Squek:
Modern Orthodox, YU, etc. clearly have the shortage of boy problems that we have been discussing. Try picking up a phone and speaking to the various shadchanim and organizations that deal with those communities, and you will quickly see how true it is.
Re Chassidic communities:
we have discussed previously that there is NOT a shortage of boys there simply because they don’t have the age gap issue. Boys begin dating at the same age as the girls.
In a nutshell there is a tremendous shortage of 22 yr old boys vis a vis 19 yr old girls. No two ways about it.
tzippi:
I assume you are referencing the discussion that has been taking place in various media forms regarding the “stlyle” that almost all the boys go to learn in Eretz Yisroel after a couple of years in bais medrash. It is no secret that many of them are not nearly as productive in their learning there as they are were both prior and subsequent to their stay in Eretz Yisroel. The simple conclusion is thererefore not every single boy should automatically go just because it’s the style. I actually think that’s a very reasonable point. Whether or not it will have a positive effect on closing the age gap (it will), is only a secondary point.
Do you really think that boys who would do better by not going should still go? Or are you in la la and think that all the boys who go are fabulously productive. If you believe the later try speaking to good boys (and their american rebbeim) who have been there in the last five years and ask them in hindsight if it was a samrt decision to go.