What was your toughest subject in school?
A new study is claiming that girls really are as good as boys when it comes to how well each gender does in math class.
The story Math study finds girls are just as good as boys, asserts that the stereotype that boys are better at math has been fueled, at least in part, by suggestions of biological differences in the way little boys and little girls learn.
But in the largest study of its kind by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, girls measured up to boys in every grade, from second through 11th. The research was released Thursday in the journal Science.
Parents and teachers persist in thinking boys are simply better at math, said Janet Hyde, the University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who led the study. And girls who grow up believing it wind up avoiding harder math classes. “It keeps girls and women out of a lot of careers, particularly high-prestige, lucrative careers in science and technology,” Hyde said.
The researchers found no difference in the scores of boys versus girls — not even in high school.
“Girls have now achieved gender parity in performance on standardized math tests,” Hyde said.
So it seems now that girls, as well as boys, can equally struggle – or succeed – in class, whether those classes are math, science or something else.
I never cared for math class in school – it was one of the hardest classes for me, with science coming in at a close second. I know that there were girls in my math and science classes who were much better than me. I guess that’s why I’m spending my days in this newsroom.
What was your toughest subject in school? Math? Science? English? Did it matter once you were in the real world?
English, English, English! Math is and was easy. Every test that I took to get to college, PSAT, SAT, ACT, MSAT, 99 percentile in math and 50 to 60 percentile in english. Science and history fell somewhere in between.
Math was definitely the subject I liked the least,although I did well in it.English,art and history(textbooks were boring,though) were my favorites,followed by science.Now, I’m interested in many more subjects,but don’t have time to go back to school.Curiously enough, I work in a scientific field now and seem to do well enough.My college degree was a double major in business administration and equestrian science, so it wasn’t really directly applicable to much of what I do.My boss doesn’t care,as he feels he can teach me whatever additional job skills I may need because I have other transferable skills from college and previous jobs that make it easy for me to learn even highly technical skills.I should add that I have been out of college nearly twenty years, so even computer skills were pretty much learned on the job. I have worked with many women scientists(MD and PhD) and female college students over the past two decades, so I’m not sure that gender bias has been true for a long time.
MATH!!
No doubt about it………….College Algebra
Algebra, hands down. I am 54 years old and still have not needed it to this day in my life. I will vote for the candidate that makes Algebra an optional subject.
I truly believe that Algebra is the single most reason why so many high school students drop out of high school. It is truly impossible for some of us to learn. I can see how students that aren’t able to get the extra tutoring help they need just give up and quit high school. Really every other subject is learnable with enough work and memorization.
Without a doubt-algebra and beyond. Fortunately, I have never had to do anything other than add, subtract, multiply, and divide for the past 38 years since high school.
Slamfist, In a fit of frustration I asked my professor about the relevance of Algebra in the real world and he said the curriculum wasn’t relevant, but the process of learning how to solve problems was.
My toughest problem in school was getting my algebra teacher to explain why it was wrong to get the right answer, but in a different way than she wanted me to so we could appease the great algebra god. This story doesn’t surprise me. Women are leaving the sciences, computer, and engineering fields in droves because of bad treatment and preconceived notions on the parts of their bosses and many male colleagues about women’s abilities. America’s loss considering the poor abilities of the most gender and color biased nerds who remain behind.
First The study was apparently designed to reach a PC conclusion of “All men and women are equal”. They are not. It is one thing to possess information, and quite another to know how to use it. Therein is the difference between men and women.
Women excel in some fields, Men in others. Never shall the twain meet.
That has nothing to do with stereotyping. It is fact. Are there exceptions to the rule? Of course. My VP, in charge of engineering (Civil and Structural, was a WOMAN. She was a graduate of a university in Japan that specialized in engineering degrees of all types.
She was adequate when she arrived. Two years later she was amazing when learned how to apply what knowledge she had in an efficient manner, and
breakneck speed. I taught her to think like a MAN on a mission.
She is now one of two Americans who are consultants for Trans-Canada pipelines. Trans-Canada won the bid to build a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the U.S. Just yesterday, the house of representatives approved the bid, and the state senate is expected to approve it today.
I’ll be back and t3ll you mt poorest subject in high school and college,.
I had absolutely no interest in music in grade school, high school, college and to this day. I don’t even know the words to our national anthem, or O’ Canada.
Yes I know that “music” is a derivative of math. It is a misuse of math, in my opinion.