RACHEAL ALVSTAD / Scroll Photo
While many people believe video games and music have a strong influence on scholastic performance, research shows media have little to do with falling grades.

Reversing the roles of the education gender gap

Dave Sheppard SHE04015@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

There is a standard thought often used to explain why there is an expanding gap between genders and education — boys play too many video games and listen to too much hip-hop music.

In reality, some researchers have discovered the influence of hip-hop music or too much video gaming has little to do with the growing gender gap, but the key has more to do with literacy skills.

Richard Whitmire, a USA Today editorial writer, reported that between 1992 and 2002, the gap between the educational performances of girls and boys, specifically in reading and writing, has widened significantly. Due to the reading and writing demands of college curriculums today, this lack in reading and writing abilities is keeping boys from becoming college material.

The effects on college campus can be seen through comparison of today’s gender balances with those of past years.

Whitmore said only eight years ago the gender balances of middle-class white men and women (those with incomes of $30,000 to $70,000) was an even 50/50, but as of last year the figure has dropped to 43 percent for the men.

At colleges throughout the country, 58 women enroll as freshmen for every 42 men, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

“[BYU-Idaho] has similar percentages,” said Roy Huff, associate academic vice president for curriculum. “As a university we are very concerned about completion rates ... but there are other factors we need to consider.”

Huff said one of the factors needing consideration is that “we have more males transferring to other schools than females.”

BYU-I also considers a variety of circumstances that differ from other universities, including missions, marriages and finances.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, in 2005, boys were over 50 percent more likely to repeat a grade in elementary school than girls and even more likely to be identified with a learning disability.

According to a study done by Scientific American on gender and the brain, women have greater neuron density in the temporal lobe cortex, the area of the brain that deals with verbal skills. Because of this, girls have genetic advantages over boys that make them better readers, especially early in life.

As the nation proceeds toward the graduation of today’s freshmen in four years, the male enrollment will drop and the female enrollment will rise, resulting in a 60/40 split.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, this drop will occur because more men than women will drop out before graduation.