Boy/Girl Graduation Rate Difference

Continuing on the education series, I would like to break down each problem one by one if necessary. I'll first start with the graduation discrepancy between the sexes. If you want some information on the research as to size of the discrepancy see my previous post Education facts by Gender.

So let's start with some possible reasons as to why we see the graduation discrepancy between the sexes. I'll use a list format to show some possible reasons

1. Education's primary usefulness is job related and men can still find jobs without a high school degree or college degree

2. Males are not motivated to learn.

3. The schooling environment is not suitable for males.

4. Bias

Of the three listed, I think the first may be the most likely culprit. Looking at the broad market of jobs there are still many jobs that don't require a HS diploma or college degree. These jobs are typically male dominated and for many guys don't pay poorly. If we look at the incentives in place to get an education, men as a group, have less incentive then women. As long as a guy can expect to get a job that will pay enough to fill a provider role, they'll have a stronger incentive to forego their schooling. Of course that's the economic outlook on it.

I don't overall,l see points two and three as being overriding factor as to graduation discrepancy. I don't think males are unmotivated to learn, some may be, but in general I think it's more a matter of what they want to learn. Schools are not always able to cover the entire interest set of their students and that could be part of the reason we see some guys leaving as their interests are covered. Of course, issue three is the very heart of the debate for the boy crisis. I think that may be better reserved for another post so I won't comment on that at the moment.

Thoughts?

*Updated to add bias to the list.