Reverse Gender Gap: Men Falling Behind

I disagree with this assertion due to factors like epigenetics and generational knowledge. Also, I think that a human from 150,000 years ago would be ill-prepared immunologically to survive in today's era.

 

Now you did it. The Virus popo be coming for you.

 

I have no strong opinion on exactly when humans became “modern”, but I don’t think epigenetics or generational knowledge should change the equation. The evidence is weak for transgenerational transmission of epigenetic marks in humans. And even if they are transmitted, they are unlikely to be adaptive.

And generational knowledge should only matter if we resurrect this ancient human as an adult. If we raise him or her from a baby, they should be depressingly as up on tik tok trends as any other modern kid.

Lack of immunity is probably a legitimate concern.

 

While I agree the sports angle is a thing my guess in real proportions it’s pretty small and in no material way accounts for the huge difference in females and males going to college. For that to be happening, that would mean boys would be participating in high school sports at the expense of studying, and if there were no sports, then they would study instead. If anything sports gets some kids into college that probably would have never gone there in the first place.

 

I could see that for young children since they have all sorts of ambitious dreams and fantasies, whether it's being an astronaut, princess, movie star, president, or something else. While raw talent is not dispositive and there are certainly some late bloomers, I suspect we could typically identify the kids with substantial athletic talent by early middle school. I would think that by high school, those who are below average, average, or even a little above average at sports would recognize that they're unlikely to ever be truly elite. Also, I feel like both boys and girls alike might be enticed by other prospects, such as becoming big-name influencers, gamers, or something else. I heard there was a student a few years ago at my old high school who had a youtube channel that was so successful that he drove a Ferrari to school.

Seems tough for me to think that sports are the main difference between boys and girls in this context. Perhaps girls are more self-aware, more disciplined, and/or have a better intuition about statistics.

 

Another aspect that ties into the sports angle is the desire for young males to dominate their peers in some way, often leading to bullying, pranks, and excessive harassment. They want to "rule the school", and don't care who has to suffer to make that happen. In the ancient times, teachers were probably more aggressive about stopping harassment and preventing bullying, because they had little fear of being knocked unconscious by an angry teenager. Teenagers were too scared of both their parents and the law to do such a thing. Nowadays they have less fear of adults, and are more aware of the limitations of adults in confrontational situations. This has to be a major distraction from learning. Girls are less affected by this, even though girls get violent with each other at school more than they used to.

Another thing that ties into bullying is computer games, something that kids growing up in the 1970's and early 80's didn't have very much exposure to. All kids are generally attracted to video games, but bullying probably leads to kids retreating into a world of video games for hours and hours a day. Few kids in the 1970's were binge-playing Monopoly until they developed diabetes and mangled thumbs. Parents today are less likely to push their children outdoors on the weekends, also. I don't think video games in general translate to higher test scores.

Obviously, it's a very complex problem with multiple causes. And since a lot of the problem ties into bad parenting, good luck trying to get it resolved. No parent admits that there is something wrong with their parenting style.

 

Child labor laws created all of this. If they were at work they wouldn’t have time for all these dang sports.

 

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team as a freshman.

 

I included the "typically" and "late bloomer" qualifications because there are always outliers, but there's a reason that coaches and scouts start tracking standout athletes early. With respect to Michael Jordan specifically, my understanding is that he was 5' 10'' or 5' 11'' when he and another sophomore (who was 6' 7'') both wanted to play on the varsity team. The coach made MJ play junior varsity instead - where he excelled as the leading scorer during a growth spurt. MJ also played baseball and football as well and was named North Carolina's "Mr. Baseball" at age 12. It's not as if he was a mediocre athlete who was getting picked last in P.E.

If there are a significant percentage of boys today who are ignoring school work because they think they're going to be elite professional athletes, hopefully they will notice that MJ not only trained and practiced with extreme dedication but that he also earned his HS diploma and the opportunity to play in college. Of course, even today, most NBA and NFL players come through the collegiate ranks.