| The overall rate of participation in higher education continues to increase however, the gender gap in enrollment and degree attainment between the sexes has gradually widened. Men are less likely to enroll in college immediately after high school and take more time to attain a college degree than females. College administrators have observed a decline in the percentage of men in their applicant pools. Compelling reasons for the gender gap in U.S. higher education remain elusive. The majority of research in this area is conducted using data from national surveys. The purpose of this study was to understand the implicit factors that influence how adult men make meaning of their experiences in compulsory education and how these experiences influence their willingness to engage in formal education as an adult.The participants in the study were 20 men, ranging in age from 24 to 58 years. The sample was racially and socio-economically diverse. Questionnaires and interviews were the main sources of data. Data were gathered, coded, and assembled into biographical narratives of the men's lives and their participation in education from elementary school through college. The participants' comments reflected their thoughts and feelings about the value and purpose of education in their lives. The data also provided insight into the factors that give men purpose and motivation to pursue college attendance beyond the traditional age of 18 to 24 years.The findings revealed that men were unduly influenced by a master narrative of educational participation at the period in their lives when the social expectation to decide to attend college was obscured by other choices. Largely based on their experiences with early education, the men saw little value and purpose for enrolling in college when other options with tangible benefits were more accessible. The findings also indicated that a man's unique identities, incentives, and life experiences acquired in alternative institutions could combine in ways that would positively influence the way he viewed formal education. As men matured, they assumed an identity that was meaningful to them, such as the provider or entrepreneur. The men were motivated to attain the goal of a good life through incentives that were common among most men in the study. As they matured, men realized the one incentive they could not control was time thus, the other incentives (i.e., competition, status, and freedom) became important. Men also learned essential lessons outside of formal education by participating in alternative institutions, such as drug rehabilitation, prison, or the military. These lessons, together with the men's identities and incentives, influenced their decision to participate in higher education beyond the traditional age. |
