Making Women Flunk Math

[mindstalk]

Belief that women are genetically inferior at math makes women do worse on math tests
http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/10/how_to_make_women_flunk_math.php

(Testing the obvious? Maybe, but still useful.)

Comments

[lyceum-arabica.livejournal.com]

honestly, i think what the actual research shows is reasonable... boys tend to be better at arithmatic, girls tend to be better at algebra. i think one problem must be how much arithmatic is emphasized (and algebra doesn't even exist) for their first 5-7 years of school.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

I thought when Peter Todd was talking about spatial rotation abilities that he showed a chart with women being better at calculation and men better at some more abstract math but I forget what... A couple of my tutorees, both female, claimed they'd done well in math until age 10-12. Of course, both sucked at fractions and sign handling, which I'd consider part of calculation. I think one said she got the "girls can't do math" treatment from the gym teacher running her math class.