Boys do not need anything to be done, except making the university education more purposeful to them; they might be thinking that there are better things to d than going to the university. The education and job markets have to be structured in terms of serving their needs.

Yes, I believe, ladies always need affirmative action and provision of work-life balance at a certain stage more than men do. They have to mother their children; they psychologically express their love for the children and family in more caring ways compared to men. I am sure, if we can provide for these needs of theirs, there would be more ladies CEOs, lady academics in top positions, and I am sure, more ladies at RG.

Boys do not need anything to be done, except making the university education more purposeful to them; they might be thinking that there are better things to d than going to the university. The education and job markets have to be structured in terms of serving their needs.

Yes, I believe, ladies always need affirmative action and provision of work-life balance at a certain stage more than men do. They have to mother their children; they psychologically express their love for the children and family in more caring ways compared to men. I am sure, if we can provide for these needs of theirs, there would be more ladies CEOs, lady academics in top positions, and I am sure, more ladies at RG.

Thanks Prof Debi et al. Long ago (about 40-50 years), girls were not given opportunities to go to school, and schooling wasn't free or compulsory. During those times, there were more boys in schools and universities. But now it has changed! That's in my country. How was it like in your community?

I wonder if it could be that my country inherited the British education system. Does 3R seem to favor girls to do well? Surely we don't want the boys to be 'near to extinction' in our college, as my director has said. What do you all think?

Providing opportunities for boys and girls. I agree with Debi in making the university education for boys more purposeful.

Dear Miranda, Mahfuz et al. Traditionally, there has been been so much discrimination in at least most developing societies against women. In the developed world there have been other types of discrimination against them.

For example, I have five sisters; four were never sent to school at all and are illiterate; and the fifth one, who was the youngest, was allowed to study only till the primary school. When I would quarrel with the youngest one as a sibling, I was favored by my mother, no matter who was at fault; because i was expected to be the bread winner, and the sister as a liability as marrying her off needed huge money. I keep wondering sometime what i could do for preventing this grave injustice from happening that unknowingly spoiled five female lives. This psychology still prevails to some extent in semi-literate families.

I am a strong advocate of affirmative action in favour of women and proactively managing their diversity by state agencies as well as employers.

Thanks for your posts, dear friends.

Prof Debi, thanks. I'm sure many females can do with your support. In Chinese families, it used to be the same. Parents favored their sons; but my dad didn't go to a traditional Chinese school, and didn't have sons, so he was great.

But we don't have the dowry system, as in Indian families. What do you think would happen to that practice?

In this case, positive action or affirmative action we have discussed at RG on a different thread should be right.

Women give birth and take care of families and thus deserve all the respect and special treatment.

In the UK, many soclal policies are skewed in favour of women. However, there are still much fewer female professionals in many sectors of the society. So there is still a long way to go even in an industrialised country like UK.

This is an international phenomina; girls are better at school than boys, and they do better at the university level. I think the boys should be encouraged to do better.

Thanks for your views.

@Ouyang, our education system in Malaysia is a copy of Britain's. Do you think it favors the girls? I have got some data on my research in motivation. Girls have significantly higher self determination, grade motivation and career motivation; but boys have higher self efficacy (SE) means, but for SE it's not a significant difference.

My dear @Miranda, here is a good article about experience in US, there is a lot of statistics!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2012/02/16/the-male-female-ratio-in-college/

"The superiority first came in public universities, but soon private universities saw female enrollment surpass male enrollment." It is shown on the following diagram! The source is above article!

Thanks Prof Ljubomir. I've started reading it...

But it is sad. Why must so many males think they can do well enough in life without university education?

The differences in attendance and/or performance may be possibly and/or probably a reflection of societal norms and/or values!

The solution may lie in changing societal normals and values towards boys'

and/or grirls' education!

Period!

Dear @Tobias, I agree with you that the problem is a consequence of societal issues.

Dear Miranda,

This is a complex question, indeed. There are no easy answers. In order to support equity in education, I think we do have to consider a more comprehensive look at the issues. We should consider the health, welfare and education of men and women together in relation to one another rather than separately. Otherwise, we get a distorted view of both. I think that the notion of "equaltiy" can lead to new and abusive systems. There are biological differences in men and women that lead to general tendencies in preferences, orientation to problem-solving, styles of thinking, even ways of interacting. Education truly begins in the home before formal education. Families must remember they are the first institutions and take seriously their role in the protection, nurturance and preparation of children--boys and girls. Daughters and sons need first fathers and mothers who love and protect them.

You would not believe the number of times I have had discussions at a personal level in my own family regarding the fact that it is OK if little girls want to pretend to be "mommies" during play time. It is OK for little boys to want to be the defenders and the "hunter-gatherers". It is not ok to abuse one another. So, even the abuse seems to take on a gender character--in general, women will be verbal agressors or promote sneak attacks. Men, in contrast, will abuse physically. We often encourage men to "suck it up" and that it is not OK for them to emote--that tendency is perceived as weakness in a man--still in many societies. In my father's time, there was generally less or no penalty in the U. S. for the sexual abuse of boys for this very reason--a bias that boys should not be viewed as victims, or that boys would always be willing participants or the aggressors in such scenarios.

In contrast, women who are sexual aggressors (in my country) may either end up with lesser punishments, or extreme punishments. For women, it is not OK for them to be physically agressive--that is an undesireable trait in women in most societies--so the agression goes underground, or we see a bubbling up of an extreme aggression (i.e., the mothers who murder their children; vehicular homicide and running over an offending spouse many more times than necessary for the tragic end). It is OK if some women do not want to be engineers and prefer to be preschool teachers. But understand that the difference in salary, in this case, is confounded by differences in the professional pursuit--not a case of income discrimination. Abuse, as we know it, when institutionalized, is a reflection of historical, cultural, and personal support of such which leads to entrenchment. A classic text by a French psychologist (Blauner ?) who died before his time did an analysis of institutionalized racism that has parallels to any system that institutionalizes unreasonable abuse which begins, oftentimes, with prejudice (an irrational dislike and repugnance for some quality in another which leads to an unfair discrimination). So, I believe, we must respect differences in how boys and girls learn and pursue equitable education rather than pursuing an unhealthy and unreasonable approach that all things should be the same for both, meaning equal. I do hope I have not offended anyone with my broad discussion. There are many more topics subsumed in your question about the education of boys which I have not addressed and will not pursue. However, I think a point implied is do not force boys to be girls and vice versa. Realize the strengths that both bring to the table. To say one can not or should not be well-educated because he is a boy or she is a girl is unreasonable and unfair. Also, let's protect children, encourage their curiousity, wonder about the world, and celebrate their uniqueness, educating each with a respect for their individuality and potential.

Miranda, I think it depends on the reason for the low proportion of the boys. Sometimes, the lower proportion of the boys is just a reflection of the population proportion. There is nothing we can do about it except to "medically produce" more boys!.

I our school, the boy:girl proportion is evident on the program. Engineering and technology courses have more boys, management and social science courses have more girls.

Thanks for your views.

@Tobias, what is your suggestion to:

'change societal normals and values towards boys' and/or girls' education'?

@Nola, bravo: 'It is not ok to abuse one another.'

Yes, even I am bemoaning that the number of boys who make it to K12 and university is lower. Ok, I am doing my best to help all my boys and girls do well now and in university with my research on learning.

We have the same case Dr. Yeoh, in Biology. But in other courses, more boys than girls.

Thanks Ed and Fatimah et al., in my country long ago, before free education was introduced about 20-25 % of the university undergrads were females. Now 25 % are males. That's total enrollment for all courses.

See the following link; in 2004, for example, male births outnumbered female births;

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/censusandstatistics/a/moreboys.htm. So, there are societaly issues. Please excuse if I went too far afield in my previous answer.

Thanks Prof Kamal, Nola et al., we will do our best for all: boys and girls. I'm not having anyone drop out, if I can help it.

Difficult question dear Miranda. For example in Greece almost all of the public sector is dominated by women: who knows, maybe the females looks for the safety of a 'never been fired' position. On the contrary, more men can be found in entrepreneur: the males want the adventure of a free profession. Probably it has to do with the fundamental differences between the two genders.

Great answer, Demetris. It's a bit different in my country, but I can understand your situation. So the men want adventure in entrepreneurship, and a profession in which they have more freedom...

Miranda, I speak only as a parent, but my boys seem more engaged to learn when it's linked to actual events that pertain to them. It greatly helps if they have a clear link to an interest they have in the real world. For example, to teach my youngest son about data distributions, I had him pick something to measure (anything). He chose to measure his flatulence! It took a few weeks to collect his 'data', but he stuck with it and he was fairly excited to graph his body's functions. Now he is one of the few first graders that I know of that can make a histogram, and calculate basic summary stats, he would never have done this (without any fuss) had I not had him pick his own topic of study. I know this is simple and anecdotal example, but a colleague of mine has two girls, and they do not seem to require such an experiential approach to keep their interest in learning. It is my belief that boys/men learn so much better when there is an clear real world application that relates to their interests. Sometimes I think we should employ the apprenticeship framework for learning - it may be better at keeping boy's interests, as well as better preparing them for real work. Thanks for the question Miranda, I've enjoyed everyone's answers on this topic.

Thanks so much John. Glad you like this Q. Friends, please consider my Q's:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Miranda_Yeoh/questions?ev=prf_que

I see your point, John. It's related to Demetris'. I like this:

'It is my belief that boys/men learn so much better when there is an clear real world application that relates to their interests. Sometimes I think we should employ the apprenticeship framework for learning - it may be better at keeping boy's interests, as well as better preparing them for real work.'

But on this thread, there are great men/ great scholars like Profs Ljubomir, Kamal, Raoof, Tobias, Adel, Ouyang, Debi, Demetris, Artur etc, who seem to deal with abstracts (and not to need 'real world application') better than girls!

Miranda, Given that the scholars you mention are all mature men I think they may have matured into the realms of deeper and abstract thought!

Thanks Nola. I just saw your post. Never mind, friends; we just post when something comes to mind. That's the beauty of RG :)

Miranda, I wasn't suggesting that boys have a lesser ability to use abstract thought, they just seem better able to use abstract thought when it relates back to something they are interested in (whether it be flatulence or fish).

I believe we generally agree as parents educators child developmental specialists and so forth that gender may be influenced by age/maturity level. In general younger children are more egocentric and require hands-on experiences. The older the children the more likely that they are more sophisticated and able to think abstractly.

Thanks John, I understand you now.

@Nola, thanks. I agree that:

'gender may be influenced by age/maturity level. In general younger children are more egocentric and require hands-on experiences. The older the children the more likely that they are more sophisticated and able to think abstractly.'