6 Are men the new minority?
In the spring of 2010, a group of academics gathered at Wagner College in Staten Island, N.Y., to propose a new field of research: “Male Studies.” Not to be confused with Men’s Studies, which has been around for more than two decades, Male Studies is founded on the premise that men are now disenfranchised, and women’s success has come at their expense.
Sound counterintuitive? It may be. But those backing the proposal have some solid statistics behind them. For starters, since 2000, women have represented about 57 percent of enrollment at colleges in the United States, they consistently outperform males in high school, and are now earning more Ph.D.s.
Taken at face value, it sure seems like something’s wrong. But is it correct to assume that the imbalance indicates discrimination against men? Or is it the other way around? In 2006, Jennifer Delahunty Britz, an admissions dean at Ohio’s Kenyon College, caused a stir when she wrote in The New York Times apologizing to female college applicants for routinely rejecting them in favor of their lessqualified male peers. Kenyon is far from alone: at Northwestern, the acceptance rate is 26 percent for women and 34 percent for men; and at the University of Richmond, the admissions rate for males is 13 percent higher than for females.
But despite probes into discrimination against women, it’s groups like those gathered at Wagner—who believe that it’s men who get the short stick—that are the most vocal about gender imbalance on campus. The folks at Wagner are quick to say that women are keeping mum because drawing attention to the issue would be tantamount to declaring victory for women’s rights.
With boys continuing to fall behind, and the recession claiming more men’s jobs than women’s, the subject has been getting increasing attention. But its sources and solutions remain hard to pin down. Leonard Sax, the author of Boys Adrift and Girls on the Edge, believes that the problem with boys is related to basic assumptions about gender, saying that boys increasingly think of academic success as unmasculine.
If there’s one thing that almost everyone agrees on, it’s that making sure that boys succeed in school does not have to come at the expense of girls—it’s not a zerosum game. In fact, Sax calls the conflict between the Male Studies and Men’s Studies advocates an “ongoing and unproductive debate.” Noting that although girls might do better academically, they’re also more likely to experience very high stress levels, eating disorders, and cutting, he says, “Boys have problems. Girls have problems. Both are disadvantaged, but they’re disadvantaged in different ways.” Before we declare victory for either gender, it’s a message to bear in mind.
1. Male studies focus on ______________.
A. the inferior position of men
B. the sacrifices made by men
C. the improvement of women’s position
D. the discrimination against women
2. The author cites the example of Kenyon College to prove ______________.
A. the inclusiveness of Jennifer
B. the malpractice of colleges
C. the discrimination against men
D. the discrimination against women
3. Leonard Sax attributes the more serious unemployment of men to ______________.
A. their arrogance for gender advantages
B. their ignorance of academic success
C. the misleading social stereotype
D. the unreasonable assumption about gender
4. Sax would agree that ______________.
A. the Male Studies and Men’s Studies should be prohibited
B. the Male Studies will be ultimately unproductive and useless
C. men and women, boys and girls, have an equal position
D. people should hold an objective attitude towards women’s success
5. The best title for the passage should be ______________.
A. Men and Women
B. Male Studies or Men’s Studies
C. The Discrimination Against Men
D. Disadvantaged Men
