Girls Equal Boys In Math

New Study Shows Girls Measure Up To Boys In Every Grade, More Enroll In Advanced Classes

(CBS/ AP)  Sixteen years after Barbie dolls declared, "Math class is tough!" girls are proving that when it comes to math they are just as tough as boys.

In the largest study of its kind, girls measured up to boys in every grade, from second through 11th. The research was released Thursday in the journal Science.

Parents and teachers persist in thinking boys are simply better at math, said Janet Hyde, the University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who led the study. And girls who grow up believing it wind up avoiding harder math classes.

"It keeps girls and women out of a lot of careers, particularly high-prestige, lucrative careers in science and technology," Hyde said.

That's changing, though slowly.

"I've always said I want to be a scientist or maybe an accountant someday," 10-year-old Cara Geiger told CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace.

While nearly as many women as men have undergraduate college degrees in math, women are still far behind in areas like physics and engineering, reports Wallace.

But in primary and secondary school, girls have caught up, with researchers attributing that advance to increasing numbers of girls taking advanced math classes such as calculus.

Hyde and her colleagues looked at annual math tests required by the No Child Left Behind education law in 2002. Ten states provided enough statistical information to review test scores by gender, allowing researchers to compare the performances of more than 7 million children.

The researchers found no difference in the scores of boys versus girls - not even in high school. Studies 20 years ago showed girls and boys did equally well on math in elementary school, but girls fell behind in high school.

"Girls have now achieved gender parity in performance on standardized math tests," Hyde said.

The stereotype that boys are better at math has been fueled, at least in part, by suggestions of biological differences in the way little boys and little girls learn. This idea is hotly disputed; Lawrence Summers, then the president of Harvard, was castigated in 2005 when he questioned the "intrinsic aptitude" of women for top-level math and science.

Joy Lee, a rising senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., says she always felt confident about math, but remembers how it felt to walk into a science class full of boys. "Maybe I was a little bit apprehensive about being the only girl, but that didn't last for very long," said Lee, president of a school club that tries to get young girls interested in science and technology, along with engineering and math.

"I definitely do encourage other girls to pursue those interests and to not be scared to take those courses just because there are not very many girls or because they think they're not good enough to do it," Lee said.

Still, while there are fewer women in science and technology, there are more women in college overall. To Hyde and her colleagues, that helps explain why girls consistently score lower on average on the SAT: More of them take the test, which is needed to get into college. The highest-performing students of both genders take the test, but more girls lower on the achievement scale take it, skewing the average.

For the class of 2007, the latest figures available, boys scored an average of 533 on the math section of the SAT, compared with 499 for girls.

On the ACT, another test on which girls lag slightly, the gender gap disappeared in Colorado and Illinois once state officials required all students to take the test.

As Hyde and her colleagues looked across the data for states' testing, they found something they didn't expect: In most states they reviewed, and at most grade levels, there weren't any questions that involved complex problem-solving, an ability needed to succeed in high levels of science and math. If tests don't assess these reasoning skills, they may not be taught, putting American students at a disadvantage to students in other countries with more challenging tests, the researchers said.

That might be a glaring omission, said Stephen Camarata, a Vanderbilt University professor who has researched the issue but was not involved in the study.

"We need to know that, if our measures aren't capturing some aspect of math that's important," Camarata said. "Then we can decide whether there's an actual male or female advantage."

A panel of experts convened by the Education Department recommended that state tests be updated to emphasize critical thinking.

While some states already have fairly rigorous tests, "we can do a better job," said Kerri Briggs, the department's assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education.

"If we're going to be globally competitive, we need students who are able to do higher-level math skills," she said.

Back in 1992, Barbie stopped saying math was hard after Mattel received complaints from, among others, the American Association of University Women.

So far, while her current career choices include baby doctor and veterinarian - and Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, too - Barbie has not branched out into technology or engineering.

[edintex]

You can live in denial or you can worry why more of our boys aren''''t heading to college. Why are girls more interested in higher education than the boys.
Posted by differnet at 08:50 AM : Jul 25, 2008

Maybe, since the "world is changing", the boys realize that they can be "stay at home dads" instead of going to college or work outside the home. Many of the boys (I have 4 of them) have just given up (one of mine did). They see the blantant bias towards women and minorities. They feel that it is hard enough to get anywhere without the added wind against them, so why bother?

[edintex]

You can live in denial or you can worry why more of our boys aren''''t heading to college. Why are girls more interested in higher education than the boys.
Posted by differnet at 08:50 AM : Jul 25, 2008

Maybe, since the "world is changing", the boys realize that they can be "stay at home dads" instead of going to college or work outside the home. Many of the boys (I have 4 of them) have just given up (one of mine did). They see the blantant bias towards women and minorities. They feel that it is hard enough to get anywhere without the added wind against them, so why bother?

[edintex]

You can live in denial or you can worry why more of our boys aren''''t heading to college. Why are girls more interested in higher education than the boys.
Posted by differnet at 08:50 AM : Jul 25, 2008

Maybe, since the "world is changing", the boys realize that they can be "stay at home dads" instead of going to college or work outside the home. Many of the boys (I have 4 of them) have just given up (one of mine did). They see the blantant bias towards women and minorities. They feel that it is hard enough to get anywhere without the added wind against them, so why bother?

[edintex]

Question:
Have girls equalled boys in mathematics because the girls have been working HARDER, or is it because the boys have been neglected? You know...DUMBED DOWN.

My four sons talk all the time of the blatant bias the teachers have for the girls in their public schools they attend. What upsets them the most is that the teachers dont even try to hide it. I wonder how this injustice will change the way our sons make decisions in the future; taint their views of women and teachers...

[differnet]

Two anecdotal pieces of evidence that I would like to submit. First, my 14 year old daughter attends a school that gives 2 hours of math a day and she has had 3 years of chemistry, physics, computer science and biology (she''s entering the 9th grade now). Anyway, among her classmates the females are out-performing the boys over-all. A lot of this has to do with their ability to sit down and pay attention. But it was surprising to me that math is my daughter''s favorite subject.

I also work at a university devoted to science and engineering. Approximately 25% of our student body is female and that number is increasing steadily. About half of my work study students are females and they are pretty impressive. I have one young woman who is in Chemistry and is entering her senior year. She is already being recruited by several firms in anticipation of her graduation.

Whatever people want to think, the world is changing dramatically. Females are starting to fill the seats that were once the purview of white males is slowly becoming a very mixed industries. I''ve noted a lot of men saying that women aren''t taking the "hard" math courses, but since upper level calculus and physics are a requirement for ALL of our students, I think they are very mistaken. It''s just the way it is now. You can live in denial or you can worry why more of our boys aren''t heading to college. Why are girls more interested in higher education than the boys.

[keithle1]

Just keep the girls away from the boys so they don''t get pregnant at 15 & mess up their future.

[sistatee-2009]

Take the Asian/American kids out of the equation (pun intended) and our math scores would be in the toilet.

[toolmangler-2009]

TNX.

[husein_pasha]

esatern turkistan

[toolmangler-2009]

LOL Pasha

[toolmangler-2009]

No, Curiosity.

[husein_pasha]

This means to increase the tension

[toolmangler-2009]

or Turkey?

[erasmus81]

"To light the candle"

What does that mean?

"What is happening in british colombia?"

I answered this on the other site.

[toolmangler-2009]

Afghanistan?

[andor3]

"... they have always got to add, `...and guess what folks! they are actually BETTER! Yeeehaa!"

article does not say that. oughta read before you post. it only says more women are taking advanced classes than before.

[husein_pasha]

What is happening in british colombia?

[husein_pasha]

erasmus, I`m joking. To light the candle

[husein_pasha]

in front of iran

[erasmus81]

"I thought that the women are more stupid than as when it comes to maths and physics" Posted by Husein_Pasha at 05:02 PM : Jul 24, 2008

I take offense to the word "stupid", Abdoul!!