Less Than 42% Of 2013 College Grads Are Male

Professor Mark Perry points out a troubling gender gap in this year’s crop of college graduates.

Setting aside for a moment the fact that the higher education bubble is sending far too many kids off to college to get increasingly watered-down degrees in exchange for exploding levels of student loan debt, the fact that there’s a clear gap between men and women when it comes to graduating college is troubling.

We hear a lot about programs aimed at promoting a college education for women. Perry has the details about a number of such programs around the country. When was the last time you heard of such a program for men?

Which isn’t to say that we should be seeking equal outcomes. If the college degree gap were simply the result of student choices I wouldn’t be concerned. We shouldn’t be imposing choices on people simply to reach some arbitrary parity in outcomes. Unequal outcomes are ok as long as there are equal opportunities.

But there is a very troubling suggestion in these numbers that perhaps we’ve gone so far overboard in trying to correct the gender inequalities of the past that we’ve created unequal gender outcomes with unequal gender opportunities.