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KALAMAZOO, MI -- At Otsego High School, nine of the top 10 students in the Class of 2014 are girls.

At Schoolcraft, it's seven out of 10; at Portage Central, 19 out of 25; at Kalamazoo Central, 15 out of 25.

In fact, the only Kalamazoo County high school where male honor graduates outnumbered the females was Kalamazoo Christian.

RELATED STORIES: Class of 2014 honor students in the Kalamazoo area.

Mattawan Class of 2014 at their graduation ceremony May 24.

It shouldn't be a shock. Girls outperform boys on a variety of academic indicators. In Michigan and throughout the country, girls are more likely to graduate high school in four years, enroll in college and stay in college.

The most recent U.S. Census data indicates that 37 percent of female Americans age 25 to 29 have bachelor's degrees compared to 30 percent for males. And 9 percent of young women age 25 to 29 have master's degrees, compared to 6 percent for men.

So what's going on?

It's not a difference in IQ. A look at the breakdown on state assessment tests show a longstanding trend of girls performing slightly better on reading and writing, while boys have slightly higher scores in math and science.

Rather, it appears schools offer a hospitable environment to girls.

"Schools are from Venus and boys are from Mars," said Larry Schlack, former superintendent of the Barry Intermediate School District.

Schlack is among those who have been talking for years about the underperformance of boys, and is a frequent speaker at educational conferences where he offers workshops on "the war against boys."

"Who drops out? Gets in trouble? Ends up in special education? Gets bad grades? It's boys," Schlack said.

He notes the overwhelming majority of K-12 teachers are women -- 77 percent statewide as well as in Kalamazoo County, according to the most recent data.

Schlack suggests there is "disconnect between what women teachers expect and what boys are."

Teachers, he said, tend to reward children who can sit for long stretches of time and work quietly -- qualities more associated with girls.

Boys are at a disadvantage in school because they tend to be more rambunctious and are slower to mature, Schlack said. It's no coincidence, he said, that boys are much more likely to be placed in special education programs and are much more likely to get punished for their behavior.

In fact, boys account for two-thirds of school suspensions, according to a March report by the U.S. Department of Education.

He and others say the situation has been exacerbated by recent education reforms such as the increased emphasis on testing and the Michigan Merit Curriculum.

The need to raise test scores has often resulted in less recess and fewer physical education classes in lower grades, giving boys less opportunity to blow off steam during the school day.

At the secondary level, the state's new graduation requirements make it much tougher for kids to access career-tech programs, which offer the kind of hands-on learning particularly appealing to teenage boys who chafe at sitting in a classroom.

"We need to make schools more boy-friendly and we could do it," Schlack said. That means better recognition that boys develop on a slower timetable than girls, and adjusting the curriculum to include more hands-on activities and less seatwork.

"Quit treating boys like defective girls," he said.

But here's the irony: While girls outperform boys in school settings, the workplace, is still largely a man's world.

Consider that while three-quarters of K-12 Kalamazoo County educators are women, all the superintendents are men.

Less than 5 percent of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies are women. Women hold 18.5 percent of the seats in Congress. In Kalamazoo County, the median salary for a male full-time worker in 2012 was $47,727 compared to $35,421 for a woman.

The male edge in the workplace was underscored by a study released this month that found a correlation between high school grade-point averages and future salaries: The higher the grades, the higher the salary.

But the correlation only held true within each demographic group: White males earn the most compared to women and minorities with similar GPAs. In fact, women who received straight A's in high school have, on average, about the same salary has men who had C-plus grades in high school.

Girls may rule the roost in school, but it's boys who take over after graduation.

Julie Mack covers K-12 education and writes a column for Kalamazoo Gazette. Email her at jmack1@mlive.com, call her at 269-350-0277 or follow her on Twitter at kzjuliemack.