Girls' math skills now measure up to boys'

Interesting that the article seems to go out of its way to avoid disclosing any of the actual data on scores over time. Parents of boys will tell you the cards are now stacked against those boys in K-12, and it is quite likely that girls have "caught up" not simply by improving, but thanks to declining scores for boys who are now short-changed by our nation's schools.

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I really wish that the fanfare of girls' scores equaling boys' scores would end. I am about to be a freshman in college, with the intended major of chemical engineering, and until about sophomore year in high school, I never knew that boys were "supposed" to be better at math and science. That little tidbit of info was pushed on me as I my mother sent me to a summer program that promotes women in science. During that week, I was constantly reminded how women are just as good as men at math, and we all have this inferiority complex that makes us think that the men are smarter. After that, I felt like I wasn't as smart as guys, because, historically, that's how its always been. Maybe this is just my backwards mind, but it just seems that in order to really achieve equality, both boys and girls should be encouraged equally to excel academically. If we have all girl math retreats, why aren't there all guy retreats? This distinction really needs to end. This needs to turn into the case of "Take your daughter to work day", which is now simply "Take your child to work day". Like it or not, trying to close the gap simply enhances the gap, and ends up shortchanging the dominating side.

These studies are actually political in nature to foster gender equality. Truth and Reality is less of a concern than political agenda.

One could argue that the gender equality arguments are stale.

For instance, a total omission is that girls' high school GPA's have been higher than boys' GPA's for quite some time. And more girls are entering college than guys.

I mean ever been to your kids honor-roll function? It's totally dominated by girls.

Will there be a gender equality movement for boys who are now the laggards (in pre-college education)? Doubt it.

Another total omission is performance in graduate and postgraduate education.

But that's why I say it's political in nature.

The facts of convenience that support the gender equality activists' political agenda are more important than addressing the larger realities of the whole. And that's why the agenda cannot really succeed. The problem with addressing the whole? As in the whole truth?

They can't.

Because they may indeed find an "engineering gene" that boys tend to have more of. Indeed there is a "maternal/familial gene" found in women that makes them the glue of our families that us guys tend not to have. While we guys have a corner on the "make war and act like belligerent idiots gene".

But shhhhh!!! We can't talk about that ....

Speaking as a parent of both a boy and a girl, I can attest that there is preferential treatment for girls in schools these days. The style of teaching has been tailored to suit the girls and the interaction I've seen has been 100% one-sided. It's almost like at some point someone said, "ok, the boys are in a higher position...let's ignore them for the next dozen or so years to help the females (forgetting that ignoring the boys outright might begin to raise a resentment from the male species in the next generation as they begin to look around and see how they are being segregated and subjugated).

This was something my wife ALSO brought to my attention when she was at my son's school last year, witnessing the teacher holding and caring for two little girls, while the boys in the class where (in her eyes) separated from the class - to the back of the group and not encouraged to participate.

Honestly, I could care less which gender is "better" in math/science or the arts...I have my own software consulting firm and my own photography studio so I've learned to work on both sides of the brain. However, when we as a society intentionally "experiment" with the next generation by initiating a purposed segregation (like some sort of science study) without having the foresight to see exactly what the full range of ramifications might be, we do ourselves as a society more harm than good…at least in my humble opinion.

Again, this comes from a father of both a daughter and son, and is the witnessed testimony that both my wife and I have found to be true in our children's school.

Speaking as a parent of both a boy and a girl, I can attest that there is preferential treatment for girls in schools these days. The style of teaching has been tailored to suit the girls and the interaction I've seen has been 100% one-sided. It's almost like at some point someone said, "ok, the boys are in a higher position...let's ignore them for the next dozen or so years to help the females (forgetting that ignoring the boys outright might begin to raise a resentment from the male species in the next generation as they begin to look around and see how they are being segregated and...almost "subjugated" by it's own leaders).

This was something my wife ALSO brought to my attention when she was at my son's school last year, witnessing the teacher holding and caring for two little girls, while the boys in the class where (in her eyes) separated from the class - to the back of the group and not encouraged to participate.

Honestly, I could care less which gender is "better" in math/science or the arts...I have my own software consulting firm and my own photography studio so I've learned to work on both sides of the brain. However, when we as a society intentionally "experiment" with the next generation by initiating a purposed segregation (like some sort of science study) without having the foresight to see exactly what the full range of ramifications might be, we do ourselves as a society more harm than good…at least in my humble opinion.

Again, this comes from a father of both a daughter and son, and is the witnessed testimony that both my wife and I have found to be true in our children's school.

I know when I was recently in school for my mathematics degree, the number of women in my classes were significantly higher than when I first went to school some number of years ago. Even if they were there for other degrees, it was nice to see so many taking on the challenge of the natural sciences and mathematics. The one area where women in mathematics seemed to have fewer women was in my pure mathematics classes, but I never had a class that was all men.

look at upper level math fields -engineering, astronomy -there are more men than women. Everyone is good at math in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL but only the ones with the talent go on to advanced degrees and practice. For instance everyone can run but not everyone makes the olympics! To test who his the higher math aptitude one have to test at the advanced level not elementary school. So what is there are not equal? Women are probably equally better at other things such as nursing (and nobody is saying nursing is inferior to being a mathematician). If human brains sexually dimorphic then that would explain one being better at certain things-for the good of the species.

Schools do their jobs very well. That job is, of course, to file down the thinking mind so it can perform a repetitive task for the remainder of its life. This way an individual is not more of a burden on society than the resources required to sustain it. So I have nothing against schools or the education system; nay, for them, I have nothing but praise. No amount of schooling can make an idiot intelligent, only useful. A person born a simpleton will die a simpleton. Through 12 years of schooling (not to mention "pre-schooling" and college) the mind is made into a brick to replace a wearing one in the system. Those who can rise above were born so, and they will usually become disillusioned with school at a very young age. That is not to say every idiot who dislikes school is above the system. Indeed, that is simply the rebellion of the intellect against the trivial things being forced into it. Those who understand the purpose of school find no fault in it, and when asked their feelings on the subject, merely offer a chuckle.

Girls and boys will never be equal. Nor will any two individuals. Equality is something available only to numbers and geometric shapes. Society attempts to lower the intelligent and raise the idiotic to a mean, and by doing so, produce a disparity between privilege and actually ability. See how, in any "proper" institution, a person will be referred to as "Sir" or "Ma'am", be they a tremendous imbecile or an impeccable genius. Of course, that is the world we live in, and it could not be any other way. Therefore, leveling a complaint against or offering praise for it is superfluous at best, nonsensical at worst.

Schools do their jobs very well. That job is, of course, to file down the thinking mind so it can perform a repetitive task for the remainder of its life. This way an individual is not more of a burden on society than the resources required to sustain it. So I have nothing against schools or the education system; nay, for them, I have nothing but praise. No amount of schooling can make an idiot intelligent, only useful. A person born a simpleton will die a simpleton. Through 12 years of schooling (not to mention "pre-schooling" and college) the mind is made into a brick to replace a wearing one in the system. Those who can rise above were born so, and they will usually become disillusioned with school at a very young age. That is not to say every idiot who dislikes school is above the system. Indeed, that is simply the rebellion of the intellect against the trivial things being forced into it. Those who understand the purpose of school find no fault in it, and when asked their feelings on the subject, merely offer a chuckle.

Girls and boys will never be equal. Nor will any two individuals. Equality is something available only to numbers and geometric shapes. Society attempts to lower the intelligent and raise the idiotic to a mean, and by doing so, produce a disparity between privilege and actually ability. See how, in any "proper" institution, a person will be referred to as "Sir" or "Ma'am", be they a tremendous imbecile or an impeccable genius. Of course, that is the world we live in, and it could not be any other way. Therefore, leveling a complaint against or offering praise for it is superfluous at best, nonsensical at worst.

But they still can't open pickle jars or kill spiders.

But they still can't open pickle jars or kill spiders.

Too much is never enough, it seems. I do believe if women earned 99% of all math and science degrees except in Botany, the news would be all about how women are lagging in the all-important lucrative field of Botanical Sciences and *something must be done about it*!

Doubtless the recently-announced plans to wage war on math and science depts. all across America by applying Title IX (aka the Destoryer of Men's Sports Departments) to the headcount of the various engineering and science fields will not be deterred by this newsflash. If girls and women show little interest in science and engineering fields, it *must* be because of the evil men and "society's" attitudes. How about this: they would just rather work with other people than with things as the major component of their day-to-day work experiences-- and guess what, there's nothing wrong with that!! We need people-focused people as much as we need task- and process-focused ones, if not more!

But can crusty old feminists deal with that? Apparently not. Tell me, crusty old feminists, why don't YOU go into sceince and engineering if you want to see women in it so badly? Or are you having more fun at your more P/R-intense, personal-contact-heavy jobs as advocates for the transfer of large amounts of taxpayer dollars to programs that are, simply put, largely unwanted and unnecessary? Only you know the answer, deep inside.

I say we drop the whole battle of the sexes and empower ourselves as individuals. Human beings have the power to be above the pettiness of conflicts over religious, ethnic, gender differences, but they simply choose not to. That's what sickens me the most. As John Lennon once said, "I support humanity". So let's stop being separate teams shall we?

This is news to me! Boys better in math than girls? My mom always told me girls were smarter than boys (math included) and I believed her. I somehow managed to get knocked out of #1 in the class (1977) by a boy, but he cheated so it didn't really bother me that much. I knew I was smarter than some boy that got a full ride to a military academy while my parents had to struggle to pay my college tuition. Why did I think girls were smarter? Solely because my mother told me so! It is all about living up to expectations, Miss Doolittle. That is NOT to say that I didn't have plenty people (during college) try to discourage me from certain professions because I was a girl. I truly hope those days are gone for good. Of course, now I continue to tell my son that girls are smarter than boys and that he has to work harder (so far, so good). Oh, and BTW the #1 boy got kicked out the the military academy....you guessed it ...for cheating. I guess HIS mom told him to do whatever it takes!

The reason girls lagged behind boys for so long was because they were taught that boys were good at math and that they weren't. Women have been intimidated into thinking their options were limited, and they still are! Fortunately for me, my father was a mathematician and instilled in me that I could do math. And guess what? I could! And I could do chemistry too. The thing I found interesting was that some boys were uncomfortable with the fact that I was better at math than they were. Well, study. Work at it.

If we teach our girls that all avenues are open, and espose them to the sciences, they will come! Science is fun.

mcc99 - I am sorry - your message is incoherent. Maybe you don't like people, but most boys and men I know do.

When will we address the fact that boys are being shortchanged in literacy skils

I tell you what, I'm a white American male and I'm about to graduate with my engineering degree. I'm getting really tired of being made to feel bad about myself because somehow I have subjugated all the girls into not going into engineering. No one ever told me I was better than anyone else. No one ever tried to get me into engineering and in all of my classes I have never seen any animosity towards women. I have however seen an explosion in programs designed to attract more women to the science fields and college in general (guys are just expected to find their own way) while at the same time being subjected to constant reminders through lectures and guest speakers about what a bad person I am because more women don't come into my field. So while women are enthusiastically recruited for colleges and have amassed a larger percentage population than males in most universities, and are graduating at higher rates than males and are being offered borderline special treatment for going into tech fields (I have seen it so don't think I'm making it up) males are left by the wayside to fend for themselves.

This just bears out the obvious reality that gender is not directly correlated with intelligence. The movement to balance the teaching of boys and girls by tailoring curricula to girls has succeeded; the question is whether or not there is a favoritism towards girls.

As women in the US continue to increase their lead in college enrollment, I await the furor in support of educating our young males to erupt any moment. For some reason, I expect to be waiting a good long whille.

BS !!!!!

The only reason that girls have had trouble with math and science is because they have been told they can't do math and science - that this realm belongs to boys. I was fortunate to have parents (including one that is a mathematician) who pushed and encouraged me in these domains. I can remember both boys and girls who were uncomfortable with the fact that I could "do" chemistry, especially if they couldn't. I remember winning the "science" award in junior high, and feeling a little embarassed about it - because this was not "cool" for a girl. My friends would admit to me that they did not have confidence in their abilities to do math.

We need to send our girls the message that math and science are fun - because guess what? They are. And if you can reason, you can do math.

mcc99 - I'm sorry, but your message is incoherent. Most of the boys and men I know like working with people. If you were more of a people person, you might be a little happier. And I didn't know that people skills and interests and "task- and process-focused" ones (whatever in the heck that means) were mutually exclusive. I would think that most people, at least those who are most effective in the workplace, would have both.

Women should not get preferential treatment as far as getting jobs in the science fields, but that is not reason for anyone to be angry that the gender gap is closing as far as skills in these domains. This is only cause for celebration. There is nobody who hasn't face some kind of discrimination. If you are upset about discrimination and how it has affected your life, work for justice.

Who gives a S****, girls can find jobs just like guys do, sometimes the same, sometimes different. However the key is to work hard, finish high school, go to college, get a job. Why is this still such a mystery? I know, I teach these kids.

I can't see how this is anything but good news. The number of engineers, scientists and other professions requiring good math skills graduating from our colleges and universities is far short of the number we need in this country. They are among the highest paid for new graduates. With the coming retirement of the baby boom generation, we are in desperate need of producing new professionals to replace them or the jobs will all move overseas.