Gender gap in higher education will widen by 2020

I'm glad that women are able to go to college in large numbers, but based on what I've seen with my adult children, education is geared toward people who can tolerate massive hours of sitting and poring over books. If you are a very active person (like many young men are), you will go completely bonkers trying to be successful in college. I have no doubt that the intense nature of the college format is a prime contributor to the self-destructive behaviors so prevalent on college campuses, for both males and females, by the way. Perhaps females just have a higher tolerance for the whole thing.

Most are born with a built in 'scholarship?'

Interesting - I'm wondering if there's any correlation between this and the loss of blue-collar manufacturing jobs - the 12 hrs/day jobs that are taken mostly by men - that's been biting America where it hurts?

Not trying to be snide here - just wondering if our priorities to shift towards some sort - any sort - of higher education have helped to make factory workers less and less in demand.

For myself, a smarter women is a sexier woman, any day of the week.

Can we now cut the constant crap about women making less than men, all these take your daughter to work day, etc....

I took a few classes at a local jr. college when I first started my small business in 1995. I took two classes of business law and two classes in business/marketing. I havent made less than $150,000 in any given year since 1995 and I have no student aid to repay. My friends urged me to take Literature, science and all my electives etc... They had $10,000 or more to pay back and they average around $60,000 a year. Moral of the story: Dont take more than what you need to.

I am applying as Dean of the '"White Heterosexual Male Studies Department" at Harvard. Classes will be held in my Man Cave.

I love how articles, books, etc. still feel the need to jam in the general blanket statement, "but women still earn less than men", but without giving any reasons why. The clear implication must be...sexism! Even in 2011! Let's all get angry together! Or, let's get logical about it:

How about this--when men do earn more money than women for the same job (which happens less often in 2011 than before--it's usually because men tend to be more focused on work and do fewer interfering multi-tasking roles than women do. Women simply juggle more--babies, kids, house, social calendar, medical issues, community involvement, etc. Women are also more likely to move away for a relationship, request a part time/flexible schedule, take time off for a baby, have health/medical issues, etc. Men don't usually present as many of these extra complications, so workplaces are often hesitant to over invest in women. Hence, men still earn somewhat more than women on average.

Men tend to be more simple, solitary creatures who tend to devote themselves to work more and hence spend more time doing it. Men also define themselves by their work and take it as a biggest part of their identity. With women, it's usually relationships--often kids. Their work tends to fall in somewhere after that. No offense to women, but they simply can't do it all, and since their time tends to get split more directions, men tend to be more productive and dedicated and hence more rewarded at work. Men also tend to take less time off for things like having babies, tending to sick kids, doctors appointments, etc. Employers tend to value the more single minded dedication of men and often reward them accordingly. Not PC, but very true.

Just because these factors aren't talked about out loud doesn't mean they don't heavily factor in in the real world business environment. Most old traditional "sexism" is dead. Articles like this making blanket statements aim to keep it going.

Liz Goodwin, the hottest of the Yahoo Reporters.

and yet another study will say "women make less than men" so we need to "equalize" the equation more. this is a bunch of #$%$

I hope these women are paying for their own college education. I hope they work hard to pay off all those student loans and not go out and marry some guy and demand that he pay.

Gentlemen, never marry a woman who has outstanding student loans.

I wonder to what extent this is due to gender bias on the part of elementary school teachers. When our sons were elementary school the teachers seemed completely unaware of how to relate to boys. Their teaching styles worked well for school-age girls but not for boys, who have different cognitive strengths.

Yeah, higher ed no longer a sausage fest..SWEET!

The question becomes whether people are truly "better" or "more highly" educated.
Look closely at colleges. How many have interns as instructors ? Is this worth the tuition charges ? How many have instructors that truly have been effective in their fields ?
Or are they interns educated in theory . that merely advanced ? Fools teaching fools . .
I have known a few geniuses thru the years, the educational system was a nuisance to them.
They were maniacal about their feild. Most had to be told to bathe & eat. More than one would fall asleep at their desks. Education is an industry in which most hope to "buy a ticket".

We gotzta get better jobs --- but do not tell me we gotzta study hard kause we not goin too! gibe me some welfare yall!

It's a bit late, we should shut our border and tax them for their unfair practices long ago! China has been flush the world with TRASH! Look at all the thing that made from China, they are copy-cat without license, poor quality, unsafe, unhumanne, bad content, unattracted, unhealthy...from the toys for kids, trash bag not able to handle the trash and may harm your health, to the foods and even their fruits, veggies and produces with all the crazy chemical ingredients, growth hormone, antibiotics; they are adding without any rules or regulation... These are what really get from these truly garbages. It's time for America to change the world, to stop those Chinese that flush our World, polluted our environment! Go America! MADE IN THE USA!
What's the coincidence! the rising of Chinese products and human terrible diseases? (Autism, flu, Hand-foot-mouth...) What's Climate Change? What the hell? Who know with all the lead and heavy metals in Toys they flush the world! All of the crazy chemicals they used for candies, milk, foods, snacks,fruits...
What's China really doing? They're showing that they are powerful now, trying to rob their small neighbors; expand their territory, destroy the natural habitat from Africa to South America to Australia...
When it comes to time to help our World: from disaster to disaster, we have never seen China giving anything back! The African Famine, The Haiti Earthquake, The Japanese Natural Disaster, The US 9/11, the Sunami at Indian See...
The World's truly lucky when the Nuclear Disaster happen in Japan! If it's China, good luck everyone! God bless our World!

Emilio from Texas: Just goes to show you that a piece of paper from a college is worthless...the only paper that matters is the green paper.
..
Worthless - right now the unemployment rate for college grads is about 4.5% - another fine example of the quality of education one gets in Texas. LMFAO!!

So in another few decades there will be more and more female lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers etc who will depend on the male carpenters, electricians, plumbers etc. and the tradesmen will out earn the professionals. That is not a bad thing!

Affirmative action run amok. The world is completely backwards.

if men making more money has nothing to do with ability and only shows sexism, what does women getting higher rates of admittance in school mean? must be sexism. Now where are the statistics of female graduates and how many work and how many stay home AND have student loans to pay...many of the women i went to law school with are now stay at home mom's with huge student loans...oh and they cried all the time during finals...

Why is it that blacks dominate professional sports? is it talent or reverse racism? Why is it that white men dominate science and engineering fields? is it talent or racism? Could there be a reason for men to earn more than females in some fields?