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[Followups to misc.kids]

hamilton@DNVN.com (Hamilton) wrote:
>John Arrowsmith <john@arrowsmith.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>Hamilton <hamilton@DNVN.com> writes

>> >Since by high school boys do better on virtually all measures of
>> >performance including the SATS in this country, it seems that the
>> >real losers in the school system are girls who are not encouraged
>> >to perform to their best level and who are systematically advised
>> >into less demanding subjects.  

Is this true across the entire population of boys and girls, or is a more
select subset of the boys being compared with a broader subset of girls?
I.E. do marginal boys tend not to take the SAT at all? Certainly college
admission and graduation rates (higher for girls, I believe) would imply
that these apparent deficiencies may not be of enduring effect.

>> >This is particularly true in math and science.

Here we probably do have a cultural predilection for encouraging boys in
these fields, though I suspect that is to some degree an echo of a real
genetic difference in the means of the respective curves.

>> Is "in this country" Australia ?

>You have the SATs in Australia?  If not, you are being a jerk.  If
>so, sorry.

Hamilton, you crossposted to aus.students without any apparent 'Strine
content. Thus John's remark.

It would be interesting to see to what degree these gender differences
persist in non-'Murkin contexts. I am not willing to presuppose that all
observed gender differences are someone's "fault".

It may be to true of the UK system, but certainly not of the US' system.
Study after study in the US shows that girls become more and more
introverted as school continues for them. From an early age, they are picked
less often because teachers want to quiet the boys who are making "oo oo"
noises and swinging their hands around in the air. It becomes habitual for
the girls to simply sit quiety and not ever bother trying to out perform the
boys ... and these habits last well into high school.


Heidi wrote:

> I just posted an essay titled "Why Boys Are Treated Unfairly In School",
> in the "Hit Me" page of my e-zine. Sure to raise some controversy, it's
> written by a school teacher who expresses strong opinions about what
> happens when boys and girls are mixed in the same classrooms. Basically,
> he says that girls are outperforming boys and that boys continue to lose
> ground. He gives plenty of examples and reasons supporting his views.
>
> The author is British and is his article is about the British school
> system. I assume the same findings would apply to most other countries.
> What's your opinion?
>
> --
> Heidi Rogers
> Publisher, CyberGrrlz
> "The e-zine for girls with brains and a sense of humor"
> (smarter guys will like it too)
> http://www.cybergrrlz.com



--
Best,
Max Fresen

Triangle23 - consume more web.
http://www.triangle23.com/firewall/

Boys don't outperform girls in this country, if you can show me some stats of
boys performing better than girls I will be most surprised.

Hamilton wrote:

> In article <Q3xWuBAUaln1EwEj@arrowsmith.demon.co.uk>, John Arrowsmith
> <john@arrowsmith.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > In article <hamilton-0407981056510001@host-209-214-114-99.bna.bellsouth.
> > net>, Hamilton <hamilton@DNVN.com> writes
> > >
> > >Since by high school boys do better on virtually all measures of
> > >performance including the SATS in this country, it seems that the
> > >real losers in the school system are girls who are not encouraged
> > >to perform to their best level and who are systematically advised
> > >into less demanding subjects.  This is particularly true in math
> > >and science.
> > >
> > Hamilton
> >
> > Is "in this country" Australia ?
> >
> > John
>
> You have the SATs in Australia?  If not, you are being a jerk.  If
> so, sorry.

I'm coming in on the tail end of this.

However, I think that neither boys OR girls are encouraged to perform their
best on tests. and I do agree that girls are shoved off into "less" lucrative
professions. But that seems to be subsiding to a degree. I think what we need
to do as parents is IGNORE all those supposed tests, one sided surveys,  or
individuals that say boys are better than girls or girls are better than boys
at whatever subject. What we need to do is encourage our children to do their
best. Let them know that they can do ANYTHING that they set their minds to.


Andrea
and Grey 5/5/97

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