Girls as Good as Boys at Math

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This subject is interesting. I will start by saying I am a woman in Software Engineering and HATE math. Not because I can't do it but it is not easy for me to understand and it annoys the heck out of me. On the other hand, my husband can sit down and just sort of know how to figure out a mathematical problem. I don't believe that women cannot do math or be good at math, but I do believe that we learn differently and it isn't something most of us can do easily. Although I know there are some women that math comes naturally to. While I think its great that women are becoming interested in math, I get irritated when they pull the gender card. We aren't the same as men and you would think that by now, with all the accomplishments women have made we would be comfortable enough with ourselves that we could just embrace our own difficulties and accomplishments. I don't hear men yelling when people say that they aren't as accomplished in reading or writing or God Forbid their emotions. Dear God what a load of crap.
God made us different period. Ladies get comfortable with yourselves, enjoy what you do, and go after what you want. Just because its hard doesn't mean you can't do it, but for God's sake (and mine) please quit complaining about how you compare with men, and quit thinking you can be one, because you can't!

Danyiell of CO 11:45PM October 18, 2008

To The Truth of IL:
It does not seem very logical to me to base your opinion of all women on the ten whom you met in college! How did these ten get into your class of 200? Were they chosen for their ability or for some political reason?
If you believe that no woman has contributed to math or science or art, then you need to study some history!

Nonna of SF of CA 7:25PM July 31, 2008

I'm not sure whether the recent study or the comments are more enlightening. For one, there's obviously a great deal of sexism and apprehension, as well as plain ignorance out there.
For one, a question such as "are boys or girls better at math?" is not a well-posed question, and not one settled by (the dozen or so) large studies comparing group accomplishment on standardized exams.
What bothers me is the perverse dedication of most papers and most people commenting about them to the mean, that is to the average. Maybe if we weren't so fixated at looking at the averages of large statistical data sets we'd be more able to deal with some important issues facing us, instead of debating the same silly talking points. After all, average people are generally not recognized for accomplishment in mathematics or the sciences--the Nobel and Fields medals are given to a very select few, and those are usually male. There are simply proportionately more males at the extremes of intelligences, at the extremes of almost any measure; more really smart ones and more really dumb ones, more really athletic ones and more really obese ones. One of the few categories where women consistently are at the top is surviving, both more at the beginning of life and at the end. But that's just another reflection of more biological variability in males, which is often costly, to people and society that fails to grasp that.
And when on occasion males point out this obvious statistical fact, even while acknowledging that females on average have higher IQs and so forth, they get booed by crazed post-feminist sympathizers; sadly even at bastions of learning, such as Haaaaavard -- out of sheer ignorance, spite and fear.
But what does it matter? The next person you meet, male or female, may have trouble adding, or may just be able to juggle differential equations in his or her head.
Maybe a more important question to ask is why do we keep reiterating the same question, if not to get our pant(ies) in a bunch...

Joseph of DC 7:58PM July 29, 2008

As a female chemistry major at the University of Illinois (one of the top chemistry programs in the nation), most of your comments Mr. 'the truth' make very little sense. You are actually disproving your point by parroting views you seem to have heard before. As an honors student, I have helped a number of boys who were struggling in chemistry or calculus. I have taken more math and science classes than the majority of the men in my family, including my father (a lawyer, demonstrating a stronger proficiency in words than numbers) and my grandfather (an art major). Your major is not even in math and sciences!! Communications curriculum does not even require you to take math beyond calculus II and probably only included two science classes.

Mary Kate of IL 10:47AM July 29, 2008

YEAH!we girls are usually do better than boys even in math.the top student are usually girls,this is very common in china.

jenny 6:56AM July 29, 2008

I think that in the end girls are as good as boys in math. You have those people who are not dumb but need help in math. The people who need help are boys and girls. You also have the people who get A+ all through the school year and after they graduate they are still very good at math. Those people are boys and girls. I am a girl and I get very good grades is math. My friend who is a boy also gets very good grades in math. Most of my friends get good grades in math.
GIRLS ARE AS GOOD AS BOYS IN MATH.

Shelby of NY 3:15PM July 28, 2008

Despite the fact that "more girls than boys took the math SAT" 6,759 boys got a perfect 800, and 3,098 girls got a perfect 800. College students are now 55% female, I think we should support boys fairly when they prove to be good at something.
Here is a link to the college board site.
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/highered/ra/sat/SAT_percentile_ranks_males_females_total_group_mathematics.pdf

Brodie of CT 2:29PM July 28, 2008

evan of WA writes:
"If you believe and want to enforce the belief that women are as good as men at every non-reproductive task, you are in essence saying that women are better than men overall."
I guess for some reason he believes that Evolution/Nature/God/Whatever/Whomever has divided tasks between the sexes thusly:
females: reproduction
males: everything else
Actually, doesn't biology indicate that males are quite heavily involved in reproduction? And don't IQ tests, and scholastic achievements indicate that females are quite competent intellectually, however uncomforable either of these facts may be for some?

samuraiam of CO 2:14AM July 28, 2008

Apparently they will let anyone say anything here.

S. Igh of AZ 4:00PM July 27, 2008

Women don't use their gray matter when making a cognitive process , they only use white matter , and that white matter it's just neurons connections ,nothing special, and it's just for memorising and copying things.
Men on the other hand use their gray matter , witch is made of neurons connections and other very important corpses, only for logical thinking , and it's spread on the whole brain , and this enables men to think logically.
And this is why men brains , use much more carbohydrates and other nutrient substances , including oxygen, because the way men think uses much more fuel , and this is why men brain got bigger , to accommodate this nuclear plant of thinking.
Women just copy , copy , copy , memory and that's all a woman can do .They even copy our behaviors and science , and then they say that they're men, but they are just very bad copies .That's why women can learn in school , because they only copy , copy , copy and memory , no logical thinking whatsoever .
All science , inventions , technology is man made 100% , math , physics , chemistry ,biology represent how a man brain works, and how men divided the way univers works , because only men understand how things work , no woman is capable of that.
This is the main difference ,the fact that we use one side more than the other , or that we have spatial abilities or etc are just details .
Women with their inferior brains turned to art , music , panting because it's easier to copy than science , but art painting and music are all 100% man creation , women just copy.

The Truth of IL 11:49AM July 27, 2008