Yes AND No... *Yo!* Maybe? (Are girls really brighter at 'A' level than boys?)

Member Name: Redhead23

Product:	Are girls really brighter at 'A' level than boys?
Date:	22/02/01 (57 review reads)
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*Yo!* pretty much sums up the reason why I think boys - in GENERAL - seem to do worse in their A-Levels than girls.
Why? Read on....

(Warning: What I am about to say is just a statistical generalisation, of course there are ALWAYS exceptions!)

-: The Situation :-

Yes, statistics say that boys on average get worse results in their A-Levels than girls, but it would be unfair to claim that this means boys are *less intelligent* than girls! According to the DfEE (Department for Education and Employment) website http://www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics, in the year 2000 54.6% of girls got A-C grade A-Levels (or their GNVQ equivalent) compared to 44% of the boys. Does that mean we're the *clever* gender after all? I don't think so - it's just a difference in social behaviour, general interests, *future planning* and onset of *maturity* - all of them have an influence on your grades, but they're not necessarily connected to your intelligence or actual ABILITY to learn.

-: Social Behaviour :-

In general, boys (I am talking about ages up to 18) are more likely to attract attention in class, to be *class clowns* and are more easily distracted from learning and paying attention. Think back to when you were 10 - I went to school in Switzerland but I guess kids will be kids - wherever they are! Not many pupils wanted to admit that they actually *liked* school, but overall, it was mostly the girls who handed in their homework on time, and boys who ended up fooling around in class.
I have the impression that this difference in *school behaviour* stems from the general differences in how society sees the gender roles - girls are *beautiful*, *tidy* and *weak* whereas boys are *rough*, *playful* and *hard*.

When I was a kid, girls *hacked out* their social order in the playground, through games, play scenarios etc., they played with dolls, wore nice clothes, and popularity was often connected with appearance, but
also with how *well* they expressed themselves - girls are known to chat *a lot* (I guess that's an understatement ;) ), and what kind of impression you make on your female classmates often has to do with how well you can tell things and how well you can listen. Girls are taught not to be a *potty mouth*, they *have* to speak neatly and tend to do so earlier, as it's not regarded as a negative feature among other girls. On average, girls develop language skills a few months before boys (I'm talking babies here), and there is a statistical tendency that shows that girls keep this slight advantage throughout their education, as they seem to be slightly better at learning languages, spelling/grammar and writing/presenting information.

For boys the *fight* for the pecking order was more of a physical one - of course, *blagging*, jokes and *big words* were important as well, but the more popular boys were usually also the *stronger*, bolder and more *outgoing* ones.
It's not the *nice* clothes that make boys popular with others, it's how *cool* they look, it's not popular to speak *neatly* but to be *rude*, catch attention with what you say. (That's where the *Yo!* comes into the game!)
Also, boys seem to bring the *battle* for popularity into the classroom a lot more than girls do - at first, showing *rebellion* is deemed cool and can get you respect from your classmates, then at some point girls start becoming interesting and the best way to *impress* them (at least that's what boys SEEM to think) seems to be catching their attention in class with rude drawings, jokes and whatnot. Guys - IT DOESN'T WORK by the way ;)

Boys seem a lot more easily distracted in class, and where girl seem to be able to pay better attention to written/spoken information, boys seem better at comprehending visual/practical information. I don't have an explanation for this, it's just what I have experienced throughout my ow
n time in school/high school/college.

-: Interests :-

I do believe that the ideas society has about what *girls* and *boys* are supposed to be like has a huge influence on the interests they develop. While boys get to play with technical toys (which eventually prepares them for the working world) and play outside, girls are *expected* to play with dolls and recreate household scenarios (to shape them into neat housewives), mostly staying away from *dirty* or *yucky* things. This stems from the way society USED to be - men work, women stay at home and look after the children. Of course this has changed in the meantime, but children are still brought up with these gender-specific *stereotypes*.

Through these early experiences (and maybe genuine differences in the way the male and the female brain works), it seems that boys end up developing stronger interests in nature (biology, science) and technical things (maths, computing) whereas girls generally develop interests in *beautiful* things like animals, plants (zoology, botany), or languages (spoken and written) and people (sociology, psychology) and seem more interested in general studies and learning - without focusing on a particular subject.
This may explain why boys often seem to excel in their *favourite* subjects whereas girls are more likely to get better overall grades.

I have heard of studies that show that men generally think more in a *rational* way (i.e. are better at solving mathematical and logical problems) and women tend to think in an *emotional* and *lateral* way (i.e. they are more likely to consider several ideas in their thinking, other factors apart from the bare facts).
This may or may not be true, but the fact that many girls are very good at maths and many boys have excellent language skills seems to indicate that these *general* trends are learned (through what society EXPECTS and *trains* - through providing particular toys, games etc. - them t
o like) rather than genetic. I might be wrong, but, even though gender-related prejudice is still present when it comes to bringing up children, the fact that these pre-destined *roles* are slowly breaking apart seems to correlate with the trend of girls and boys breaking away from their typically associated interests.

-: The Future :-

Although boys generally start thinking early about what job they want to do when they grow up, many of them seem to have difficulties associating early (before higher education) educational success with future success in employment, whereas girls seem to realise earlier on that they have to work for their education in order to get anywhere in life.
As I said above, I have the impression that boys are more open for *practical* learning - this could be a reason why many boys with high ambitions for work don't have the same ambitions when it comes to education. Or maybe this has also to do with the way they are brought up - men end up going to work, women end up staying at home, so they feel that the girls *won't be a competition* to them when it comes to employment.
Girls on the other hand are aware that many job sectors they may be interested in are still dominated by men - so they know that if they want to succeed, they may have to work that little bit harder to get there.
Also, even though nowadays women are nearly equal to men in the working world, it is still a biological fact that WOMEN have babies - not men. This fact won't change, and maybe knowing that they will miss out on work experience once they DO have children makes girls aware a lot earlier that they have to get a good education and job if they want to get on with their career after having founded a family. Another possible reason for this difference in forward-thinking could be the next (and last) point.

-: Maturity :-

I know, this is an old hat - but every teacher in the world can tell you that boys normally
tend to *play about* in class for a lot longer than girls do. Girls seem to *adapt* to education a lot earlier, they seem more willing to keep *playtime* and *learning time* separate, while boys take that little bit longer to make this separation. These differences may well go back to physical and psychological development during adolescence and help a great deal in understanding why many young men only start caring about (and working on) their education when it might be too late - after their A-Level results are out.

-: Conclusions :-

I don't think that, in most cases, these differences have anything to do with intelligence, but with the way boys and girls are brought up and treated in society. The *Yo!* from the title stands for the apparent fact that boys seem to care more about *fitting in* with their mates than pursuing their education - but it's not because they are *stupid* or *genetically unable* to do so - but because that's the image society seems to expect from them.
In my opinion, children shouldn't be *pushed* into specific roles (be it through *typical* toys, morals they are taught etc.) according to their gender - they should be allowed to develop according to their own talents, personalities and skills.

Should there really be *biological* reasons (in development and ability to take up information in specific ways) for this difference in how boys and girls learn, then I believe these issues should be taken into consideration in our education system, for example by using different, more practical and visual learning methods - all students would profit from this!

[Disclaimer: This opinion is based on rough generalisations as well as *trends* that I have experienced during my own education - I am aware that there is no *typical boy* and no *typical girl* - I for one wasn't a *typical girl*, without being a tomboy or anything I preferred climbing trees and have always had a flair for maths, scien
ce and computing]

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