Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Closette's avatar

Excellent article. Not that I am a follower, but I stumbled on a Dr. Jordan Peterson interview where he predicted, qualitatively, that after most men have left the university, in a few years women will notice and follow suit. Of course that is different from the gender ratio, but a decline in women students propping up these institutions would upset the balance. Not necessarily towards men though, as administrators start screeching "Bring back our girls!" and enact even more women-centric recruitment and retention programs. Thoughts?

Expand full comment
Deadpan Troglodytes's avatar

I'd love to see this analysis spread more widely, and have one suggestion to that end. You've shown how the declines are not driven by changes in male learning outcomes. That's a very important part of the story, because it eliminates a lot of possible causes. But I predict that would be the most contested part of your analysis: partly for culture war reasons, but also because most people aren't accustomed to thinking of the PSAT and SAT as demonstrating learning, as such (as opposed to ability, or for some, test prep). I think it's worth making that case more forcefully, with additional (and perhaps different types) of data, if it's out there.

Expand full comment
7 more comments...

No posts