Dr. Albert Mohler expresses concern at a trend I’ve been following for some time: male under-representation in higher education. In the 1990s, six women graduated college for every five men. Today, the trend is closer to four women for every three men. The concern (in my opinion) is not the abundance of educated women but the disproportionate loss of men along the way. Though not treated in Mohler’s essay, I have previously seen data indicating that women tend to outperform their male counterparts in high school and in college–in virtually all subjects. Excerpt (part of a quote from Jonathan Rauch, writing for Reason magazine):
Women’s superior education will increase their earning power relative to men’s, and on average they will be marrying down, educationally speaking. A third of today’s college-bound 12-year-old girls can expect to “settle” for a mate without a university diploma. But women will not stop wanting to be hands-on moms.
For families, this will pose a dilemma. Women will have a comparative advantage at both parenting and breadwinning. Many women will want to take time off for child-rearing, but the cost of keeping a college-educated mom at home while a high-school-educated dad works will be high, often prohibitive.