The issue I choose to speak about is gender equality in the college campus. This issue was raised due to what appears to be a trend in many college campuses today. In order to understand why this situation exists today, there is an urgent need to identify the reasons why there are less male students applying for acceptance in college campuses, whereas the number of female applicants keep increasing every year.
According to the article “To all girls I’ve rejected,” there are more female applicants than male every year, and this tip the balance off in terms of achieving a 50-50 ratio of male to female students in the campus. This puts the female applicants at a disadvantage as the process of acceptance becomes more difficult for them while it is easier for males. This presents a new problem of inequality, encourages male college applicants to study less harder, and lowers the quality of qualification for admissions in college, at least among male applicants. In order to better understand the study, there is a need to define some crucial terms:
Diversity
Conceptual Definition: the quality or state of having many forms, types, ideas, etc.
Operational Definition: having male and female students in the college campus,
Gender Balance/Equality
Conceptual Definition: the state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender
Operational Definition: having equal number of male and female students in the college campus
The quantitative evidences that the material introduced are mostly focused on the
Percentages of male and female college applicants during the year the article was written. According to the material, during the year the article was written, the ratio of female to male applicants is three is to one in Kenyon College. This was higher compared to what it was three years ago, which was only two female applicants for every one male. The college had been a men’s college until 1969, but the number of female students applying for admission has been high, and has reached 55% of the total number of applicants. This keeps on increasing every year, which further shrinks the number of male applicants. The article also highlights the goal of most colleges and universities to achieve an equal number of male and female students in the college campus. Accordingly, two-thirds of the colleges and universities have reported to have a considerable number of female applicants than men. As a result of the disparity, a huge 56% of college undergraduates during the time the article was written are decidedly female, which makes the number of male undergraduate students a mere 44%. The article mentions that demographers predicted that come 2009, this number will shrinik even further as there would only be 42 percent of the total degree courses which will be awarded to male graduates in the country. This problem is not exclusive to a select number of schools, but is a problem that colleges and universities alike experience. Colleges which have been on the “tipping point,” or have already reached the 60 percent enrolled female students over the 40 percent male student enrollees are reported to have been experiencing difficult times as they try to grapple with this imbalance. As a result of this trend in colleges, the author ended the article by saying that he would have to send out a total of 3,000 waitlist and letters of rejection to students, majority of which are sadly female.
The qualitative evidences that will be used for the research will come from the effects to the emotions and values of this seemingly unjust practice that puts the female students at a great disadvantage. As a result of the higher number of women than male applicants, the competition among female students has become stiffer and even more difficult, while the male applicants have it easier. This makes it unfair for female applicants who obviously take an extensive amount of time to prepare and work hard in order to improve their chances of getting accepted in the colleges of their choice. Female applicants take on the challenge of taking the toughest courses in high school, take advanced placement courses, spend extra time reviewing for the SAT, join various extracurricular activities to meet the required amount of time, or at times, even more, and spend a considerable amount of time and dedication in writing an essay that has depth and meaning. Despite these efforts, they still get denied, and all because equal amount of slots have to be allocated to male applicants who, most of the time, have relatively lower qualifications than those females that have to be turned away. Male applicants have become rare, and this gives them higher opportunities of getting accepted despite doing and achieving less in high school.
While achieving gender balance in college campuses is crucial and goes beyond the simple idea of having enough male and female partners for the winter dance, the method of achieving the goal is unfair to the female students. Part from the qualitative evidences that support his argument is shown in the current practice of favoring male applicants because they are rarer poses another problem in the already declining quality of education and time that male students are putting in their studies. The wide gap between the number of male and female college applicants, as well as their lower qualifications compared to female applicants indicate that male high school students don’t work as hard as female students in improving their grades and overall chances of getting accepted. If this is already the case, and yet they still get accepted over those female students who are academically better than them will only discourage them further from putting in more efforts to improve their studies. On the other hand, female students who give their best in their studies and in improving their chances of getting accepted in their college of choice face the sad reality that despite their best efforts, there is no guarantee that they will be accepted. This is disheartening and disappointing, not only to the students but to their parents as well, who support them financially and emotionally. It is also possible that this may develop lower self-esteem or depression among these students as going the extra mile in one’s studies is not an easy task. Seeing their male contemporaries who have put in lesser effort get accepted while they, the female students, get denied is unfair and definitely depressing.
In order to make the research valid and comprehensive, ethos and pathos will be applied accordingly. The ethos for the research will come from data and statistics presented in the material. These information provide for a stronger basis for the discussion as these are hard facts that came from previous researches and studies. To utilize these information effectively, they will all be cited properly and accordingly. They will also be properly organized when presented, supporting claims made by the researcher in order to emphasize the idea or claim that is being proposed or argued. To put more weight to the use of data and statistics, the use of pathos will be incorporated through the qualitative data. The emotions and values involved as a result of the discussion of the quantitative evidence presented in the article will be used as pathos. When issues involving emotions and values are incoporated in the discussion, the audience is swayed even more to agree and support the author’s claim or argument. This is largely because the use of pathos is more appealing to the emotions and values of the audience as well. This makes the research relatable and easily understood.
