The Conversation, on its own reckoning, is a website of ‘academic rigour’ and ‘journalistic flair’. You only have to read a selection of articles, essays, etcetera, to discover it is yet another leftie instrument flogging key ideas of the leftie/woke class. One of those ideas is that boys do better at maths because of stereotyping and socialisation, and not because of their biological makeup, mixed with the common socialisation processes.
In other words, girls are yet again the victims of the patriarchy.
Of course, it means nothing that most people perceive critical differences between male and female that could only be inherent because of the regularity of evidence around them and through time. The academics of the Conversation say that’s all rubbish. They argue their case in the article below.
What I want to focus on here is the outcome of such agitation on government policy. The outcome is yet more money poured into the education of girls, which must necessarily be to the disadvantage of boys’ education.
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Why Are Boys outperforming Girls in Maths?
The Conversation, Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Ben Zunica, Lecturer in Mathematics Education, University of Sydney
Bronwyn Reid O’Connor, Lecturer in Mathematics Education, University of Sydney
A major international test has revealed a concerning gender gap in maths among Australian school students.
In the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Australia’s boys did much better than girls.
Year 4 boys outperformed girls by the equal highest margin out of 58 countries that did the test. The story is not much better for Year 8 students – Australia had the 12th-largest gender gap of the 42 countries.
This is out of character with other subjects, such as literacy, where the gender gap is either much smaller, or girls outperform boys.
Why is there a gap?
International researchers have been aware of a gender gap in maths for decades and have been trying to understand why and how to fix it .
It has previously been suggested boys are just better at mathematics than girls. However, this has been thoroughly debunked, with many studies finding no statistically significant biological difference between boys and girls in maths ability.
Yet figures consistently show girls are under-represented in the most advanced maths courses at school. For example, for the two most advanced Year 11 and 12 courses in New South Wales, girls are outnumbered by a ratio of roughly two to one.
A ‘boys’ subject?‘
Studies suggest social factors and individual motivation are playing a part in the maths gender gap.
Research has found stereotyping is a problem, with maths been seen as a “boys’ subject”. These ideas start developing from an early age, even as young as five.
These stereotypes can negatively impact girls’ motivation in maths and their self-efficacy (their perception of how well they can do), which then impacts performance.