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AIBU?

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Original poster

To say that boys are better at high standard maths

116 replies

MellowRubyDreamer · 26/09/2025 00:47

My daughter is choosing her subjects for senior and her teacher is encouraging her to choose the hardest maths subject. Not in the UK. DD is good at maths at her girls' school but ultimately she will also be competing with the boys.

I am not saying boys are better at maths but they are better at high standard maths in proportion. Like for example in maths competition/olympiad the prizes are often dominated by boys. DD can choose as she pleases but I am just offering her perspective. She can do just as well but she might need to work harder. She thinks I am being sexist. AIBU?

OP posts:
Kindlealltheway · 26/09/2025 01:14

Well your understanding of statistics is clearly crap.
It isn’t relevant to your daughter’s individual case that there are more boys at the very top levels of extra curricular maths competitions. The point of taking the further maths course is not to win the math Olympiad.
Her teacher knows the syllabus and thinks your daughter will do well. It doesn’t matter whether she’s the top student in the country in the subject. It matters whether she will enjoy the course and pass it with a reasonable and realistic amount of effort put in. She should also consider how this choice might affect her options after high school. It might open up doors you haven’t considered for her, like studying engineering for example.

WrylyAmused · 26/09/2025 01:12

No.

You are being sexist.

She won't have to work harder to compete with the boys.

She'll have to work harder to compete with the emotional impact of this kind of sexist, destructive nonsense thinking, particularly when it comes from her own mother who ought to be her biggest cheerleader.

ReadingTeaLeaves · 26/09/2025 01:10

Girls are more likely than boys to be told they are not good enough at maths.

Original poster
MellowRubyDreamer · 26/09/2025 01:09

Tandora · 26/09/2025 00:54

Wtaf. You are telling your dd she's can't be good enough because she's a girl.

I am not saying she cannot be good enough there are other things where girls typically have an advantage. I am just saying there is a possibility she might need to work harder to compete with the boys

OP posts:
Morningsleepin · 26/09/2025 01:08

That way of thinking was typical of 1950s America. It wasn't even around in the uk in the 1950s. All my family, men and women, are extremely good at maths

MrsTerryPratchett · 26/09/2025 01:03

Tandora · 26/09/2025 00:54

Wtaf. You are telling your dd she's can't be good enough because she's a girl.

This. I hope it’s not real.

HelpMeUnpickThis · 26/09/2025 01:00

Gosh - as a mother of 2 girls (one who is definitely a STEM girl) I am ashamed of you and for you.

Your poor DD.

bridgetreilly · 26/09/2025 00:58

Also, maths isn’t really about working harder. If you’re good, you hardly have to work at all.

Wildwooddreams · 26/09/2025 00:58

Sexist

XelaM · 26/09/2025 00:57

I went to school abroad and took the equivalent of A-level Maths and and got the equivalent of an A*. I was better than the boys 🤷‍♀️ In fact, the pupils who achieved the highest grades in my year were all girls

bridgetreilly · 26/09/2025 00:57

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AmIHumanOrAmIAYeti · 26/09/2025 00:56

Utterly sexist.

Tandora · 26/09/2025 00:54

Wtaf. You are telling your dd she's can't be good enough because she's a girl.

Ponderingwindow · 26/09/2025 00:54

Is this a joke.
men aren’t better at math. They just gate-keep with sexism and sexual harassment.

i did just fine as the only women in many of my courses. Women were scared off by sexism, not by content. I was just autistic enough not to care.

ScrimpAndShave · 26/09/2025 00:52

Not a great way to encourage her, is it?

Do you think more boys win because parents of girls have little confidence in their ability, ultimately leading to to less girls taking higher maths… meaning competitions are dominated by boys because proportionately more take the subject at higher level?

MakeOrBake · 26/09/2025 00:51

You are being sexist.