Sighs and Suspicion

I'm retaking the GRE tomorrow. I have to cancel my classes to do so. I've been too busy grading to do much studying. How do you study for the damn GRE anyway? I'm going to nap, then take another practice test. At least it will be over tomorrow. Unless I fail miserably. Then I will retake it November.

On a side note, I'm not that worried about there being more women than men in college. I'm not sure what people mean by "colleges and schools are more geared toward the way women learn." This article suggests that sports and male role models would bring in more men. I guess this means men are too stupid to want an education for education's sake, but I don't think that's what the speaker intended. Colleges are places to LEARN. Why should they emphasize sports more than they already do? I wonder if these studies are counting technical schools as colleges? I know of a lot of men who who prefer that to a liberal arts education (Ms., why do I have to know this stuff when I'm just going to fix computers?).

I also find it suspect that when I searched a variety of online newssite's archives, most of the results had to do with a men making more money, men earning more professional and graduate degrees, men outnumbering women in sciences and technology, and women being less likely to use their degrees once married. I actually couldn't find anything other than the USA Today article. But I remember reading about this on someone else's blog. I searched all of the usual suspects' archives, but I can't find it. Does anyone remember that blog? Has anyone seen a different article about this? I'm assuming that my online researching skills are just slow because I'm tired with the GRE fixed in my sites. I know I read about this in a more, ah, reputable newspaper.

College gender gap widens: 57% are women
By Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY (yeah, yeah, I know it's the same article as the earlier link.)

Not only does this article make my feminist alarm go off, but it makes my writing teacher alarm go off (Explain what the study was examining. What were their criteria and test subjects? Are there other sources that confirm this study? Are there any studies that look at entering freshmen in addition to matriculation? Why are most of the sources quoted not educators? Why are twice as many men quoted than women? Where are the men going? They're not just watching tv are they?) Wait, I remember writing this on a student essay. So at least one other person has read this too. (Back to writing teacher alarms - What is the implication of these results? What is the author not saying? What does this suggest about our cultural expectations about who goes to college? How does this fit in with the purpose of affirmative action? Weren't "girls only" programs and affirmative action that favored girls instituted in order to combat the sexism that kept women out of colleges? What happens after they graduate? Does the gender gap still exist then?). Can anyone say "backlash"?

I'm more than happy to believe that the education system in the United States needs improvement (something I already believe is true) or that the system favors women, but I need more a clearly stated, better qualified, and better reasoned argument in order to do so (like, how does the system favor women?).

Oh, and I don't think it's teachers' faults that students enter college under prepared. While some of my students try to blame their high school teachers for their lack of ability and/or knowledge (no kidding), I try to point out that if they paid as much attention in highschool as they do in my class (sleeping, chatting, writing notes, text-messaging, listening to ipods, surfing the net - they think I don't see, even when I look them in the eye, tell them to stop, and make a note in my gradebook), then I don't see how the teacher can be responsible. I mean, you can't even blame No Child Left Behind, under funding, and standardized testing if the students just don't care.

Teachers work hard and are good. There are always exceptions (for example, I have some very wonderful students who want to learn and are a joy to have in class), but most teachers deserve more money than most pro athletes. They work much harder. I am so grateful to the teachers of my childhood that pushed me. I didn't love them all then, but I do now (well, except for 5th grade reading; she was an exceptional bitch.)

Wasn't I going to take a nap?

If anyone finds a different article, post a comment with the link would 'ya?