Good News: Girls Outperform Boys On Science Exam Bad News: It’s Not Happening Where You Think It Is 15-year-old girls outscored boys on science exams, but not in Western Europe or the Americas. While in Eastern Europe and the Middle East girls abilities seem to exceed those of their male classmates, that doesn’t hold true in the most traditionally “scientific” nations. And that sucks. We’ve heard this bad news too many times. Girls are underrepresented in the sciences from a young age. Despite their equal interest as youngsters, societal pressures drive a wedge in between them and the performance of their male classmates. When they have to indicate gender on a science exam, they score a full 20% lower than if they don’t. All of this translates to the continued discrimination of of women, overt and incidental, all the way up the ladder of science. Sometimes I feel tired of repeating it. But we can’t grow tired. As frustrating as it is, every time we continue to call out the problem and raise our fists of fury, it helps raise attention and gain support for change. That change will take a long time, because scientific “establishment” moves like molasses, but only a steady push will make it budge.  I know I’m preaching to the choir when I talk to all of you, but remember this: Every time you share science on Tumblr or Facebook or Twitter or Reddit or wherever you hang out on the internet, then that’s one more chance to reach out and grab someone who doesn’t think they’re “into” science. It’s one more chance to give a 14-year-old girl a boost of confidence (or anyone who needs a boost, for that matter). This isn’t something that can be done by a few. We need to spread this like the most contagious virus the world’s ever seen: An infectious curiosity!  Read the full report on this study at NYTimes.com
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Good News: Girls Outperform Boys On Science Exam

Bad News: It’s Not Happening Where You Think It Is

15-year-old girls outscored boys on science exams, but not in Western Europe or the Americas. While in Eastern Europe and the Middle East girls abilities seem to exceed those of their male classmates, that doesn’t hold true in the most traditionally “scientific” nations. And that sucks.

We’ve heard this bad news too many times. Girls are underrepresented in the sciences from a young age. Despite their equal interest as youngsters, societal pressures drive a wedge in between them and the performance of their male classmates. When they have to indicate gender on a science exam, they score a full 20% lower than if they don’t. All of this translates to the continued discrimination of of women, overt and incidental, all the way up the ladder of science.

Sometimes I feel tired of repeating it. But we can’t grow tired. As frustrating as it is, every time we continue to call out the problem and raise our fists of fury, it helps raise attention and gain support for change. That change will take a long time, because scientific “establishment” moves like molasses, but only a steady push will make it budge. 

I know I’m preaching to the choir when I talk to all of you, but remember this: Every time you share science on Tumblr or Facebook or Twitter or Reddit or wherever you hang out on the internet, then that’s one more chance to reach out and grab someone who doesn’t think they’re “into” science. It’s one more chance to give a 14-year-old girl a boost of confidence (or anyone who needs a boost, for that matter). This isn’t something that can be done by a few. We need to spread this like the most contagious virus the world’s ever seen: An infectious curiosity! 

Read the full report on this study at NYTimes.com

1288 Notes/ Hide

  1. paintsanddreams reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  2. inyourbrightblueeyes reblogged this from joffyclyro
  3. joffyclyro reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    Girls outperforming boys is not ‘good news’. That’s moronic. Equal performance between genders is good news. Sort your...
  4. miss--anthropic reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  5. misstransatlantic reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  6. andrewscottseyebrows reblogged this from scienceing
  7. allstrangeandwonderful reblogged this from therosehshow
  8. hanjeehyun reblogged this from glitchintime
  9. bagelunni reblogged this from glitchintime
  10. glitchintime reblogged this from thesciencenotebooks
  11. fckthehighroad reblogged this from allacharade and added:
    I think, ideally, girls wouldn’t outscore boys or the other way around. ideally, there shouldn’t be too much variance by...
  12. allacharade reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    I think, ideally, girls wouldn’t outscore boys or the other way around. ideally, there shouldn’t be too much variance by...
  13. sasuhiroki reblogged this from pestilense
  14. boredsincebirth reblogged this from bare-life
  15. ygrittea reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  16. coorio reblogged this from bare-life
  17. therosehshow reblogged this from blacklightparties
  18. themobledqueen reblogged this from porcelain-horse-horselain
  19. comma-ofsilence reblogged this from bare-life
  20. megharmony reblogged this from choosechoice and added:
    ^this
  21. stringsdafistmcgee reblogged this from blacklightparties
  22. blacklightparties reblogged this from choosechoice
  23. canadian-liberal reblogged this from sosungalittleclodofclay and added:
    Yup. Another example in that video I posted was that there is bad drop rate for race X girls. Which is a good thing be...
  24. but-wheredidyougetthemilk reblogged this from doctorhannibalsdemons
  25. sosungalittleclodofclay reblogged this from eeeegads and added:
    http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/02/04/science/girls-lead-in-science-exam-but-not-in-the-united-states.html?hpw...
  26. chi-please reblogged this from choosechoice
  27. cats-boys-satan reblogged this from doctorhannibalsdemons
  28. doctorhannibalsdemons reblogged this from choosechoice
  29. eeeegads reblogged this from sosungalittleclodofclay and added:
    We can also take a good look at what is happening politically and economically in the Middle East and Southern Europe.
  30. will-jog-for-food reblogged this from choosechoice and added:
    I don’t even know how to read that graph…
  31. daivialesley reblogged this from choosechoice

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