Having served as an academic counselor at all levels of education with
at-risk students, my thoughts on this subject may be a bit jaded, and are
sure to arouse the ire of sports fans. Yes, boys are overrepresented in
disabilities and receive special services, in my experience, particularly
in the learning disabled arena. It has been my experience that those male
students may also be excellent athletes and it serves the institution well
for those males student athletes to remain academically eligible. It was
first surprising to me that the athletic departments were willing to invest
so much time and energy getting males special services to meet their
learning disabilities when not the same amount of time, testing, or expense
was provided to the females. Testing to determine learning disabilities is
expensive, and unless there is a compelling reason to test, some schools
will not expend the resources.
Often girls do not participate in extracurricular activities, such as
sports, which could help students develop leadership skills and enhance
self-esteem. When they do, their acces to resources, facilities, and
community support is typically unequal to that of boys.
Enough said. I, for one, am not at all surprised that girls are
underrepresented in procuring special services.
Rebecca Hasty, Nontraditional/Equity Programs Specialist
Career & Technical Education, Nebraska Department of Education
PO Box 94987
Lincoln, NE 68509-4987
Phone: 402-471-4823; FAX: 402-471-4565
rhasty@nde.state.ne.us
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