If you have a boy and a girl and they have taken their GCSEs how many noticed the girls doing better I wonder? Just that I keep beig told, "research" says it's what happens!

[memder]

Just wonder how close any of you find "the research" to be right...?

Er...presumably the 'research' is actually a survey of how large numbers of girls and boys have done. Why don't you find some and see what it says?

DD did better that DS in our house.

than

You could start with this though it is a report not research

and one of the sections of this

Obviously there are going to be individual boys who do better than individual girls. But overall, girls appear to be doing better than boys. This is taken as evidence of a Wicked Biaised Education System, whereas if it were the reverse it would be evidence of the Natural Order Of Things.

I have to add DD worked extemely hard for hers DS never opened a book. Had they both put the same effort in DS would have had the higher grades.

My sister and I both did alot better than my brother grades wise. ( sister did better than me) Although me and my brother both got top marks in college wheras my sisters were alot lower.

Out of my friends children, almost universally
the girls work hard and do well
the boys need constant kicking

Anecdotaly, having seen hundreds of students pass through my classroom, boys don't seem to grasp the concept of working throughout they year whereas girls do. Whether or not this is due to innate differences or whether it is down to girls being socialised to be compliant I wouldn't want to comment but of two students with equal ability I would always predict a higher grade for a girl than a boy. I'm usually spot on.

GCSE Maths by the way.

Mind you, the boys will probably end up with a higher wage and fewer domestic tasks than the girls...

"This is taken as evidence of a Wicked Biaised Education System, whereas if it were the reverse it would be evidence of the Natural Order Of Things."

It was the reverse for many years (in my subject, maths) and a great deal of research was carried out with the intent of helping to improve the performance of girls. I don't remember anyone talking of the natural order of things.

Now, I imagine research is being carried out to try and improve the performance of boys.

Didn't work that way for my two, but ds is older and firstborns are supposed to achieve more highly too - you can't have it both ways (unless your eldest is a girl). In reality this isn't going to apply to individual families, it's a statistical thing that only works over populations.

I thought I read somewhere that the veering further towards exam-only GCSEs would work to the advantage of boys....

My lad is more academic than my daughter and will get better grades as a result. He won't get as high as he should though, because he doesn't work as hard plus he is severely dyslexic. So, where she left for an arts course, with a very long string of C Grades, he may leave with B/C Grades.

Well, if you want anecdotal, almost every family I know where there are boys and girls, the girls just seem to find school work easier than the boys.

My Mum has a sister and a brother, the girls sailed through A-levels and went to uni, the boy had to retake O-levels.

My BIL was educated privately because he failed the 11+ whereas his sister went to grammar school.

A good friend has a DD who is expected to pass 11+ this time, her DS struggles in middle-lower sets at comp

DH, left school, to join the Army at 16, his sister went on to A-levels and beyond.

I don't think it's because the boys are less bright, but that school doesn't suit them in the same way. When they start school, schools are almost universally run by women, sitting still and listening just doesn't suit most young boys and by the time they get to secondary, they've been taught that they're not "good" at school.

I think maybe girls are more disposed (conditioned?) towards wanting to conform and impress their parents/teachers and doing as they're told.

Ah, yes, the Girls are Sheep and Boys are Wild Free Spirits cliché. A nice way to put women down for actually, you know, doing better than blokes.