Are Girls Smarter than Boys?

I was having lunch with a friend last week, a well-known and highly respected news commentator.  He is extremely up to date (maybe ahead of the date) on what is happening in the world and has a very inquisitive mind.  He asked me about my work with gender and toys and when I told him about the concern some women have over the lack of girls in the sciences he responded with this:  “Society’s concern should not be with girls but with boys.  Males are falling way behind in almost everything.”  

He is of course correct when it comes to college.  According to a USA Today Article by Mary Beth Marklein, women now dominate enrollment in and graduation from college with a split of 57% for women and 43% for men.    Prior to 1991, men dominated in these areas so the shift is historically speaking a recent one.

I saw this as an American or western issue until I chanced upon an article in this week’s China Daily entitled:  “'Bars should be lowered' for boys in exams.”  According to that article, a high level Chinese politician has expressed grave concerns that  “…male students are increasingly under-represented in the country's (China’s) leading schools and colleges, and are outperformed by female students in college entrance exams.” He sites the following statistics in making his case:  “80% of China’s poor students are males; males students in Shanghai score on average 25 points lower than females on standardized tests and male representations in Shanghai’s top high schools is more than 10% lower than females.”  His solution, have lower standards for boy then from girls.

As I considered all of this I began to think: Are girls smarter than boys?  Are these number representatives of levels of intelligence?  What does this mean for those of us who make products for girls and boys?

I will have done some research and will have some finding and thoughts on these questions in my next posting.

Comments

[Steve Reece]

Totally agree with you Richard - Boys development is an ongoing concern - be interested to see what the solutions are! Steve Reece (www.stevenreece.com)

[Gina Manola]

Girls are not smarter than boys. Although developmentally, girls will often outperform boys of the same age in language and writing skills. That gap closes once boys are developmentally ready. I am the mother of a boy and one who has been concerned about the way boys are perceived and educated for some time. I was so concerned that by 3rd grade I pulled my son out of school and home schooled him.

Being an duteous mom, in preparation for this new responsibility, I read lots of books on how boys learn. It was eye opening for me and what I came to understand was that often schools fail boys. Not intentionally, of course, but boys require a different approach than girls. Their needs are different. I don’t think a lot of teachers understand this and boys receive subtle and not so subtle admonishment for simply being wired differently than girls. Boys NEED to move around. They need to fidget and tap their pencils. It’s a biological reflex to help them stay alert in class. Boys need goals and to feel a sense of accomplishment. They often work best in teams and with the guidance of a strong mentor. Boys often end up in trouble for not listening, goofing off, etc. while girls are praised for being quiet and attentive. These daily experiences affect boys’ self-esteem and they lose interest in school. Many times I have seen a bias on the part of teachers, especially female teachers, towards female students. My son goes to a very good school now. The teachers and staff are smart, accessible and caring. I have a great deal of respect for them, but from time to time I still feel like I need to “undo” some of what gets “done” in school. I could go on and on, but here’s a link to an article that outlines some of challenges boys face in school. http://www.pbs.org/parents/raisingboys/school03.html.

I once spoke to a child development expert about the challenges boys face in school. Besides arming me with confidence about how to help my son overcome some of the negative messages he might be getting as school, he also told me that, “Every child deserves to have an Uncle Buck in their life.” He was referring to the John Candy character in the movie “Uncle Buck.” This clip speaks for itself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEt5dEOcW0I

[Deep think]

I agree with most of this post but the one thing I disagree with is that wereas the author thinks that the failing of boys is uninte ntional I feel much of it is intentional. I believe the women's movement has a stragedy to establish a matriachy. They have deliberately rigged the educational system in a way that favors girls. Why? Because they know if girls out perform boys academicaly they will out compete boys for best paying jobs which because money is power will enable women to wrest control away from males. The justification for unsurping the power of males is because they have quite correctly by the way identified maleness as the chief culprit in why there is so much poverty and violence in the world. These women believe that women will rule the world in such a way as to usher in peace and prosperity.

They will use as evidence that recent ancient societies discoveries of matriachal
societies give evidence that these societies were peaceful and prosperous. Thus such women will say a vote for a woman is a vote for peace and prosperity.

I agree with these women that it is maleness that is the chief cause of violence and poverty but I disagree with their belief that male rule must be eliminated. Instead I believe their objective of bringing peace and prosperity into the world can best be accomplished by creating a hybrid society that is ruled by 50% females and 50% males. We need more women in leadership roles not because women are superior but because when equal amounts of femaleness and maleness are gathered together the best decissions will be made than either gender would make alone.To have peace neither a patriachy nor matriachy be.

[Deep think]

There are some very disturbing developments steming from the gender gap in education that should give urgency to closing the gender gap. Already the question is arising among women,"Why do we need men anymore. Because girls are ou performing males accademicaly they are making enough money to become independent of men. Women's desire for males is not the same as men's desire for women. Whereas men's desire for women is largely sexual women desire for males was more in line with a meal ticket for her and the kids.But as women make more money than men they no longer see any need for men. The evidence of this is that mariage is in decline. Women are choosing more and more to remain single and mothers are choosing girl babies because the future looks brighter for girls than boys and boys are identified as the chief cause in why there is so much poverty and violence in the world.

It is not men who are poorly ajusting to making less money than women as was feared.It is women who are ajusting poorly to making more money than men. In short it is going to their heads and they think their making more money is a result of being superior and throughout all of history when people who believe they are superior get into power they will either enslave or exterminate those they regard as inferior.It would be the males who would be in line to be their victims. This is why the gender gap in education must be reformed so that it will no longer be as it now is a girl friendly system and a boy unfriendly system,Once the educational system is made gender neutral the gender gap will close and thus the potential consequences writen about above will be avoided.

[Graciela Gullette]

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[Richard Gottlieb]

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[Isaac Wordsworth]

This entire subject is very steriotypical if you think about it. I mean, take my generation for example. Girls seem to be more off task than the boys. I myself am advanced in most of my subjects, along with many fellow male, and few females. I do realize that my statement is also a little steriotypical.