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Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

economist.com

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Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#121

Post by esja »

endisneigh wrote: post #72
marklubi wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps a fourth explanation... The vast majority of teachers are female, so maybe their teaching methods are favorable to girls

I suppose this is possible - how exactly do you think teaching methods are more favorable to girls compared to boys?

A great deal of teaching is built around the idea of students sitting still in one place for a long period of time, listening intently and working quietly. Boys seem to have a lot more difficulty with this (on average) than girls do.

That's one example but there are plenty of others.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#122

Post by tester756 »

LeegleechN wrote: post #10
endisneigh wrote: post #2

How is it possible that girls perform better academically (in 2015) yet are under represented in the top tier of jobs? Either women have no interest in money, academic skills have no bearing in getting high paying jobs, or discrimination is more prevalent then you’d think. I suppose all three could be true.

Girls get higher grades (perhaps due to higher conscientiousness), but do not do better in standardized tests.

It seems to confirm my experience over whole education

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#123

Post by renewiltord »

TimPC wrote: post #63
firefoxd wrote: post #37

This is anecdotal but I'm sure many people are seen this increasingly. In the past 10 years on the job, I'm seeing more guys make jokes about how stupid they are. Every time they make a single mistake they say "oh my God, if my head wasn't attached to my shoulders..." Then it becomes a competition of who has done the dumbest thing. I know it's just being playful, but you rarely see the opposite. Turn the tables, I wa…

I've had a significantly different experience with this. I know a few men who self-deprecate when they make a mistake, but I know more women who do. I haven't seen it turn into a competition on who's done the dumbest thing because I'm seldom in groups where self-deprecation is widely encouraged. I've been the person encouraging people not to self-deprecate in this way, so I don't think it's really a gendered thing. I…

Haha this is likely some sort of selection bias effect because I need constant validation and I have a group of friends who are all like that and a group of friends who are all not like that.

If I were in one group, I reckon I'd form one opinion and if I were in the other I'd form the other opinion.

I'd be wary of making population generalizations when one uses sample populations highly susceptible to selection bias: one's friends and one's coworkers - both of whom are usually selected for agreeableness with the group, either directly for friends or indirectly through culture fit for coworkers.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#124

Post by xhkkffbf »

endisneigh wrote: post #101
throwaway53086 wrote: post #31

Anyone with young boys and girls will notice that girls are much more likely to obey rules and instructions. A lot of doing well in school is about following rules and instructions, and it seems pretty natural that girls will do better. Also, most teachers are women. I haven't checked, but I'd assume most school administrators are women. It seems natural that they'd construct a system that's more suited for females t…

I've seen this take a few times and I don't really buy it. How exactly is school setup in a way that's more suitable for women compared to men? Everything you've stated (following rules and instructions, etc.) also applies in the workplace, so if you were correct you would the same sort of discrepancy in the workforce.

* Lots of sitting still. My local school canceled recess several years ago to make sure the kids had more studying time.

* Fine motor skills like good handwriting are rewarded, often explicitly as part of the grade.

* Verbal skills are often explicitly rewarded, even if they don't have much to do with a subject. My local school asks students to write and make a presentation about their math answer. It doesn't matter if they get the right answer as long as the presentation is professional and impressive.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#126

Post by dijit »

aviraldg wrote: post #113
throwaway53086 wrote: post #31

Anyone with young boys and girls will notice that girls are much more likely to obey rules and instructions. A lot of doing well in school is about following rules and instructions, and it seems pretty natural that girls will do better. Also, most teachers are women. I haven't checked, but I'd assume most school administrators are women. It seems natural that they'd construct a system that's more suited for females t…

I don't agree with the rest of your comment (my school had a pretty even mix of male and female teachers), but anecdotally the primary difference between boys and girls was exactly what you mentioned: the former were more likely to skip classes, study things that were not in the syllabus (which helps sometimes), not maintain notes as well, etc. whereas the latter would typically follow the syllabus, teachers' instruc…

My own anecdatum indicates that the parent is right though.

20 female teachers. 1 male.

No males on the senior staff.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#127

Post by cobraetor »

hddu wrote: post #22
endisneigh wrote: post #2

How is it possible that girls perform better academically (in 2015) yet are under represented in the top tier of jobs? Either women have no interest in money, academic skills have no bearing in getting high paying jobs, or discrimination is more prevalent then you’d think. I suppose all three could be true.

Top tier jobs are subjective. Women have less interest in engineering.

This shouldn't be a controversial take. It is Occam's razor after all.

We know that before the tech industry became popular and a way to make good money, women displayed little to no interest in being associated with programming "nerds" which were predominantly men to the extent that men over-represented the group of socially outcast nerds. This was mostly an American phenomenon, and other countries did not share this social hierarchy, hence the data on girls performing better academically outside of the US.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#128

Post by ku-man »

curiousgal wrote: post #9
endisneigh wrote: post #2

How is it possible that girls perform better academically (in 2015) yet are under represented in the top tier of jobs? Either women have no interest in money, academic skills have no bearing in getting high paying jobs, or discrimination is more prevalent then you’d think. I suppose all three could be true.

I think the answer lies in the fact that in countries like Tunisia for example, women represent over 60% of people working in STEM. Why? Because STEM jobs are the highest paying jobs. So from my perspective, the lack of women in STEM in the U.S. is not an issue but a symptom of a strong economy, as in you don't have to decipher someone's spaghetti code for a living, you can pay the bills doing other things that you a…

Indeed. The number of women in STEM fields is also low in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries compared to in-development ones. And, nobody in his/her right mind will accuse the Scandinavian countries of being patriarchal sexists societies.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#129

Post by renewiltord »

pseudalopex wrote: post #108
renewiltord wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. You can replace "work" in his text with "work for hire" or something else if it helps you understand what he meant.

Critiquing the framing doesn't mean they didn't understand.

Understanding somewhat doesn't mean they can't understand better.
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