Female Supremacy Articles - Page 5

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Some schools have begun efforts that focus on boys, particularly mentor programs. Educators like John Thatcher are frustrated.

"How in the world can you have twice as many boys as girls (in special education)?" the Wyoming special education director said. "It's clearly the boys that are being referred, but no one's concerned about it."

Some say it's now time to focus on snips and snails -- a counterpart to the go-girl attitude of the past three decades that brought Title IX and other reforms in response to studies on how schools "shortchange" girls. It's that effort that some credit for today's situation, where girls dominate both academics and school leadership posts.

National studies show girls now are not only more likely than boys to participate in student government, academic clubs and other non-athletic school activities, but also outnumber boys in both entering and graduating from colleges and universities. Boys still dominate athletics, with about 63 percent participating, but girls are closing the gap -- half of them take part in sports, national surveys show.

It's a matter of girls' success reaching a "critical mass," said Anne Mulder, dean of Grand Valley State University's School of Education.

"Girls have always sought and admired the approval of good grades," she said.

Girl grouping

The rise of girls in leadership positions is stark at Byron Center Middle School. There are just two boys on the 17-member student council; neither are officers.