On the difference between mathematical ability between boys and girls

http://wmbriggs.com/blog/2008/07/25/on-the-difference-between-mathematical-ability-between-boys-and-girls/ ^ | William Briggs

[mattstat]

Today’s headlines mostly got it wrong:

* The New York Sun said "Study Shatters Myth That Boys Are Better At Math."

* The New York Post said "Girls = boys in math skills."

* The New York Daily News said "Math gender differences erased."

* The New York Times said "Math Scores Show No Gap for Girls, Study Finds."

Only the Wall Street Journal got it right:

* "Boys' Math Score Hit Highs and Lows."

This is, of course, a political topic. This is evidenced by the Times beginning their take on the story by recalling the fate of Larry Summers, ex-president of Harvard, who dared to publicly wonder whether males and females have similar mathematical ability. In case you don’t recall, he surmised that they did not, and he was crucified for uttering such politically-incorrect heresy.

Janet Hyde, who is a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and who led the study, said the idea that boys might be better at math is a “stereotype.” Well, let’s see...

[Slapshot68]

I heard this on the radio yesterday. The story said that girls can excel at math just as well as the boys can. Fine. But then the story went on to pretty much bash males as not having good study habits, not as organized, etc as the girls when it comes to school.

So basically, the story went from disproving a stereotype to continuing another one.

[driftdiver]

I think its mostly that boys tend to be interested in science and math more than girls. of course with the feminization of schools today is there really any difference between boys and girls mentally?

[kcm.org]

time to bash males, so Mrs. Bill Clinton can be seen as a viable President.

[driftdiver]

The author needs to be ostracized. How dare he bring facts and reason to a purely emotional issue.

Interesting read, gave me flashbacks of my college days tho.

[mamelukesabre]

bfl

[HamiltonJay]

My question is simply this, did the girls actually improve, or did they dumb down the boys enough with their horrific teaching of math these days?

[Sacajaweau]

I'm a female and a mathematician. I went to an all girl Catholic High School (1957-1961). I was told I could be a math teacher.

It was a male who told me that "men don't have a monopoly on brains".

I have a degree in Engineering, have a Professional License in an exclusive field.

P.S. I've been teaching my grandaughter math and spelling since she was a tiny tot. She is in excell classes and her classmates are all young men. As it turns out, at age 13, she loves her classmates for their brains!!

[Sacajaweau]

Let’s be real. The world has changed. Most women work now and there IS room for them in math fields. Change comes with time. It’s attitude.

[MrB]

negative stereotypes against girls (minorities, other cultures, etc) - BAD

negative stereotypes against boys (”whites”, traditional American culture, Christians) - OK

[Varda]

This study looked at results compiles from "No Child Left behind" and came to that (highly suspicious) conclusion. When she looked at SAT scores she found that males score better than females although they claim the difference is small.

The last time I looked into one of these females are equal to males in math claims I found a dishonest researcher.

Females always show equal to males in math until puberty. Then males excel. If you combine all NCLB grades (1-12), you're going to mask the real results. The same goes for SAT scores. Males are over-represented in the top and bottom 10%. The highest scores have the highest percentage of males. Nobody seems to care about the over-representation of males in the lowest scores.

[JillValentine]

Sigh...

Whatever differences there may or may not be in mathematical ability between the sexes on average is not nearly as important as each individual human being's mathematical ability, or ability in any other field. Should we be judged as individuals, or should collectivism be king?

I'm no mathematical genius. Don't ask me to do advanced calculus. But I got A's and B's in my high school math classes. The silly Barbie "Math is hard!" stereotype is just that - a stereotype. Telling an entire gender (it doesn't matter which one, what's bad for the goose is bad for the gander) "none of you are good at ______" can only lead to trouble - for both sexes. Why do you think Islamic society is still stuck in the toilet despite their enormous oil wealth? They view their women as chattel. They expect them to be like Barbie at math.

Respect and individualism - those are the things that will solve our problems. Generalized bashing, whether it's portraying sitcom dads as dumb or girls as bad at math, will only harm everyone in the end, except for perhaps the ivory tower jerks in the media who stand to gain from conflict.

[CPOSharky]

...did they dumb down the boys enough with their horrific teaching of math these days?

Bingo.

[P.O.E.]

From the Economist a few months back

[Jabba the Nutt]

Well, count on the ideologues to mix the categories in order to confuse the issue to obfuscate for a political purpose. When scientists talk about males being better at math and spacial thinking, they're talking about the genius end of the bell curve, not the denizens of public schools.

They're must be at least 100 male math geniuses for every female math genius. You have to be neurotic and weak in order to go out and do a study in order to obfuscate this truth.

At the other end of the bell curve, there must be at least 100 male idiots for every female idiot. For reasons only God and nature know for sure, the male bell curve is flatter and wider than the female one.

[JillValentine]

Interesting chart. The only Muslim country on the list (Turkey) has the weakest scores for girls. The countries on the list with the next weakest scores for girls - South Korea and Italy - are both pretty patriarchal. The Scandanavian countries, which have a long tradition of sexual equality, have the highest girls’ scores.

[autumnraine]

According to the people here, apparently you are freak of nature.

Somehow I doubt that.

[Varda]

Also they like to mix results and conclusions. They are right that there is little difference between girls and boys but you can't use that to conclude that there is no difference between men and women. Unfortunately, this is the basis of discrimination against males in college admissions at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

[ladyjane]

What discrimination against males in college admissions are you talking about?

Requirements for males entering college are much less stringent than for females.

[Skooz]

My wife is a math teacher. I have always sucked at math.

So much for the stereotype.