Girls don't like hard math

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www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10759687/Fury-tiger-head-claims-female-pupils-shun-level-physics-dislike-hard-maths.html

Katharine Birbalsingh, founder of the Michaela Community free school in Wembley claims that girls can't be bothered with advanced maths 😂.

Ms Birbalsingh, chairwoman of the Government's Social Mobility Commission, said: 'I just think they don't like it. There's a lot of hard maths in there that I think they would rather not do.'

When pressed on why girls would not want to do harder maths, she added: 'The research generally … just says that's a natural thing... I don't think there's anything external.'

AIBU to think that Ms Birbalsingh is talking rubbish?

This really annoys me. ''Girls don't like hard maths''.... really? I know PLENTY of girls who like hard maths.

This misogynistic attitude is one of the main reasons my daughter attends a selective all girls school. It's a long way from my co-ed secondary education where girls in STEM were few and far between by comparison - the expectation was that boys pursued these subjects.

Physics & Mathematics are in the top 5 A levels subjects taken... along with the other sciences & English Literature. Subjects are gender agnostic and girls are encouraged to follow their interests / abilities without having to contend with these ridiculous stereotypes as to 'boy' subjects and 'girl' subjects. The entire school participates in national STEM challenges up to GSCE age such as Olympiads, Bebras challenge etc - they did a Maths one only yesterday but I forget what it was called! More exposure to STEM from a younger age to promote interest and allow girls to experience the subject objectively will help counter the attitudes that are sadly still only too prevalent.

This makes me so cross that the girls don't like/can't do maths myth is still perpetuated. My girl loves maths, comes from home where we encourage everyone can do and wear what they like to and she came home from school one day saying "girls can't do maths". I was so cross that someone in school was saying such utter rubbish, it is the insidious narrative that then makes girls think they can't do it when there is no reason they can't.

Ime teachers have biases about boys and girls that limit the kids motivation to work harder at a subject that they struggle with. My kids teachers have had no qualms in saying things like "boys find writing hard " " boys usually have worse handwriting" "girls find maths hard" while my child is sat next to me at Parents Evenings.

I find that there's far more adult women who will happily say things like "I don't do maths" when they wouldn't admit issues with literacy. I find it astonishing that they will admit that their husbands monitor all maths homework for their primary child and not think that perhaps they should brush up on their knowledge.

My kids went to a mixed school, lots of girls did A level maths. My DD did maths, further maths and physics and got top grade in them all and got the school prize for maths. She also did two other A levels so it wasn't as one dimensional as that sounds.

I am rubbish at maths so she doesn't get it from me but her school was very very good at identifying ability and encouraging the kids. So some schools are doing well, maybe this education guru needs to have a look at the successful schools and work out what they are doing.

Thanks to the poster who linked the interview. I was really hoping that this was a case of her words being sleectively misinterpreted. But no. She actually comes across as brainless in that interview. All the shrugging and total lack of hard facts or reference to actual research. And then 'well I don't mind...'?

Rubbish isn't it. Self fulfilling prophecies. For me I can say none of my sons did A level maths or physics, two of them did A level English Lit. I don't think mine fit the stereotypes so I find Ms Birbalsingh's views rather surprising.

Bloody outrageous. I would go along with "teens can't always be bothered with hard maths unless motivated by the adults around them" but to make it a female vs male thing is beyond ridiculous. We live in crazy times.

But she said there were no external factors. So she’s discounting boys driving girls away from doing maths/physics.

I’m watching the full select committee. I think she’s walked straight into this and suddenly found herself out of her depth. She’s in a select committee on increasing diversity in STEM subjects and her position is make schools better get better teachers and more parental support and it will be fine. Basically be more Michaela. She’s then asked a follow up question where she volunteers the make up of their a level stem classes. 60/40ish girls/boys for biology and chem 16/84 girls/boys for physics. Which unsurprisingly led to the question about why girls weren’t taking up physics in a school where she’s saying teaching is good and where GCSE results are excellent. So she ends up saying what she did because she has nothing else.

I think nationally, a-level physics entries are around 30/70. That may well be boosted by girls in all girls schools taking physics so not directly comparable with michaela’s uptake as a mixed sex school. But it’s not really supportive of her argument that there are no external factors and girls just don’t like hard maths and would rather do something else.

I think there's a lot of social conditioning in there.

I have two maths A'levels and a business degree that involved a fair amount of stats and accounting. I like maths and am definitely female so either I'm a freak of nature or she's wrong.

I don't think I'm a freak 🤔

I am 60. I went to an academically selective girls' school. About half my year group did Maths A level or got extra Maths tuition in the sixth form to support them with their science A levels. Most went on to university to study Maths, Physics, Engineering, Medicine, Chemistry etc. At least two Ph. D.s, one in Astrophysics. What a numpty that Headteacher is.

Wow even at primary?? I reckon I'm better at some subjects than others - I used to find history hard at school - but I would still feel comfortable supporting with primary homework! That's so sad that those mums you know have such low confidence. I'm sure they could do all the primary maths with ease.

It's ironic because all that stereotypical "wife work" like comparing vouchers and car insurance and other budgeting, involve way harder maths than primary

She may be wrong on this particular issue, but her general philosophy on schools is admirable and the children at Michaela have achieved brilliant academic results.
I have huge respect for her.

I’ve been quite surprised by some of the sexist attitudes coming from school about some STEM subjects. Particularly physics and computing. If there are 1/2/3 girls taking such a core subject out of a year group of 200 I see it as a failure of the school but obviously it’s much easier for them to say that girls ‘aren’t good’ at that subject. It’s not attractive to girls to be in a tiny minority, being marginalised and they don’t want to spend their entire career like that so choose something different.

My daughter, who just got a first at University in maths and got the class prize ever year, would definitely disagree with this.

Yanbu at all.

She's not there in her capacity as a headmistress. She's there as the Chair of the Social Mobility Commission. It is exactly her job to understand these issues and not dismiss them. Infuriating.

She's such a publicity seeker, she knows saying that will get her talked about. There are some very impressive things about Michaela, but Birbalsingh has a very, very narrow view of education, is convinced she has all the answers and talks complete nonsense on a very regular basis. I suspect her success relies on the fact she is in the city where there is a lot of school choice and there's a lot of parents selecting Michaela because they are ambitious for their kids and know they will be able to thrive in that strict environment. In most of the country schools have to cater for their catchment area rather than be able to attract the kids that their specific philosophy will work for.

Of course it's rubbish (about girls and maths) the really important question at the moment is how do we attract mathematicians to become teachers, because there is a huge shortage, not enough people are applying for teacher training with maths specialism and we are getting into a vicious cycle where lack of good maths teaching is affecting maths attainment. I'm quite concerned about the maths results in my pretty decent secondary for the next few years, the worst behaviour can be seen in the maths corridor and in maths lessons. My children don't seem to have great maths teachers at their comp either. My daughter who at primary showed promise as quite an able mathematician is quite uninspired now in year 9 and my son who struggles with maths has a teacher who seems quite unconcerned about his progress.

My DD is studying maths and physics and the gender imbalance in her classes is huge. She is a top student yet has already experienced misogyny from some of the lower attaining male students who think they know better.

This is interesting www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/news-media/case-comment/analysis-of-2020-a-level-entries.html

about 20% of physics a level female and 10% computing. I suspect it might be girls schools pushing it up as I haven’t visited a sixth form with anywhere like 20% girls in the physics class!

And also shows 40% a level maths are female so presumably not the case that girls ‘don’t like hard maths’ in many schools

I taught English in an all girls school. We had to fight to get numbers into A level (some years couldn't run English Language as not enough uptake) whereas Maths, Further Maths and all the Sciences (inc. Physics) the classrooms were bursting at the seams.

There is no hard maths in A level physics

Interestingly someone on twitter posted the gender split of all subjects at A-level, far more girls studying maths than studying physics, so it's clearly not the maths that is the issue?

Dd1 did A level physics. There were quite a few in the first year, but most dropped it in the second year. maths was about equal girls and boys, further maths big gender imbalance

Agree!!

I have a degree in one of the stem subjects she mentioned...I love physics and maths... comments like Birbalsingh's make me feel like I'm not an ordinary woman. I am an ordinary woman!

I did Maths O level a year early, AO maths in 4 or 5 months and then A level in about another 5 months.

Amazed that this has been said.