Home Politics & Debate
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

Gender Performance Reasons

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
My sociology teacher said something today that has got me thinking. It was along the lines of...

'at gsce and a-levels girls tend to do better than boys (generally) however at degree boys tend to do better than girls. Why is this?' she asked, and everyone was silent. 'It's because its what's expected' she explained, 'a 16 year old boy is not expected as much as a 16 year old girl to sit at home studying,they're expected to go out and do lad-ish things. And a 19/20 year old girl is expected to be out partying and is more judged on their looks at this stage rather than what they do'

I'm sorry I explained that badly, it made more sense the way she said it, but this was the just of it.

I was just wondering what you guys thought about this? :)

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't think it matters, just a statistic of overall grades.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    From a sociological point of view it is very interesting the difference in life chances that people have, and the way societies "norms and values" change our behaviors and attitudes. I'm glad you're enjoying sociology, I love it. It is very interesting.
  • Danny!Danny! Deactivated Posts: 560 Incredible Poster
    Hmm, interesting question!

    I think boys are expected to misbehave more at school, and possibly get discouraged by peers from being hard-working?

    But you'd think that this would set them up worse for university?

    Maybe it depends what universities and degree subjects boys and girls are more likely to pick? Grading isn't really standard across universities and subjects.

    Or maybe boys and girls are encouraged to develop different parts of their minds, and some types of intelligence are valued more than others?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine goes through a lot of studies on this issue, it's very interesting.

    If a girlis asked to declare her gender at the start of a maths paper she underperforms compared to control, boys in the same circumstances outperform the control.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm glad you're enjoying sociology, I love it. It is very interesting.


    I've only had two lessons and already love it! some peoples opinions are really interesting :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Even if there was a severe gender imbalance of performance at a set time frame in life, still wouldn't make any difference to those who didn't adhere to the "averaged"
Sign In or Register to comment.