Boys at Savoy Elementary in Washington, D.C. stand for the pledge of allegiance. Photo by the U.S. Department of Education.

In 1970, women only made up 42 percent of the college population. Today, the roles have essentially reversed. The U.S. Department of Education estimates men to make up 43 percent of enrolled individuals in college. And this crisis impacts minority populations even more: only 36 percent of Black and 40 percent of Hispanic bachelor degree recipients are male.

This is not an issue of colleges neglecting to admit men at an equal rate. Rather, colleges are receiving fewer applications from men than women. In 2010, only 44 percent of college applications were from men and that number has been steadily declining since. The decrease in male applicants is a sign that men are discouraged from pursuing higher education at a disproportionately high rate.

These statistics point to a larger, systemic problem. The American education system perpetuates a series of gender norms that cause significant harm to children; boys are impacted by these expectations in a way that tends to be overlooked. The stereotype that boys have a higher propensity to misbehave has led to the over-punishment of boys in the classroom.

Across the nation, boys are in much more trouble than they have been ever before. The U.S. News and World Report uncovered that at the turn of the century, boys received 70 percent of all failing grades in schools across the country. Boys made up over two-thirds of the student population that was labeled as “learning disabled.” They were even the suspected culprits of 4 out of 5 crimes brought up in juvenile court. It was not like this before. Half a century ago, boys dropped out of school at a slower rate than girls. As of 2016, American high schools see boys drop out nearly 40 percent more frequently than their female peers.

Students in a classroom doing a hands-on activity. Photo by Pasteur Elementary School in Detroit.

The popular justification for the difference between punishment rates of boys and girls is that boys have a greater tendency to misbehave. However, when controlled for behavior, boys were disciplined more heavily for the same infraction. A study conducted by The University of California Los Angeles investigating discrepancies in discipline rates between races and gender found that boys are punished much more harshly than their female counterparts. For every two boys receiving an out-of-school suspension, only one girl was disciplined, even when students’ behavior was controlled statistically. This means that boys were much more likely to be punished—a result unexplained by differences in behavior. In the same study, it was noted that the disparity between male and female out of school suspensions (2 to 1) is greater than that between Black and white suspensions (1.78 to 1), pointing to a serious source of inequality.

Minority students experience exaggerated rates of over-punishment. Of the 2.7 million children suspended in the 2013-2014 school year, 25 percent were Black boys and 14 percent were Black girls, even though they only make up 8 percent of the total student population. Black students are already disproportionately punished. However, the significant gap in the over-punishment between Black boys and girls suggests that Black males face a unique inequality when it comes to punishment in classrooms. UCLA’s Black Male Institute (B.M.I.) further substantiates this assertion. B.M.I.’s research revealed that in California Black boys are 3.6 times more likely to be suspended than the state average. The same paper found that the disparity is even worse for younger boys. In Californian elementary schools, Black boys are 5.6 times more likely to be suspended than the state average. As early as kindergarten, education systems feed into dangerous stereotypes that set young boys at a disadvantage.

Black boys, because of the media's negative portrayal and their perceived overinvolvement in crime, are oftentimes treated as more mature than their age would suggest. Consequently, they experience the highest amounts of punishment. The over-punishment in the classroom is closely linked to the over-incarceration of Black men. Out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, and other extreme forms of punishment generate distrust towards educators. Without the support and care of teachers, boys, especially boys of color, are more likely to drop out of high school.

The root source for the over-punishment of boys is that education systems are built on submission. Schools do an excellent job at reinforcing and encouraging submissive attitudes. The growing popularity of zero-tolerance policies and high-risk standardized testing that holds students back entire grade levels is indicative of increasing authoritarianism in American public schools. The submissiveness required in schools leads to students stifling their creativity and self-expression. This expected submission has serious ramifications; America has run into a creativity crisis. The creativity crisis demonstrates that the education system has clear issues with the methods used to discipline children. It also provides evidence as to why girls tend to succeed in these sorts of environments.

Girls have a tendency to perform better in all aspects of school. A meta-analysis from data collected from various schools found that girls are overrepresented in the top 10 percent of all non-STEM subjects and are equally represented in STEM classes. The same analysis found that girls performed 6.3 percent higher than boys on average. This is not a surprising number considering that girls are consistently expected to be submissive in society. Consequently, girls outperform boys in schools that overvalue obedience and disincentivize creativity. This presents a very dangerous reality: our children are being groomed to be submissive to authority rather than developing independent thought.

Students at H.D. Cooke Elementary in Washington, D.C. Photo by the U.S. Department of Education.

Due to the obsession surrounding stringent standards of obedience, boys are oftentimes mislabelled as having behavioral issues. Boys are known to develop at a rate slower than girls, oftentimes resulting in them having greater difficulty with focusing in the classroom. In the past two decades, ADHD diagnosis rates have nearly doubled, with boys making up the overwhelming majority of these cases. Rather than making accommodations for the playful nature of young boys, and children in general, the education system is forcing students to medicate and address a problem that may not exist. Schools are essentially diagnosing and medicating children for not being able to sit still in class.

This problem is further exacerbated by public schools across the country that regularly fail to make accommodations for students with behavioral problems, oftentimes placing them in classes with children who have more severe disabilities that require different forms of care. Students, particularly boys, who may not even have a learning disability in the first place, are forced into decelerated learning environments that do not even address their particular needs. Black students suffer the most in this regard—nearly 12 percent of Black students are placed into special needs programs compared to just 8 percent of white students.

The education system is failing our children. Our schools are raising an undereducated generation of men. Any source of inequality is harmful for the progression of society, even if the otherwise privileged population is experiencing it. If left unchecked, the growing education gap between girls and boys will lead to greater amounts of crime, destabilized families, higher unemployment, and general unhappiness.

However, it is not too late. School districts can make an effort to re-examine their disciplinary methods. Avoidance of no-tolerance policies, expulsions, and out-of-school suspensions that keep students in school and off streets will significantly alleviate this problem, especially in minority communities where this is most prevalent. Additionally, efforts to make classroom spaces less rigid, especially for small children, to allow for greater play and creativity will help reduce the overdiagnosis of various learning disabilities. Learning should be inviting, not polarizing.

In the 1970s when women were facing inequality in regards to college education, steps were actively taken to combat it. By 1972, Title IX was enacted and institutions across the nation restructured their curriculums and athletic programs to be more inclusive of women. Now that men face a similar plight, nothing has been done to alleviate the inequality. We are not giving our sons the same energy that all children deserve. Instead, we are letting their suffering fall to the wayside.

Failing our sons means we are failing our nation.

Rosie Pipada (BC ‘24) is a member of the Class of 2024 at Barnard College pursuing a degree in Economics.

Why are We Failing Our Sons? An Inquiry into the Education Gap that Plagues Young Boys in America Today