Men have easier time with college acceptance

[cally]

In a NYT editorial, a college admissions officer admits that women have to do better to get accepted. See this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x732865

[lukasahero]

1. From the article

"And what messages are we sending young women that they must...be even more accomplished than men"

Well duh. Must have been written by a guy 'cause we women have been saying that for years. Sorry, that was the first thing that jumped out at me.

[Warpy]

2. They quantified it in the mid 60s

and I needed 100 SAT points over the level of male acceptance to be considered.

It wasn't hard.

[spooky3]

6. I was told something more vague but otherwise similar

in the 1970s.

Affirmative action for white males.

[Katherine Brengle]

3. Copy of my response in the Lounge...

Men are getting stupider and/or less ambitious, so we should hold women to higher standards to even things out?

HA!

Talk about validation.

But seriously, "affirmative action" for men? Listen, they aren't being "discriminated" against. They've ruled the friggin world for thousands of years, and now they don't like the taste of second best?

Suck it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. The real problem is a pop culture that is dumbing boys down

I saw it on the college level even back in the late 1980s, early 1990s.

The boys are being socialized into all that macho bullshit, which includes never opening a book, in addition to sport obsession, over-aggressiveness, and sexual predation.

In the picture of manhood that is being presented to American boys, real men don't read, appreciate or participate in the arts, have intellectual curiosity about anything but sports stats and cars, respect women, or express any emotion except anger.

I'm sure the high school girls are looking at these losers and thinking, "I'm going to have to take care of myself for sure. I'd better do something with my life."

So what college admissions people are doing is saying to boys, "We need you, so you can go ahead and goof off all you want."

[funflower]

8. True, but not new. What's new is that girls are now actually

competing with boys on the college level. Fifty years ago, the colleges belonged to the boys. Today, college or not, the workplace still belongs to the boys.

[eridani]

9. And that's exactly why they can get by with punting academically

They know they have male entitlements in the workplace, so they don't have to bother with hard work in school.

[MuseRider]

10. If this is true

"I'm sure the high school girls are looking at these losers and thinking, "I'm going to have to take care of myself for sure. I'd better do something with my life." then that is perhaps the best way to enter adulthood for them. I wish I had felt that way but back then you HAD to have a man(please tell me this is no longer true). This is a healthy way to begin for young women. I hope it is true.

[kitkatrose]

12. Sorry, can't do that.

Just in HS, do you know how many times it was assumed that I was a lesbian because 1. I had no boyfriend the entire time, and 2. during my senior, I became friends with a lesbian (in a committed relationship no less) and hung with her friends for a good part of my time? I can't tell that's it's any different in college although it's not my agemates who keep asking me why i don't have a man. :eyes:

[MuseRider]

14. That is too bad.

I'm sorry to hear that.

[ismnotwasm]

5. After all the screaming over affirmative action?

All the fights and inititives, and back and forth name calling, buzz phrases like reverse racism? Or even Race card?
Young men need a leg up? A little help? Some encouragement? Could this have been the problem all along? (The cynical side of me wonders how this acceptance breaks down as far racial statistics)
Now we've eliminated affirmative action for race, we have to give precedence to gender?
Hmm.

[geniph]

7. The old bumper sticker comes to mind:

A woman has to work twice as hard as a man to get ahead.

Fortunately, this is not difficult.

[kitkatrose]

11. It's not the working twice as hard that's difficult,

it's the getting recognition for your work that may be a problem. :( As a black woman, I guess I get to work 4 times as hard.

[BlueIris]

13. Egh. That sucks. And "that sucks" is obviously a major understatement.

It's good that you remind people of that, though. Sometimes, I feel like this board is so clueless in the cultural literacy department, especially as regards economic disparity and ethnicity.