Elon is featured on the cover of this week’s Chronicle of Higher Ed in an article about the growing gender divide on college campuses and especially in college honors programs (at Elon 61% of students are female and more than 80% of the students in the honors program are female). It’s a long-time trend, and I’ve always thought it’s at least partly because the structure of schools really favors girls. From the article:

The dean (Marilee Jones, Dean of Admissions at MIT) considers herself a feminist, and believes that schools, colleges, and other institutions have wisely created more opportunities for girls. But those efforts have thrown off the traditional gender balance between males and females, she says.

Girls, says Ms. Jones, “are expected to be fun, well-mannered, pretty, and thin, but they’re also expected to be leaders and athletes and dynamic decision makers.” What roles does that leave for boys?

“A lot of boys can be kind of lost,” she says. “I think the needs of boys are being neglected.”

Elementary, middle, and high schools, for example, are designed for girls, she says. Students are expected to sit quietly at their desks, and teachers stress skills that require fine motor control - something that boys typically have in shorter supply. Boys, say other experts, are more likely than girls to be medicated for hyperactivity, to be disciplined by teachers, and to drop out of school.

So all along I’ve been a feminist. Who knew?