Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 600 posts

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

#211

Post by jtmarl1n »

Kluny wrote: post #174
sb52191 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're completely missing the point of the person's comment... The top comment is asking why girl's perform better, and yet and under-represented in top tier jobs. The comment you replied to responds that they think it's because of having child and choosing not to go back to work. At no point are they taking a stance on whether or not raising a child is as important as working a job...

I think YOU'RE missing the point. Childcare is still considered a less important and honorable occupation than pretty much everything else you can do. If you're "just" a parent, you're not considered qualified for really anything else. That means most men won't do it, because they'll lose status. Meanwhile women will always place lower importance on status than on childcare, and so they will do childcare because no o…

You're making a straw man argument about the importance of work that wasn't in the original commenter's post at all. Seems like you are bringing bias or an agenda into your comment.

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

#212

Post by throwgender123 »

I've noticed throughout my life that negative outcomes that primarily affect females (math test scores, wage gap, etc) are Huge Problems That Demand Immediate Action, and negative outcomes that primarily affect males (language test scores, life expectancy gap) are just kind of how it is. I'm not bitching about it or pushing an agenda, but it's not subtle.

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

#213

Post by jimbokun »

Kluny wrote: post #66
spaniard89277 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having Babies. Really, being a mother is what skews most stats about women on money issues. There has been policymaking about this in a bunch of european countries, and if they are released from financial constrains (handouts, public housing, whatever) they seem to double down on it. Let's face it, working, for most people, is something you do out of necessity. Why do we really expect women to have a similar behaviou…

> Why do we really expect women to have a similar behaviour of men about work, when they have a socially aceptable and now economical venue to avoid it. Baby raising is quite important work. I would argue that raising the next generation of workers, taxpayer, customers and pension fund contributors is the most important work of all.

> Baby raising is quite important work.

Which is exactly why many women drop out of the work force to do this important work, and many men would, too, if it was more socially acceptable for them?

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

#214

Post by jhatemyjob »

tomjen3 wrote: post #99
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 Jordan Peterson is correct on that one: the real question isn't why women don't go after those kinds of jobs, but why anybody is willing to work so hard and to give up so much for incomes that allow a marginally better life (e.g going from 40k a year to 100k a year is a huge improvement, going from 200k to 300k?). Also, for women anyway, the kind of work it takes to get to the top effectively means they aren'…

I wish I had the option of being a stay at home dad. Fuck working

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

#215

Post by imtringued »

endisneigh wrote: post #143
aviraldg wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

None of this explains why women are capable of following these rules and men are not. Are you saying men are biologically predisposed to not follow such simple rules?

No, it sounds like female teachers make rules that are easy for female students to follow. Meanwhile some boys simply don't like the rules and thus don't follow them.

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

#216

Post by mpweiher »

tompazourek wrote: post #161
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…

Girls the same age are more mature than boys. They develop differently. Maybe that's a factor?

Maybe, maybe not.

However: if it were the other way around, would that ever be an acceptable answer nowadays?

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

#217

Post by bobthechef »

Kluny wrote: post #66
spaniard89277 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having Babies. Really, being a mother is what skews most stats about women on money issues. There has been policymaking about this in a bunch of european countries, and if they are released from financial constrains (handouts, public housing, whatever) they seem to double down on it. Let's face it, working, for most people, is something you do out of necessity. Why do we really expect women to have a similar behaviou…

> Why do we really expect women to have a similar behaviour of men about work, when they have a socially aceptable and now economical venue to avoid it. Baby raising is quite important work. I would argue that raising the next generation of workers, taxpayer, customers and pension fund contributors is the most important work of all.

Frankly, I would make the stronger point: it's more important than your job (raising children can be difficult, to be sure, but it's not quite "work" in the sense that work by and large tends to be servile while raising children is a higher end for which work is done). The reason people work is overwhelmingly so that they can support their children and their families.

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

#218

Post by rjbwork »

Kluny wrote: post #66
spaniard89277 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having Babies. Really, being a mother is what skews most stats about women on money issues. There has been policymaking about this in a bunch of european countries, and if they are released from financial constrains (handouts, public housing, whatever) they seem to double down on it. Let's face it, working, for most people, is something you do out of necessity. Why do we really expect women to have a similar behaviou…

> Why do we really expect women to have a similar behaviour of men about work, when they have a socially aceptable and now economical venue to avoid it. Baby raising is quite important work. I would argue that raising the next generation of workers, taxpayer, customers and pension fund contributors is the most important work of all.

I think you're being deliberately obtuse and uncharitable to the argument being presented. Any reasonable and charitable reading clearly interprets it as talking about "job for pay" rather than saying "childcare is not work".

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

#219

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#220

Post by dominotw »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #175
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'd assume most school administrators are women. At least in the United States, this isn’t at all true. A disproportionate number of administrators (especially when adjusted for the normal male/female teacher breakdown) are male. There have also been many studies that show that teachers call on boys more, praised them more (they acknowledge girls, praise boys), and talk with them more. So your assumptions are compl…

> A disproportionate number of administrators (especially when adjusted for the normal male/female teacher breakdown) are male.

Surprised to hear this. This is opposite of my experience working for Chicago public schools(CPS).

Post reply on HN