Commentary on New Education Gap

Commentary

Article 1: The weaker sex
Article 2: Reducing gender equity to a battle of the sexes is simplistic, crude and dangerous

Report published on March 5th by the OECD have shown that an education gap has opened up. Few decades ago, boys were more likely to go to universities and graduate than girls. Now, girls have caught up and overtook the guys in literacy skills as well as the number of students enrolled in universities. According to article 1, the reason for the gap in educational abilities is due to the attitude that boys display towards academics. Boys spend less time than girls on homework and reading and they spend more time on video games and the Internet. More boys deem school as “waste of time” than girls and are under the pressure of being “masculine” by having bad academic behavior. Also, due to their lack of self-discipline, teachers tend to give them lower grades for their work, which may not necessarily be of lower standard than girls. The gap has also arisen due to the girls realizing the need to study, as there is a shift in cultural trend to women working as well. Article 2 does not view the guys as “the weaker sex” as claiming that men are now inferior insinuates that women’s achievements are considered a direct threat to men’s social order and reputation. The article focuses on true meaning of equity, which is not just about the number of positions and roles women has over men. Men are more represented in science, technology and mathematics subjects whereas female students are over-represented in subjects such as teaching, social work and nursing. These differences arises from the nature of subjects being connected with different traits that masculinity or femininity associates with. The author believes that gender equity is about valuing both femininity and masculinity. I agree that the gap in education may not always have to be deemed as a problem as it is important to embrace the fundamental differences between feminine traits and...