"Boy crisis" is a topic frequently reported in newspapers in recent years. Regardless of whether the boys are really in danger, the information from the scene in Zhao Gao shows that the teachers of liberal arts majors are going to exclaim "red, fat and green" again. The imbalance between men and women in colleges and universities is a global topic, which has a very distinct brand in China. The comprehensive solidification of exam-oriented education has aggravated the boy crisis and will affect the quality of basic education. From a longer-term perspective, it will also affect the country's innovation.
How much do you know about "red, fat, green and thin"
"There are more red flowers and fewer green leaves!" The enrollment staff of a normal university in Hebei Province lamented at the scene. The Chinese language and literature major of this school plans to enroll 328 students this year, of which only 63 are boys.
In the past six years, the proportion of male and female students in this major has been hovering on this base. On the other hand, in the postgraduate training of high-level talents, boys are almost defeated, and many postgraduate majors are "female soldiers". For example, a graduate student of 2009 in a hospital admitted girls 108 and boys12; 20 10 boys 14 girls18; Grade 0 boys 1 18, girls 1365438. The situation of "Yin flourishes while Yang declines" is particularly obvious in some liberal arts departments. The teacher of the Admissions Office of Communication University of China said that the ratio of male to female graduate students in Communication University is 1:2.
Gu Haibing, doctoral supervisor of School of Economics of Renmin University of China, was invited to give a lecture in university of international business and economics, and was surprised to learn that the ratio of male to female students was 2: 8. "When I recruited graduate students in the 1990s, there were three M-girls among 20 people, and now more than half of them are girls." The imbalance between male and female students in some liberal arts departments exceeded his imagination.
In some traditional engineering colleges where boys are dominant, there are more and more female faces, which are likely to catch up. Take an engineering college in the province as an example. Many years ago, the ratio of male to female was 7: 1, and now this figure is nearly 2: 1. Such as machinery and forging, which were once dubbed as "blacksmiths", the number of "quasi-female craftsmen" continues to increase.
Since 2007, the number of female students in domestic colleges and universities has surpassed that of male students for the first time, and since then, there has been an overwhelming digital advantage. "In the past, engineering girls were' national treasures', and now liberal arts boys have become' national treasures'."
College girls not only surpass boys in number, but also make people sit up and take notice of their entrance scores and school performance. For example, in 1999, 65.22% of the top candidates in the provincial college entrance examination are boys and 34.78% are girls. 10 years later, the proportion is 47% for boys and 53% for girls.
Judging from the participation in community organizations and the allocation of scholarships, female students in liberal arts departments are the best. In recent years, among the winners of national scholarships awarded by the Ministry of Education, the proportion of female students is much higher than that of male students, and the ratio of male students to female students in some normal colleges even reaches an astonishing 1: 10.
In the past, the sharp increase in the number of female college students has always been regarded as narrowing the educational gap between men and women, which is the embodiment of educational equity and social progress. "The increase of college girls does not mean the improvement of women's status." Faced with the menacing tide of girls, some university scholars expressed cautious optimism.
Men and women line up to register.
Gu Haibing noticed that the imbalance between male and female college students is a global problem. In people's eyes, the number of boys who should receive higher education is decreasing, and the number of boys who can reach the bottom line of enrollment or have the desire to go to college is decreasing.
Take the United States, where higher education is the most developed, for example, there are few outstanding male students who have applied for universities recently. In order to retain enough boys, the entrance scores of American freshmen are not based entirely on the average scores of SAT or ACT. Some schools insist on the same conditions for men and women to enter school, resulting in nearly two-thirds of girls.
In the west, the diversification of talent evaluation and the demotion of boys by schools have not attracted much criticism. However, in China, which has a tradition of respecting teachers and attaching importance to education, the relevant practices are questioned.
In the past two years, Shanghai International Studies University, China Renmin University and other universities have adopted the method of distinguishing between men and women in advance admission, and set the minimum score line. For example, China University of Political Science and Law scored 632 points for female science students in Guangdong this year, 44 points higher than the 588 points for male science students.
Different scores in the same exam have caused widespread controversy in society. Some people think that it is suspected of discriminating against women and violating educational fairness. The university responded that the move is to balance the ratio of men and women and is the embodiment of running schools independently. The enrollment of world famous schools is biased towards boys. "We know that there is a serious imbalance between boys and girls, which is not good for teaching, student growth and interpersonal relationship, but there are few boys to choose from, and girls who can't get high marks don't want it." The person in charge of the above-mentioned normal colleges said that they still insist on the same conditions for men and women to enter school. In some colleges and universities, the ratio of male to female students is a sensitive topic, and schools often do not publicly state that they are biased towards boys in some policies.
They will often analyze for you the objective reasons why many girls completely beat boys in test scores: girls are subject to greater discrimination and competitive pressure, women are precocious than men, and boys are playful and not as diligent as girls in learning consciousness.
The person in charge of a university told the reporter that it is not appropriate to be too harsh on the practice of queuing up for admission of men and women in universities. The reason why schools prefer boys is more due to employment considerations, because employers in society prefer boys under the same conditions, and girls' employment is relatively at a disadvantage. The employment rate is an important reference for the education administrative department to measure the level of running a university, and a low employment rate may lead to a yellow card.
There are more and more "female soldiers" in basic education.
The university's "Yin flourishes while Yang declines" has its international background, but it shows distinctive local characteristics in China.
An educator in a normal university is deeply worried about the geometric gap between male and female ratio in local normal universities. "Not to mention the influence of too many girls on the classroom atmosphere, many of these students will enter primary and secondary schools in the future, which will further aggravate the phenomenon of' female soldiers' among primary and secondary school teachers."
The phenomenon of "female soldiers" in preschool education and compulsory education has become a common practice. In many public kindergartens in Shijiazhuang, public signs show that all teachers are "daughter countries" except the cooks and security guards are men; The primary school campus is still "red, fat and green", and most of the few male teachers are grandparents.
Although female teachers have the advantages of being careful and dedicated, all walks of life are still worried that the imbalance of male teachers' scarcity will make the campus lack of masculinity, and boys are more likely to become sissy, lose perseverance and courage, which will also affect teachers' mental health. Female teachers generally have symptoms of depression and anxiety.
The director of the office of a district education bureau in Shijiazhuang told the reporter that there is no detailed statistics on the number of male and female teachers at hand, but it is an indisputable fact that primary school teachers are mostly women. The district also wants to introduce more male teachers to balance the gender in the compulsory education stage, but there are problems in the supply of normal colleges, and there are few male teachers, especially those who are comprehensively evaluated as excellent male normal graduates. In recent years, this shortage has intensified.
The above-mentioned normal college scholars said that it is not that local normal colleges do not want to recruit more boys. The reason why these institutions are less attractive to boys is the result of insufficient investment in education for a long time. "In the secular eyes, boys are more eager for success and wealth, and girls often want a stable job. Teaching in rural primary and secondary schools is only a stable job at present. The goal that our education investment accounts for 4% of GDP has been called for many years, and it has been difficult to achieve it. There is still a big gap between the treatment of primary and secondary school teachers and civil servants, so it is difficult to attract outstanding boys to join basic education. "
At the stage of basic education, boys are already at a disadvantage. The sampling survey of urban and rural areas by relevant departments found that the overall performance of girls in compulsory education stage was obviously better than that of boys. Since 2008, Beijing Xiaoshengchu has tried out the policy of recommending excellent students for admission. Among the recommended outstanding students, the proportion of girls is obviously higher than that of boys. Experts worry that as more and more female teachers are enriched to compulsory education schools, it will be unfavorable to teaching and the growth of students, especially to many boys.
"There are too many girls in normal colleges, which makes people unbearable." A teacher in a normal college complained that as soon as he entered the classroom, he saw girls sitting in the front row, listening carefully and taking notes. Several boys huddled lazily in a corner, and someone slipped away.
The Innovation Crisis Behind the Boy Crisis
"The serious imbalance between men and women in universities is just an appearance, and behind it is a deep crisis in the field of education." Gu Haibing said.
He believes that the current educational concept and selection model are relatively more suitable for girls' personality and psychological characteristics. Our primary and secondary education often requires students to be obedient good children, and naughty children are easily labeled as "bad children". Boys are born independent, adventurous, unwilling to be controlled, unwilling to play cards according to common sense, and unwilling to act according to the rules set by teachers. Such behavior is often not tolerated by teachers, because they are often criticized, discouraged and ignored. Over time, their interest in learning will weaken, people will become slack, and even have opposition to the school. Girls are more obedient than boys, pay attention to gradual progress, have a better chance of getting a good impression, and are more likely to get positive energy through encouragement and recognition.
On the other hand, the current exam-oriented education and evaluation orientation are quite destructive to those boys who are "wild at heart". Since primary school, students have watched a lot of compulsory courses and followed standard answers. Especially in liberal arts majors, girls are willing to work hard, have a good memory, and are easy to get good grades, while boys are full of energy but have nowhere to play. After entering the university, two-thirds of the courses are still compulsory. Students spend a lot of energy on compulsory courses and specify standard answers. They don't have enough time to think about what they really like. In addition, many universities' social practice courses lack quantitative assessment indicators, and some comprehensive assessment methods can't reflect students' real ability at all.
"More than 70% of real universities should be elective courses, which should be used to guide students, not to control students with instilled compulsory courses, and not to talk about heroes with a unified model and standard score." Gu Haibing believes that the current boy crisis is, to some extent, a crisis in which some educational systems stifle creativity and innovation. The adventurous male has completely lost to the step-by-step female.
Some adventurous boys get out early and stay away from school, so it is difficult to simply judge whether this is beneficial or harmful to him personally. "If Murphy had studied in university, it might have been ruined, not as it is today."
"But in the long run, this will curb innovation and affect the country's competitiveness." Gu Haibing suggested starting with the boy crisis and reforming the current educational concept and selection model.