Girls 'believe they are better than boys from age four'

[Annie11111]

I found this very interesting :

www.bbc.com/news/education-11151143

*Girls believe they are cleverer, better behaved and try harder than boys from the age of four, research suggests.

By the age of eight, boys had also adopted these perceptions, the study from the University of Kent found.*

Is this a good thing?

Not sure if this is actually 'new' - girls are socialised to be obedient and boys are not to the same extent, later in life despite higher qualifications being too obedient is not very helpful.

Though the 'boys do worse' right before a test really shows the power of explicitly gender stereotyping children.

The quote said girls think they are smarter, better behaved and they work harder than boys. I'd say those are all good qualities, boy or girl and nothing to do with obedience. And that by the age of 8 the boys also start thinking that men are the stupid, lazy sex.

What's your point exactly? That journalism can be sexist too? (shock!)

Go back to DigitalSpy....

At what stage do the boys realise they don't have to work hard or behave better? When do they realise that men can get away with less and still come out tops?

They are to do with obedience though, we give the message to our children that if they work harder and listen to their teachers they will do well - this is explicitly taught in schools.

At the same time boisterous, cheeky, bossy behavior in girls is socially policed much more heavily than the same behavior in boys. So girls get double emphasis on being obedient and not making a fuss while boys learn which boundaries they can push to get away with more.

The qualities girls are learning really suit our academic environment, but not necessarily the working world (as a class group, obviously I am not saying that this applies to every child!) whereas the skills boys are picking up help them to push forward even if they aren't actually top of the pack academically.

That's my theory.

Methinks Annie is a Mannie.

Agree with tewi.

Additionally an adjunct of obedience is often passivity which of course is also rewarded in girls and often stands then in poor stead not just in work but in aspects of their personal lives. In general girls are rewarded for "being good" - polite quiet etc boys are encouraged more to "stand up for themselves" and expect and demand more attention.

So many situations where the former is a problem.

Really interesting posts Tewi and Seven. I hadn't thought about how the world of education and the world of work reward different traits in particular ways. It certainly would help to explain boys' relatively poor academic performance (generally) compared with male dominance in many workplaces

DS has always bemoaned that girls are better behaved, like studying and are better in all subjects and that these traits in a boy would lead to teasing by the other boys.

But now he's in secondary school he has noticed a change, especially in science where the girls hang back more.

It's all very predictable. These stereotypes and the way so many adults believe in them is depressing.