You Can't Believe Everything you Read
January 15, 2010
Hat's off to Carpe Diem's Mark Perry for refuting an academic's claims that women are underserved by the U.S. Education system, and for reminding people that you can't believe everything you read.
Dr. Mary Ann Mason, a professor and co-director of the Berkeley Law Center on Health, Economic & Family Security, published an article–"Still Earning Less"–on Wednesday in The Chronicle of Higher Education asserting, among other things, that women are the "second sex" in the U.S. educational system.
In trying to determine the reasons for the disparity in pay between men and women, Dr. Mason notes, "at each education level, from K-12 onward, structural barriers discourage women from entering into the challenging, and much higher-paid, fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Women are diverted from such fields at each stage of their education. In K-12, girls receive less encouragement than boys in math and science. In high-school programs, they are channeled into certain service professions, like hair styling rather than computer repair. At the undergraduate level, women are clustered in education and health programs, while men dominate engineering and the physical sciences.
"In graduate school, the segregation is even more pronounced, and fewer women still go on to careers in academic science. At every level, the American educational system is failing young women by encouraging them to take a route that leads to lower pay, a route that will eventually limit them in providing for their families."
Mr. Perry quickly took issue with this and found evidence to refute it, which he posted on his blog on Wednesday and Thursday.
From his Wednesday blog:
Sorry to "screw up a good story by bringing up data and evidence" (see comments section), but according to this 2009 SAT report from the College Board:
1. The average number of years of math study for boys and girls in high school is almost identical: 3.9 years for boys and 3.8 years for girls.
2. The average number of years of science study for girls (3.5 years) in high school is almost the same as for boys (3.6 years).
3. High school girls had exactly the same math GPA as boys of 3.14, and a slightly higher average GPA for science (3.27) than boys (3.23).
4. More girls take biology and chemistry (55%) in high school than boys (45%), i.e. 122 girls per 100 boys.
5. There are 127 girls taking high school AP/Honors science classes for every 100 boys.
6. For high school students reporting more than four years of math study, the percentages are equal by gender: 50% of boys and 50% of girls take more than four years of math.
7. Both 50% of boys and 50% of girls in high school report that calculus is the highest level of high school mathematics taken.
8. More high school girls than boys took AP Honors math courses, by a ratio of 117 girls for every 100 boys.
Bottom Line: The evidence shows that high school girls are equally prepared, if not more prepared (more AP math and science classes), than high school boys for college programs in math, science and engineering.
If "structural barriers" are in place to deter and divert girls away from math and science in K-12, why are girls taking as many or more math and science classes in high school as boys and getting the same GPAs, and why are girls taking more AP Math and Science Honors courses than boys? You could make a stronger case that boys are being diverted away from math and science since they are significantly outnumbered by girls in AP Honors math and science courses, and high school biology and chemistry classes.
And from his Thursday blog:
The graduate school enrollment data in the chart above (available here) demonstrates that Ms. Mason is showing an extremely selective concern about sex imbalances in graduate school, since the enrollment data clearly show that: a) women are over-represented in graduate schools in general by a factor of 143 women for every 100 men, and b) women are over-represented in seven out of ten graduate fields in some cases like health sciences by as much as 398 women enrolled for every 100 men! If there's segregation in graduate school, it's men that appear to be the "victims" overall.
In fact, couldn't we say that American higher education is failing men because of the following breakdown for college graduates of the Class of 2009 (in addition to the over-representation of women in graduate school documented above)?
Associate's Degrees: 167 for women for every 100 for men.
Bachelor's Degrees: 142 for women for every 100 for men.
Master's Degrees: 159 for women for every 100 for men.
Professional Degrees: 104 for women for every 100 for men.
Doctoral Degrees: 107 for women for every 100 for men.
Bottom Line: Despite Ms. Mason claims, the data clearly suggest that men, not women, are the "second sex" in America's colleges and universities.
