Breaking Story! Girls as Good at Math as Boys!

[Beebs52]

AJ-Google is called Google for a reason. It isn't called Truth. Some of these are totally laughable.

Specifically, empowering staff and driving. Hah! The pain thing? Bullhockey. I speak from personal observation.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with any of them. I only posted them to give examples of the kind of statements that people make. Fanny seemed to indicate that she had no idea of what kind of things I was talking about.

I'm not talking about specifics, just the general attitude that people take toward these kinds of statements.

I didn't think that you agreed or disagreed with them. I truly didn't have any idea of what constituted 'things' and thought you were just giving me examples.

The two that bebe pointed out I think are somewhat true, specifically because of environmental conditioning and traditional gender roles. But not because of any special mental powers that one gender has over the other.

Exactly-there are interchangeable assholes of every stripe and even though childbirth is pretty painful, I know of times when I'da been whimpering when certain things happened to menfolks I know.

[Appa23]

I truly don't believe that there is gender aptitude strictly on a mental level. There is conditioning in genetics, upbringing, family beliefs and environment. But, given two virgin brains, I think those better at maths and sciences v. those better at liberal arts would be pretty evenly divided between male and female, it would come down to the aptitude of the individual brain, not the sex of the housing.

There has been some interesting developments in the past decade, as I recall, in what has been discovered about how the brains of girls and boys generally are wired differently. It is a point of attention for teachers of young children.

From a Google search, here is a synopsis from the website of Dr. Leonard Sax, M.D., PhD, who write a book entitled "Why Gender Matters".

Forget everything you think you know about gender differences in children. Forget "boys are competitive, girls are collaborative." In recent years, scientists have discovered that differences between girls and boys are more profound than anybody guessed. Specifically:
The brain develops differently. In girls, the language areas of the brain develop before the areas used for spatial relations and for geometry. In boys, it's the other way around. A curriculum which ignores those differences will produce boys who can't write and girls who think they're "dumb at math."
The brain is wired differently. In girls, emotion is processed in the same area of the brain that processes language. So, it's easy for most girls to talk about their emotions. In boys, the brain regions involved in talking are separate from the regions involved in feeling. The hardest question for many boys to answer is: "Tell me how you feel."
Girls hear better. The typical teenage girl has a sense of hearing seven times more acute than a teenage boy. That's why daughters so often complain that their fathers are shouting at them. Dad doesn't think he's shouting, but Dad doesn't hear his voice the way his daughter does.
Girls and boys respond to stress differently - not just in our species, but in every mammal scientists have studied. Stress enhances learning in males. The same stress impairs learning in females.
These differences matter. Some experts now believe that the neglect of hardwired gender differences in childrearing may increase a son's risk of becoming a reckless street racer, or a daughter's risk of experiencing an unwanted pregnancy.

As always, YMMV. However, this is an interesting area of research and discussion.

I think that the key is "in general", as there always are individual cases that are the opposite.

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

I think the distribution of talents is different withing the set consisting of all men as compared to the set consisting of all women. Their distribution curves are different depending on the talent.

[TheConfessor]

I think the distribution of talents is different withing the set consisting of all men as compared to the set consisting of all women. Their distribution curves are different depending on the talent.

I agree that most women's curves are different from most men's.

As for AJ's original question, the hypothesis seems like a truism to me. If you acknowledge that women are different from men, you pretty much have to acknowledge that men are different from women.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

I took Calculus in high school and took Business Calculus in college.

Both of my girls are very good with math. They were both doing 5th and 6th grade minute math (reducing fractions) in first grade. In September, Maddie is taking Honors Trig/Analysis as a 10th grader and Emma is going into Honors Algebra I as a 7th grader. Both are on track to take Calculus as 11th graders.

When Emma was in 2nd grade, she was in a 2/3 combo class. She was put into group with a 3rd grade boy and they were both taught 4th grade math.

The boy's mom came up to me at Open House that year. She said that her son had always felt full of himself because he was always ahead of everyone in math and was usually taught by himself. At the beginning of the year, she asked him if anyone was in his math group. At first he woudln't say, but then he told her "it's a 2nd grader, and it's a GIRL!" T

The mom had to explain to him that girls are good at math too. She thought it was great that Emma kept him on is toes that year and even better that he realized that girls can be just as good in math as boys.

[MarleysGh0st]

over 29 millions hits for "men are better than woman".

It's like saying Asians are better at math than Americans.

Interesting.

men are better than woman (without quotes) = 33 million hits

men are better than women (without quotes) = 9 million hits

woman are better than men (withoug quotes) - 9 million hits

women are better than men (without quotes) = 7 million hits

I wonder why "woman" gets so many more hits than "women".

When you do a Google search without quotes, it's not looking for phrases, it's just looking for pages with any of these words, anywhere on them. So all these sample searches tell us is that pages with the word "woman" on them are more common that those with the word "women".

Google has advanced search features to look for phrases or for various other special combinations--all of these words and none of those--but that's not what you've tried here.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

There are things that women are considered better at then men. Not all women but women in general. Would you agree with that? I think most people would. But how about the converse? That there are things that men are better at then women.

I think that it depends a lot on the indivduals that you are judging.

For instance, Jeff is really good at sewing. He has made many Halloween costumes and made some of the stuff for Maddie's room as an infant. (Curtains and dust ruffles.) He's also a good cook. He has a lot of patience and that patience translates well to these tasks.

I on the other hand, really enjoy installing computers, DVRs, televisions or whatever. I can also do plumbing and put together furniture. I think that I am mechanically inclined, which is why these tasks are easy for me.

I am glad that I live in a world where I can to things based on my abilities rather than my gender, because I would much rather take apart the kitchen sink and get rid of a clog than make a pumpkin costume for a three month old baby.

[christie1111]

First, I have no doubt that girls can do as well as boys in math. Second, I know this would be getting off on a side-track but I have a semi-serious question.

There are things that women are considered better at then men. Not all women but women in general. Would you agree with that? I think most people would. But how about the converse? That there are things that men are better at then women. Again not all men but men in general. Even with the qualifier that seems to be a much more controversial statement and you would get lots of people denying that could be true.

Doesn't it make sense that if women are better at some things, then men would be better at some things? I guess it is possible that women are better or at least equal at everything but is that likely?

I know this will lead to all sorts of joke responses in this thread but I'm curious to see how people respond.

I haven't read the other responses yet, but I think cooking is an interesting thing in this respect. Most people would say their mothers (female relatives) are the best cooks. But most high level restaurants have male head chefs and in fact being a woman in the industry is unusual.

Interesting to me.

Now I will go read the read the rest of the thread.