Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher • Hacker News Board

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#61

Post by 0092348203 » Sat, May 07, 2016, 1:26 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #42

rfrey wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At risk of being patronizing, you're probably being downvoted by parents who figure you don't have kids. We have spent many years trying to present gender-neutral environments to our children. Yet at age 3 my son completely ignored the giraffe we were trying to point out at the zoo, and would only focus on the irrigation pump. That kind of experience was repeated often with him and my daughters. One daughter would on…

> We have spent many years trying to present gender-neutral environments to our children. [...] > This was before school My son's favourite colour before he started daycare was pink. That rapidly got policed out of him by other children and disappointingly by staff in day care. We persevered - "anyone can like any colour; boys can have pink as their favourite colour, girls can have blue as their favourite colour" and…

I'm sure he will thank you for it later...

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#62

Post by Kristine1975 » Sat, May 07, 2016, 1:27 PM UTC

jamesrcole wrote: post #56

brainpool wrote: post #54

No, just no. This kind of articles makes me cringe. The fact that the journalist is obviously aware of the limited scope in the research by stating the caveats makes it unresponsible publishing.

> The fact that the journalist is obviously aware of the limited scope in the research by stating the caveats makes it unresponsible publishing. I haven't read the article, but isn't it the opposite? Isn't it being responsible to state the caveats?

This. There are always caveats in an experiment. The fact that they are mentioned in the article is a sign of good reporting by the WSJ.

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#63

Post by tremon » Sat, May 07, 2016, 1:28 PM UTC

matwood wrote: post #46

jokoon wrote: post #21

I'm a man and I really dislike competitive aspects of society. I mean if I'm playing a game and it's for fun, I'm okay with it, as long as everyone play to play, not play to win. If I'm literally competing to earn a living, or if it ends up in praising winners and blaming losers, it won't be enjoyable, and I'd rather not play at all. Having humility also means that when you win, you also congratulate losers for playi…

But we are a society based on competition and winners and losers (loser in the sense you lost this particular competition) from birth on. Ignoring that is putting yourself at a disadvantage. I think it is important to have competition early and often in life because learning how to win and lose is an important life lesson. Getting lazy because of a win or quitting because of a loss will severely impact someone for th…

learning how to win and lose is an important life lesson

The life lesson I got from it was that winning leads to social exclusion, from both peers and teachers. So yes, I learned to not (openly) compete any more.

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#64

Post by littletimmy » Sat, May 07, 2016, 1:33 PM UTC

Wintamute wrote: post #31

Gender discussion is too often framed as male vs. female these days. That's come from 30+ years of flawed output from the social science echo chamber and dogmatic denial of human nature. It doesn't matter if boys and girls do better under different conditions, they shouldn't be expected to perform equally in this way. What matters is that we understand those unique conditions and help children thrive whatever their g…

You mean whatever their sex? Gender is such a strange term.

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#65

Post by corndoge » Sat, May 07, 2016, 1:33 PM UTC

cLeEOGPw wrote: post #40

jokoon wrote: post #21

I'm a man and I really dislike competitive aspects of society. I mean if I'm playing a game and it's for fun, I'm okay with it, as long as everyone play to play, not play to win. If I'm literally competing to earn a living, or if it ends up in praising winners and blaming losers, it won't be enjoyable, and I'd rather not play at all. Having humility also means that when you win, you also congratulate losers for playi…

You are right and you are probably left leaning politically and are pro immigration, also you are probably not physically strong. The reason for your avoidance of competition is both environmentally affected and genetic. Your parents, maybe even grandparents, were probably raised in an environment where they didn't have to struggle too much at life. This kind of life changes genetic expression in a way that adapts to…

I'm genuinely confused as to the satirical nature of this comment. If you're being serious, can you please substantiate your claims with a links to relevant research?

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#66

Post by pbhjpbhj » Sat, May 07, 2016, 1:38 PM UTC

matwood wrote: post #45

reitanqild wrote: post #22

Protip: some of us can significantly increase our own throughput if we frame tasks like competitions. I'll add a warning about not overdoing this, as someone who has previously burned out before I am careful not to trick myself too often. Edit: at least -> out

This is how I got through undergrad and grad school. I framed every class and assignment as a competition me vs. the teacher and/or me vs. the other students.

Which seems really weird to me - education isn't a competition it's a collaboration with the teacher and the other students.

This mindset seems harmful to me as I see it playing out with my kids "teacher X set this homework and will tell me off if I don't do it" rather than "teacher X set this homework and I'll not understand the subject as well if I don't do it". The kids think the homework is "for the teacher" rather than for them.

Education is supposed to be an opportunity not a sentence or conflict, isn't it?

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#67

Post by atom-morgan » Sat, May 07, 2016, 1:38 PM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #21

I'm a man and I really dislike competitive aspects of society. I mean if I'm playing a game and it's for fun, I'm okay with it, as long as everyone play to play, not play to win. If I'm literally competing to earn a living, or if it ends up in praising winners and blaming losers, it won't be enjoyable, and I'd rather not play at all. Having humility also means that when you win, you also congratulate losers for playi…

> Overall, I sense that men avoid competition much more than women do.

Seriously? The inherent drive in men to compete/take risks is why people advocate for "leveling the playing field" when it comes to pay, promotions, etc.

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#68

Post by tremon » Sat, May 07, 2016, 1:39 PM UTC

Volt wrote: post #25

eracle wrote: post #14

I think that 80 children is too small. The different results could as been biased that there were different classes, so different (possibly) skill levels of the students.

What sample size would satisfy you?

For extrapolating the results to the entire Earth population? Let's see, that would require a cross-generational study across a number of different societies, across different schools and classrooms, from different socio-economic situations, and with an equal number of control groups.

So we're looking at a minimum of 4 (test moments across 25 years) * 4 (societies) * 5 (schools across socio-economic areas) * 2 (classes per school) * 2 (test + control group) * 30 (pupils per class) =~ 10000 test subjects.

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#69

Post by hk__2 » Sat, May 07, 2016, 1:43 PM UTC

littletimmy wrote: post #64

Wintamute wrote: post #31

Gender discussion is too often framed as male vs. female these days. That's come from 30+ years of flawed output from the social science echo chamber and dogmatic denial of human nature. It doesn't matter if boys and girls do better under different conditions, they shouldn't be expected to perform equally in this way. What matters is that we understand those unique conditions and help children thrive whatever their g…

You mean whatever their sex? Gender is such a strange term.

Sex is the biology; Gender is the identity. Discrimations are based on gender, not sex. Women are told to wear pink dresses because of how our society see women (female gender), not because they have a vagina (female sex).

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#70

Post by jayshua » Sat, May 07, 2016, 1:57 PM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #66

matwood wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how I got through undergrad and grad school. I framed every class and assignment as a competition me vs. the teacher and/or me vs. the other students.

Which seems really weird to me - education isn't a competition it's a collaboration with the teacher and the other students. This mindset seems harmful to me as I see it playing out with my kids "teacher X set this homework and will tell me off if I don't do it" rather than "teacher X set this homework and I'll not understand the subject as well if I don't do it". The kids think the homework is "for the teacher" rath…

Yes, it is. But more often than not the kids can't see it that way. It's a rare child that understands why the teacher wants them to figure out how many watermelons fifty people bought at 3 different stores.

Unfortunately, this mindset continues far longer than it should. Highschool students, unlike their elementary counterparts, are more than capable of understanding what education is, but still continue to view it as something forced upon them, rather than for their benefit. I've seen more than a few college students with this mindset as well. The cheer that goes up when the college gives them a day off is a bit disheartening.