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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)

#151

Post by hitpointdrew »

aviraldg wrote: post #131
endisneigh wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The rules and grading are different. In school, the rules that students are rewarded for following are "softer" and harder to justify directly. eg. You must submit a project with a cover with beautifully handwritten title of this specific size, or you lose marks (This is real guidance that was provided for my school and college projects.) At work, while these kind of rules exist, it's typically okay to break them, an…

>At work, while these kind of rules exist, it's typically okay to break them, and performance is mostly rated on actual impact, not pointless rule-following.

Exactly this. Doing something simply because "it's a rule" and doing something where you see actual impact/results is world of a difference.

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

#152

Post by klyrs »

jhasse wrote: post #102
iagovar wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, but you ain't making the big bucks. Even then, they seem to find it rewarding enough. If I was woman and I decided to have baby, I'd probably be either very stressed with my current job, or looking for something part time. Now imagine if I live in Sweden or the like where the state hands out money for raising children.

wait, there are countries where the state does NOT hand out money for raising children?

In Canada and the US, the state will take children away from parents in poverty rather than hand out money. But then it gets really weird; they then place the children in foster homes, which get significant handouts.

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

#153

Post by SamReidHughes »

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 need to use top tier statistics. The top 10% of male test-takers and top 6% of female test-takers score at least 700 on the math SAT. Over twice as many boys as girls get 800 on the math SAT. The ratio gets even higher beyond that. This is despite the systemic bias in the school system against boys.

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

#154

Post by visarga »

dekhn wrote: post #118
rajin444 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know 50% is the correct amount of women at all levels?

I didn't mean to imply that at all, although it does seem like the first reasonable target: all job categories, except for ones that require people to be a specific gender for some reason, should have participation roughly proportional to the proportion of that gender (or other attribute) in society. I'm not certain that's the right goal, but what I said above was working a model where 50% women participation seemed…

Where is the free will of individuals factored in? I mean, if people in group A don't want to do job B, should we force them to reach parity?

I think it's better to ensure equal opportunities and let people decide.

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

#157

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

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

#158

Post by kderbyma »

This is one of those cases where you get the outcome you design for....they don't know they designed a system that is better suited for women. biology affects men's and women differently. that's why if you notice. most of the difference shows up during and after puberty. small children are not very different (when controlled for environmental bias)

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

#159

Post by iagovar »

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…

> 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' instructions etc. more closely and maintain very thorough notes.

Mmm, that's interesting, I have the same observation. I'm not in the US, if that holds any value.

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