The Expanding Gender and Racial Gap in American Higher Education

Gender Disparity in Education is not New, but its Impact on Society will be SignificantWhile national attention about the smaller number of males attending and graduating from college began in the late 1990s, this author had researched and written about the disproportionate college enrollment and attainment of African American and other students of color for more than thirty years, with the first article appearing in The Journal of Negro Education (Garibaldi, 1986; 1991; 1997, 2000). In February 1999, U.S. News & World Report focused on the topic in an article titled "Where the Boys Aren't" (Koemer, 1999), which highlighted the finding that 60 percent and higher proportions of females were enrolled at private and public colleges across the country at that time. Six months later, education policy analyst Thomas Mortenson wrote a similar article for The College Board Review, "Where Are the Boys? The Growing Gender Gap in Higher Education," in which he discussed the potential impact that young males' decision not to attend college would have on the larger society and within families (Mortenson, 1999). The following year, Jacqueline King published an American Council on Education report, "Gender Equity in Higher Education (Are Male Students at a Disadvantage?)," which refuted the premise that there is "a generalized educational crisis among men" and challenged the thesis that White, middle class males are falling behind their female peers in academic performance (King, 2000). She noted, however, that "African-American, Hispanic, and low-income males lag behind their female peers in terms of educational attainment and are far outpaced by White, Asian-American, and middle class men and women" (King, p. 2)During the 1990s, a related debate on gender disparity occurred between Myra and David Sadker and Christina Hoff Sommers. The Sadkers contended in their book, Failing at Fairness: How America's Schools Cheat Girls, that boys are treated more favorably in schools than girls (Sadker & Sadker, 1994). But Sommers countered in a 2000 article, "The War Against Boys," that girls have an advantage over boys, receive better grades, have higher educational aspirations, enroll in high-level math and science courses, read more books, outperform boys on tests for artistic and music ability, do more homework than boys, and so forth (Sommers, 2000). Regardless of whether the preceding beliefs merit serious consideration for the explanation of differential academic performance by males and females, this author contends that multiple complex factors are needed to explain the significant gender and racial disparities that exist in postsecondary degree enrollment and attainment; and he brings the perspective of a faculty member and administrator who has observed these gender gaps at four universities of varied Carnegie classifications, sizes, and student demographics. If these serious imbalances in enrollment and graduation rates are not halted, they will eventually impact the country's future economy, universities' social dynamics, marital decisions, family relationships, and the composition of skilled and professional occupations.African Americans' Educational Gender Disparities Preceded the Brown DecisionThroughout the history of America, African Americans' educational opportunities were limited. Black girls attended and matriculated through elementary and secondary school more often than boys, and girls were likely to attend college while boys obtained jobs or joined the military. Therefore, the disproportionate enrollment of African American women in college prior to and after Brown was not unusual. But as more racial groups increased their higher education enrollment after the implementation of open admissions and affirmative action policies in the late 1960s and 1970s in public and private universities, respectively, more attention began to be focused on African Americans' postsecondary enrollment and degree attainment because it represented the largest group of non-White college students. …