems to be that our education system has developed to repress typical boyish behaviour.

Boys generally develop later than girls and a one size fits all system is unhelpful.

Of course, we can't possibly considering separating boys and girls in school though. Anyone that suggests doing so is likely to be reminded that it's the current year and that separate, equal institutions are the worst thing ever.

[Kalis]

Of course, we can't possibly considering separating boys and girls in school though. Anyone that suggests doing so is likely to be reminded that it's the current year and that separate, equal institutions are the worst thing ever.

I am not sure that single gender schooling is an issue in the UK. I went to a boys only school, most of my nephews, nieces and cousins' children in England go to single sex schools.

The idea I had would not have required single sex schooling anyway, it involved putting back exams by a year or two, replacing GCSEs (taken at 16) with AS levels taken at 17 or 18, then the more specialist A levels rolled into the university first year.

[Durandro]

So women are better educated and still get paid less than men?

Not quite. Younger women are better educated then younger men, and also get paid more on average. When you include all ages women are about on par with men for education (though massively outnumber men for teaching roles) and men earn slightly more.

In 20 or so years, if trends continue, women will be better educated and earn a lot more then men across all age groups.

The question should really be why - and the only answer is the effect of 'positive discrimination'. Which is in itself not a good thing even for women, as many women who aren't actually capable are being pushed into fields that they aren't suited for to make up the numbers. This makes all the women who could have gotten there by their own merits look bad, and makes people assume they got into their positions due to their gender rather than their talents.

Positive discrimination needs to end. Society has moved on - women don't need the extra help. They are perfectly capable of looking after themselves.

And meanwhile a generation of young men are growing up bitter and confused and lacking any direction in their lives. This is also partially a problem with the schooling system in general, as it isn't tailored towards the more practical or physical people. Its why those who do move on to further education tend to do better then they did during their manditory education.

But I digress - educational oppurtunies need to be blind, being offered to students who earn it regardless of their background. And it should start from a much younger age.

[Magical Mudcrab]

It seems to me like young men these days are just too uninterested in building a life and career, while young women seem very keen on doing so.

Women always seemed to be more interested in actually learning and growing. And on top of that, they seem to be serious about a career and actually more mature, where many men just seem to be a man-child in their 20's and even 30's.

Out of the 30 people I hired last year, 23 are female. The balance in gender applying was in favor of men, but only a handful where actually able to answer basic questions about themselves and their career.

So in short, my observation is:
Young men = immature
Young women = very mature

These sentiments strike me as a little... hypocritical? It seems like it's a rather dismissive way to attempt to explain why less men want to go into higher education, rather than actually taking a look at the issue and trying to determine why. We have, and still are, looked at pushing women towards post secondary, and our governments/universities have issued grants and subsidies to do so, as well as research factors that may deter women from taking advantage of post secondary education; however, I've not seen these same initiatives started for men.

[Belize]

So women are better educated and still get paid less than men?

Well considering women aren't being paid less.

[Durandro]

Boys generally develop later than girls and a one size fits all system is unhelpful.

This is very true.

[unknowndeath]

who really cares about girls being educated? I honestly dont give a shit as i graduated from univercity and seen how shitty education is first hand. If i were to relive my life i would definitely stay away from education as it is a sector filled with people to feed the sectors related to education. In short stay away from school or any college and start doing something with your life.

[Eazy]

So women are better educated and still get paid less than men?

Yes, because they think that education = money.

[Deleted]

so this was an interesting read really and something I was saying years back when I was a teacher myself.

Boys are being left behind in the school system, and just as important, poor white males are being overlooked by the system.

Silly - Poor white boys are privileged.

it sounds insane, but young white men/boys are being left behind because nobody seems to care and this perception that just because your white and male you have it easy in life.

What are you kidding? - We live in a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, of course they have it easy.

[Raiju]

Having gone through the system not that long ago - it's not that we need a scheme or anything as much as less negative reinforcement from teachers. Due to my parents work I moved a lot (and therefore moved schools a lot) and it was the same in every one. Generally girls were preferenced in any educational aspect, which I guess is difficult to avoid. What can be avoided is explicitly giving boys lower marks than girls with the same answers (a couple teachers), telling higher achieving boys they shouldn't go to uni (most of my secondary school upper scorers) whereas girls should, and irrelevant side lessons intended only to spend 1 hour listening to the teacher explaining why girls are outright superior to boys.

The whole thing breeds resentment, and it's sad. I get why they want to encourage girls into uni and particularly STEM and I'm fine with that - but this shouldn't be done by actively attempting to stop boys from doing it, harming their education and the like.

I'd say it was a minority of teachers who took such approaches in schools, but it was still 30%~ as a general rule.

On a side note, girls who hung out with boys more than girls suddenly became 'bad students' no matter their performance. Even if the boys they hung out with were generally considered 'good students'.

[kamuimac]

Source: your ass

as someone who periodically takes part in evaluation of application process i do agree with him - most of young people who come in for interview have 0 applicable job experience (they dont even bother doin internships etc) . im sorry but writing in CV that you were a waiter or selling food from food stand doesnt mean jack shit when i need someone with certain set of skills - example whenever i see someone writing in CV " good knowledge of excel" i give them basic task to do very simple sorting of data - have yet to see a young person who dont fuck that up ,

What they mostly lack is the will to work and to learn - most would like to spend 3/4 of time in work on facebook instead ..working.

they do not realise that when they go into job market they no longer compete only against their friends from school but with anyone between age of 18-65 yet they think that jobs will come looking for them

[Deleted]

Of course, we can't possibly considering separating boys and girls in school though. Anyone that suggests doing so is likely to be reminded that it's the current year and that separate, equal institutions are the worst thing ever.

Unless its because you want to help women along, then its fine.

[kamuimac]

just going to university will not give you a good career
it has to be the right courses as well right ?

no - it has to be actually learning something and being able to apply that knowledge - just attending a course and passing the grade by miracle wont get them anywhere unless they have a rich daddy who will give them job after they graduate

[Kapadons]

I know the OP was the UK, but in the US has there ever been a time where a degree was worth less than it is now ? A piece of paper to wipe your ass with and tons of debt. We really need to start pushing technical colleges, vocation programs, and trade schools.

Also in the US, there are some 2500 4 year schools, and another 1600 2 year schools that gave out some 18 million degrees combined. I think poor white people can still find somewhere that will take them in