Schooled

Fifty-three percent of college graduates are now female, and the majority of those pursuing professional degrees beyond an undergraduate education is women. Despite the dismally slow climb toward equal pay for equal work*, women have recently outpaced men as far as earnings growth and given the close relationship between education levels and pay, this trend will most likely continue.

Sounds wonderful and very well it's about time until you consider the implications of such a turned table on the dating scene. Among college-educated adults, the pool of potential mates has expanded more rapidly for men than for women. Yes, ladies, there are now less fish in the sea who can read as well as you.

Several of my female college students have told me that they refuse to "date down," meaning they refuse to date a man who is not as educated as they are. Statistically this presents a new problem for women who are marriage-minded. It makes sense, too, that men who are not college-educated make up the fastest growing segment of people who remain single throughout their lives.

So, we have roared and come a long way, baby, but a pesky new question must be asked: have we priced ourselves out of the market? Have we schooled ourselves out of the sea, so to speak?

*the pay gap is closing at a rate of a half cent annually...so, in about 60 years someone like me won't make $2 million dollars LESS than a man doing the same job over her lifetime. awesome. really.