Does the school system benefit girls more than boys?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Does the school system benefit girls more than boys?
Position‹2 of 3›: No, it doesn't
Argument‹3 of 6›: Skewed stats

Less selective education has led to skewed statistics on male academic performance. This has led many to wrongly conclude that females are outperforming males and the school system favours female learners.

The argument

In the past, many male students who would have fared poorly in exams or were disengaged with school would have dropped out. Their results would not have been included in national statistics and their absence would have bolstered statistics on male academic performance. These disengaged and poorly performing males are now included in the results pool. The phenomenon of the gender educational performance gap was likely always present but not visible until recently. If we can deduce that it is not a modern phenomenon, then we can dispel many of the myths that suggest the modern school system is to blame for male underperformance. If it has always been there then it clearly is not linked to a decrease of competitiveness in the school environment or a shift to more explorative learning styles. More likely, it is a societal issue or cognitive issue.

Context

Education is much less selective than it used to be. Students are not removed from the school system in the same numbers as they used to be; there are also legal mechanisms in place to prevent children from not completing secondary education. This has led to more disengaged male students taking exams and lowering male performance figures. Males academic performance has not deteriorated in recent years. It is just that the sample size has been broadened to include every male in the school system instead of only those that were engaged.

Premises

[P1]In the past, disengaged or poorly-performing boys dropped out and went unrecorded, artificially inflating statistics on male academic performance; now those boys are included in the results pool. [P2] This suggests the gender performance gap was likely always present rather than new, so it cannot be blamed on modern schooling changes like reduced competitiveness or explorative learning—pointing instead to societal or cognitive causes. [C] Therefore the school system does not benefit girls more than boys; the apparent gap is a statistical artefact.

Counter-arguments

While it may be true that more disengaged male learners are now being included in national statistics, it doesn't explain away all of the issues associated with the gender education gap. Male enrollment in higher education, an indicator of academic performance, is alarmingly low. At some universities, female students now outnumber male students by six to one. Gender proportions on college campuses across the US are now weighted 56-44 in favour of female students. This still points to deep-rooted issues in the modern school system that make it difficult for males to excel and get ahead. The whole phenomenon of deteriorating male academic performance cannot be explained away by statistical anomalies. There is still evidence of an underlying bias against male learners.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] University admission show that male academic performance is deteriorating.