Summary of Campus Crusade for Guys

In “The Campus Crusade for Guys” Sarah Karnasiewicz introduces Michael Thompson, a child psychologist who supports the life of American boys. Thompson is a bestselling author of “Raising Cain” and is an educational speaker on television for troubled boys. Although he supports American boys he has a daughter of his own, so he does not agree that boys should be given a better opportunity getting into colleges. Despite Thompson’s opinion on the opportunity for boys this is what is happening in colleges today (909).

Statistics have changed over the years, showing that now more women apply to college and stick with it. In the early days of coeducation the ratio of men and women on campus revealed that more men were attending college. Men nowadays don’t even apply for college, and the ones that do apply don’t stay long or they do poorly in school (909). If decisions were to be based on gender it would be considered political, but it is very likely for a battle to be brought up about this topic. Politicians are putting in the news and public media that boys have been abandoned by their schools and communities.

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Talk show host have also jumped in on this and accused schools of isolating boys. On this topic Thompson says that the education for boys has actually improved and not worsened. Writers from different news articles have stated many opinions on this topic. Starting off the argument one said that years from now women are going to have a hard time finding husbands with all their education. In response to that a women said that years earlier when she was in school and men made up the majority no one was worried about them finding wives, so what’s the difference (910)?

Karnasiewicz states that the gender gap is not news; it has been going on for multiple years. A lawsuit was filed about fourteen years ago against the University of Georgia in Athens for trying to equal out the genders on campus. A gender based case where the school was giving male applications better scores when applying because they wanted to even out gender. When this case was brought to the district court the judge wasn’t swayed that the University was only trying to help the minority (910). The University of Georgia’s gender based case has completely stopped favorable action for men.

Thompson believes there are already enough favorable actions for men out there; and that it is very likely there is a girl out there that has not got accepted into college because the administration was trying to even out the proportion. With these actions in place already people set out to study the admissions of college students. During their study they took data from thirteen schools and over fifty percent was women acceptance (911). The study that took place at these thirteen colleges showed that gender inequity was most severe at schools that were once single-sex.

This study proved that males were more statistically had a better chance of getting accepted. The study also showed that once the application started to weigh more towards the women’s side an affirmative action steps in for men (911). A common ratio at colleges is forty to sixty. This ratio is not just common at previous single-sex schools this is common throughout the nation. Colleges keep track of that ratio and look forward to it becoming a tighter ratio in years to come. Now is not the time for colleges to play a role in gender equality on campus (912).

Colleges are changes applications and getting sports that appeal to men to get more men to be accepted into college. People say that there is no difference between the mind of a female and the mind of a male but the advertising business has no doubt there is. At conferences and internal marketing at colleges have a recruiter just for men to make sure they have things that will attract men to that college (912). Boys are normally attracted to technology, so school play up the technological aspect and show men what college looks like in a way they’ve never seen.

Other schools find it fit to put pictures of happy, muscular men in their catalog to attract men to their campus. College campus’ are without a doubt trying to advertise themselves to men now instead of women. Even when boys are accepted and go to college they are not as focused as women are; women seem to think that there will be a negative consequence if they don’t do well in college (913). A study shows that the gender gap is related to economics. Women are more concerned with getting a higher education because with a bachelor’s degree women would get paid more than women without.

Men on the other hand are not as concerned because there is no significant difference in pay whether he has a bachelor’s degree or not (913). Another opinion is that the careers that are growing now are healthcare, education, leisure and travel, and the services. All the fields are what women are good at and not men so if men want a good job for the future then they need to get an education. Problems that are arising are that women are replacing children with education and careers. This meaning that not enough children are being born and the population is going down with the increase of women enrolled in college (914).

The problem with boys all starts in primary school; female students are more successful then male students in an early age. When it comes to college the administration looks back on everything you have done before then. The better opportunities for boys need to come sooner than college. Thompson said that his mission is to get people to see and think about boys in the vision as they do for girls (915). Work Cited Lunsford, Andrea A. , John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. “The Campus Crusade for Guys. ” Everything’s an Argument: With Readings. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007. 909-15. Print.