It seems that one of the more popular topics these days with respect to higher education and diversity is the lack of women and minorities in the STEM subjects (science, engineering, technology and math). And that’s great – anything to promote more students going into the STEM subjects is good. 2setsofrules completely agrees with the goal. The US definitely needs more students interested in STEM subjects.
It seems every university has a department or staff dedicated to this topic – don’t know if they really do, but it sure seems that way.
What 2setsofrules finds interesting, is the total lack of effort by these same people in terms of increasing the diversity in subjects dominated by women. Namely, increasing the number of men studying in female dominated programs.
In a recent blog post, Mark Perry detailed the Fall 2018 percent female enrollment for various programs at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The enrollment for the nursing program was 89% female.
Quick question, when will 2setsofrules see a constant drip of news articles addressing the lack of diversity in nursing programs? I doubt the numbers at UofM are an outlier.
When will programs be rolled out by universities to address this clear lack of diversity?
Veterinary studies has the same issue. (U of M doesn’t offer a vet school and therefore, didn’t make Mark’s list.) The percentage of females in vet schools across the US exceeds 70%. It’s been this way for some time. Where is the national effort to promote veterinary school as a career choice for males?
How can higher education, if they are truly concerned about diversity, be so focused on STEM programs and yet not address the lack of males in a variety of programs? The top six programs in Mark Perry’s blog post had over 70% female enrollment.
2setsofrules sees this as a clear example of, yeah you guessed it, two sets-of-rules. What a double standard – but what I have come to expect from progressives.
Only certain diversity matters.