Girls v Boys in school

[Tituscrow]

Ok, so here in the uk we see the gap between the performance of girls and boys increase yet again. All kinds of theories as to the why's and how's etc. Curious to know if a similar such trend - or indeed the opposite - exists elsewhere in Europe/Asia/America...

Thoughts?

http://m.guardian.co.uk/education/20...n&type=article

[Strohsx]

They still can't play sports worth a damn.
I'm also willing to bet that less male students get knocked up and drop out of school, so we when in the end.

[SoComSurfing]

Originally Posted by Strohsx

They still can't play sports worth a damn.
I'm also willing to bet that less male students get knocked up and drop out of school, so we when in the end.

Obviously not.

[cheezewiz]

Originally Posted by Strohsx

They still can't play sports worth a damn.
I'm also willing to bet that less male students get knocked up and drop out of school, so we when in the end.

Disagree. I coach a coed soccer (football for you English members) team, comprised of 10, 11, and 12 year olds. Some of my BEST players are girls, and as a rule, almost to a kid, the girls make better defenders than the boys, because they don't run around like chickens with their heads cut off.

[bmc]

Originally Posted by Strohsx

They still can't play sports worth a damn.
I'm also willing to bet that less male students get knocked up and drop out of school, so we when in the end.

Fail

BTW...there are more girls in university than guys and the trend is growing.

[masturbasser]

Gurlz arr dum!!!

[R. Laevinus]

I wonder if it doesn't have a little something to do with there being more resources and supports available for girls then there are for boys; I've never seen any scientific studies on the subject, but it did seem to me when I was in university that there were female-only scholarships, study groups, workshops, dorms, gym facilities, clubs, computer labs, library study rooms, health clinics, counsellors, and even lounges - everywhere. Not to mention, of course, that every self-respecting school now seems to offer several varieties of Women's Studies programs.

Yet, I couldn't find, for the life of me, a single facility, course or program that seemed tailored to - let alone exclusively intended for - male students. (Unless they were gay; there were several such structures in place for our well-dressed brethren.)

I personally suspect that our efforts of previous decades to raise women's academic achievement have succeeded, mightily. Therefore, I propose reducing such measures gradually, in such a fashion as to bring the male and female student populations and achievement levels back into equilibrium.

Because equality is what it's really all about, innit?

[jmattbassplaya]

^ Not sure if serious.

[pie_man_25]

Being a student of the social sciences, I had to take some sociology classes. Whenever the concept of gender were to come up in class, it would seem that everyobody (go figure, %70 of the class was female) would argue that "women are smarter/more mature", and whenever a statistic would be displayed that seemed to show that females were disadvantaged (e.g. wage disparity) they (being the prof. and many of the students) would imply social bias, whenever statistics were displayed that would show that somehow males were disadvantaged (e.g. criminal statistics), the discussion would seem to imply, or state openly, that the problem is something innate in males. I would always argue otherwise - citing such things as popular culture, police bias, etc... - it's difficult to convincingly argue against about 200 people, one of whom has their PhD.

It seems that the old bias that men used to have (that women are weaker/ less academically capable) has only been replaced by a new female bias, one that believes that men are more violent, immature, and insensitive.

[colcifer]

Originally Posted by R. Laevinus

I wonder if...

That sort of thing bugs me endlessly.

Anyhoo, I once had a teacher who would do boys vs girls in class all the time and the girls always won but that was just a matter of them following the rules of the game. I'd wager something similar is going on here as well.

Originally Posted by pie_man_25

Being a student of the...

Michael Crichton wrote an interesting essay that comments a little bit on this sort of thing... *finds link* Got it: MichaelCrichton.com | Men's Hearts. It's not really relevant to this thread but fans of his will like it.

[john grey]

Today IS women's EQUALITY day!

women's equality day 2011 - Bing

[R. Laevinus]

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

^ Not sure if serious.

Deadly, my good man. What part is rubbing you the wrong way?

If it's the reduction of female-directed academic supports, well, I suppose we could leave them in place, but only if we also began supporting the male students in similar fashion.

[Quickie]

Originally Posted by Strohsx

They still can't play sports worth a damn.
I'm also willing to bet that less male students get knocked up and drop out of school, so we when in the end.

Girls are better spellers than boys.

Originally Posted by john grey

Today IS women's EQUALITY day!

women's equality day 2011 - Bing

I treat them equally. My wife gets on top as much as I do.

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by R. Laevinus

Deadly, my good man. What part is rubbing you the wrong way?

If it's the reduction of female-directed academic supports, well, I suppose we could leave them in place, but only if we also began supporting the male students in similar fashion.

Haha, nothing. It's just hard to read if there is sarcasm in a post or not on the internet

[MatticusMania]

I still throw harder than they do at Dodgeball!

[Johnny Crab]

Wonder how many males are are Ritalinized or forced onto some other form of zombie meds AND how that affects "achievement"?

Dunno.
R. Laevinus and Pie Man have excellent points.

[Tituscrow]

I think a lot of it is certainly to do with how they are assessed. In the uk, a large part of a final qualification involves long term, project based coursework, which girls - in my experience - seem to take more pride, care and effort with. Lads tend to produce last-minute rush jobs and suffer accordingly. Some generalisations there, but as a rule, that tends to be the picture. In actual sit-down exams though, the boys hold their own (), especially at more advanced levels in maths and science. Maybe when coursework bites the dust, which our current muppets in power are keen on, the trend will reverse.

There is also the puberty and rate of development (both physically and in terms of emotional intelligence) factor that cannot be discounted.

Matticus...there are a few girls at my school that would destroy you at Dodgeball

[MatticusMania]

I dunno, Titus... I play every weekend (for the last 3 years) with a motley crew of ne'er do wells ranging from Iraqui War Vets to Yoga & Fitness Trainers and rank pretty high myself. Not to mention the obstacle of having to play through a good drunk!

[Strohsx]

It was a joke, take it easy.

Really it's about the same at the school I work at, little boys are getting lazier and really just dumber over the years.

[Tituscrow]

Haha yeah I hear you. Was a Light hearted comment pointing out that some girls are pretty damn good at some sports supposedly played better by boys.