Where the heck are all the men?

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TWO WEEKS AGO, while covering commencement, we noted “the increasing dominance of women among the community college studentry.”

It was hard to miss, looking at the assembled graduates: mostly women, with whips and jackboots.

No, but really, it’s a trend in our colleges, or so said one speaker at Saddleback College's commencement. I do recall the fellow even proclaimed that the proportion of female students is now 60 some-odd percent!

In this morning’s OC Register, our old pal Marla Jo is on the case, though her focus is on four-year institutions (Missing males puzzle colleges). Her article links the trend to broader issues in the state, including the increasing necessity of importing educated people:

It's only been three decades since women marched in the streets to demand the right to go to all-male universities. But today some experts wonder if men themselves are becoming the endangered species.

Nationally, women make up 58 percent of college and university students, with the percentage of men shrinking every year. The trend is even more pronounced among some ethnic groups and in some areas, attracting attention from researchers nationwide.

Women outnumber men 2-to-1 among the 40 percent of undergraduates age 25 or older, according to the American Council on Education.

"This has been going on for some time, but no one ever wanted to speak about it, because it's not politically correct," said retired Cal State Fullerton physics professor Mark Shapiro, who studies the trend. "The only people who would talk about it were college admissions officers, who were wondering where the heck all the men are."

…Experts say California already has too few college graduates to meet the demand from employers, requiring the state to import educated workers from other states and even other countries.

Policy leaders are becoming concerned about the untrained men left behind, without enough education to succeed in an increasingly technological world where more jobs require higher-level thinking.

..."There's been a significant problem of the underrepresentation of minority men on college campuses that has gotten worse," said Mark Justad, a board member of the [American Men's Studies Association]. "Recently we've started to see this impact the middle-class white male, and now we're starting to pay attention to it."

Justad said top-tier colleges and universities don't show much of a gender gap, but the trend becomes pronounced in middle-tier schools.

...Experts also say fewer men go to college than women because boys will more likely drop out of high school than girls, leaving the university applicant pool smaller.

So where are all the men?

"They go out and get jobs. They get busted and go to jail. Some go into the military," Shapiro said. "An awful lot just go into dead-end jobs."

See also

● Chancellor gets puppy, names it "Checkers"

● Young woman at Saddleback discovered "posing as a community college student"

● Secret White Stripes bassist finally breaks silence, reveals all

● Chancellor acknowledges "irresponsibility" in emigrating with only $8 in his pocket

● Fuentes vacations in Spain, buys Mace