<p>Not to be sexist, by any means, but I find that there are many more guys naturally smarter than girls. Out of my grade, at least, there is only one girl who is actually smart and logical. I find that there are about 8-9 guys equivalent to her or better. And by "naturally" smart I mean can easily coast with straight As with no work. I find that while the girls and guys who receive all As are similarly proportional, most girls work a good2 to 3 times harder than guys do. Also I find that girls seem to find it find, actually more acceptable, to act like they are stupider than they really are. I don't know if this is just me, but I can't stand a somewhat intelligent girl that acts like a total airhead.</p>
<p>As I'm sure someone has already mentioned, males tend to be more prevalent in the upper and lower ranges of intelligence, especially in terms of IQ. I don't know the exact numbers, but from what I've read, if you're told a person has a IQ of 160, or like 50, 8 times out of ten that person will be a male. I'd imagine the SAT functions similarly since it correlates fairly strongly with IQ, although I don't have breakdowns at the lower spectrum of SAT scores by sex handy. But if this is the case, it could explain a bit of the gender gap I think since the SAT functions somewhat like the electoral college system. In the electoral college system, a state automatically gets at least 3 votes, 2 for the 2 senators and 1 for population. This means that their can potentially be a substantial difference in terms of population between a state with 3 votes and state with 4 electoral votes. As the number of votes increase, the difference is much less noticeable so that a state with 25 electoral votes would have a small population difference percentage wise from a state with 26. With the SAT you're automatically given 400 points so the difference between a 500 say and a 600 is rather extreme. Probably equivalent to the difference between a 1300 and a 1550 (just a guess). The differences between an 800 and a 900 and the differences between a 900 and a 1000 are also rather extreme. So if guys are more prevalent at the lower ranges, the differences will be less pronounced in terms of score. The difference in intelligence between a person with a 1300 and a 1400 (if there is a legitimate difference) would probably be equivalent to the difference between two people scoring 700 and 740 respectively. The point difference would be less, but the intelligence difference would be the same thus giving guys an artificially high average. Just a theory.</p>
<p>haha pentasa, well i don't exactly agree with that last statement. i have never compromised intellgience for acceptance. i'd rather sound intelligent and have no one to talk to (been there done that) than talk to some girls about "the price of bananas" and i know alot of people who would say the same.</p>
<p>women bear the double punishment of the Original Sin which was first committed by who else but Eve. :)
Punishment 1 : subordination to men
2 : the pain of giving birth
To change all that, I say to all girls to work hard and start believing. It doesn't hurt to take some prep courses like Princeton, Kaplan, or Prepme to cut short guys' natural advantages. Yes, I am still single.</p>
<p>it is true that guys are either at the top end or the lower end. The middle is lacking of guys. This is an extreme stereotype but you have either the really smart guys who are on the top of things and score well (not necessarily geeks or nerds) and then you have the not so smart jocks (i know, generalization and this does not include some of you ccers who cross lines). But generally guys don't usually fall in the average/middle category, just the upper and lower. Girls usually fall into the middle category as there are not that many girls who score very low or very high (i'm not sure why, just an observation).</p>
<p>not only in IQ...but also in leadership skills/tasks/performances
Males have a role of leadership "given" to them</p>
<p>if you look at the link mea posted, girls have a lot more scores in the 800 and lower range even when you consider that more girls overall took the test, which would suggest that what Obilisk and icyfire are saying isn't necessarily true (just based on SAT scores)</p>
<p>nah chanman, i wouldn't say that. at my school, it's the absolute opposite. the girls seem to have a monopoly on: SAT scores, leadership positions in the majority of the clubs, and grades. </p>
<p>the only things guys monopolize are messing up the bathrooms, failing and robotics club</p>
<p>well, there's a lot of sarcasm in this thread, hopefully</p>
<p>Being a girl (with one of those high scores) I don't think the fact more males are scoring higher on the SATs is because they are naturally smarter. </p>
<p>However, my personal school experiences doesn't quite back up that belief...</p>
<p>I agree with pentasa in that too many of the girls in my school insist on acting like airheads. They want the guys to think they're "cute" (more like subservient, feh) or whatever messed up reasons they have for acting like they do. Plus, of the people in my school taking the most rigorous course schedules, they're all guys, with the exception of me. </p>
<p>Though, I moved to this HS the beginning of 9th grade. The girls seemed a lot smarter in my old school, one being insanely good at math (can you say calculus camp?), and one school isn't going to represent girls in general.</p>
<p>So yeah, I don't think guys are naturally smarter, but the SAT might be biased considering it was probably created by a bunch of white guys. Though, I think the discrepancy in the numbers is caused by society. Girls aren't raised like guys; academics don't seem as important to them. "I don't wanna work when I'm older, I gotta find some hot rich guy!" (And yes, I've heard this been said by so many girls at my school)</p>
<p>actually there IS scientific theory behind that. males have a larger intellectual capacity than females do. however, to answer what a lot of you are bringing up, girls work harder than guys do - thus many of the higher grades/colleges have more girls now because guys just fool around =D </p>
<p>but there ARE scientific studies that back up that many males learn quicker/are more "intellectual" if you would like to call it, however, this also stems from the fact that learning disabilities are also more prevalent in males.</p>
<p>Serenity now, amazing what some of you people are saying!!!</p>
<p>shrek2004 - yes, i agree. <em>sigh</em> i hate knowing that genetically, it's possible i don't have as large of an intellectual capacity as a man does. i hate feeling so limited. but what can i do? i do notice that girls tend to work harder than guys do. but personally, i feel that it's always mind over matter. if you are motivated, you can do anything. (yes, let me get off the soapbox and stop preaching...)</p>
<p>more pressure on males than females</p>
<p>i wasnt praising that males have a faster speed for learning/higher intellectual capacity...i think its a shame that lotsa guys dont work as hard as girls. guys should learn from girls...well work ethic that is, maybe not all the superficiality =D</p>
<p>Yikes, what sexist tripe....males and females are more alike than different, maybe different styles and ways of learning, but that is no reason to say some of the things being said here...</p>
<p>To add onto what shrek2004 said about scientific studies...</p>
<p>I once read an article (about two years ago) about studies conducted on baby boys and baby girls.</p>
<p>Researchers separated both the baby boys and baby girls from their parents to see how they would react. They even put barriers between the parents and babies. The boys would often crawl around barriers in order to reach their parents. On the other hand, the girls simply sat still and cried.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to imply that one gender is inferior and the other is superior. Rather, I'm trying to say that there is obviously a difference in how the minds of males and females work.</p>
<p>(BTW, I'm a girl.)</p>
<p>jwvccal: peace on earth and goodwill towards all men (and women) - I think fundamentally we agree, anyway. In the end, it really came around to just picking at the way you or I had said things when I'd long had the feeling that you hadn't been thinking that way. :)?</p>
<p>I could not possibly go around and verify for myself all this scientific research that says boys are smarter than girls or girls sit while boys crawl or that camels prefer cigars to cigarettes. Let me rewind and say that all of the hypotheses to explain the SAT data have been interesting, and I never planned to be worked up at anything. I lost it a little when I sensed blanket, undeserved stereotyping.</p>
<p>It may well be that guys have brains better wired to do, say math, or science, or anything you care to say. That really doesn't matter to me, because I am sure there are lots of innate differences based on averages and experiments with babies looking for their moms. HOWEVER, everyone is an individual (thank you cap'n obvious, i guess) and what's more, we place ourselves above animals precisely because what we do in life, how we contribute to society, the ideals we hold, our choices, are hardly determined by our genes. Sure, it's possible to determine the sex of a budgie just by behavior - males are more vocal, more friendly, and love smacking their head against their food dishes, while females tend to 'sulk' and stay quietly on a shoulder. But we're not budgies! We have technology and educational systems and religions and cultures that mean that people of all races and genders and cultures can succeed, given the right environment. It's really quite a wonderful thing....</p>
<p>Personal example. I'm Asian, and I'm female. Maybe one of you will present me with research telling me that I must be short, with small eyes, that I can't wrap my head around Physics, have no interest in Math, and that I score in the average range on standardized tests. You would be wrong on every occasion. However, will I admit to jwvccal that I can name many other girls than boys who woudl fit that stereotype? Yes, grudgingly. But I'll also remind him or anyone else that I can name girls who I know will have fantastic careers, and will shape the world one way or another in the future.</p>
<p>My finally-arrived-at-point is, that stereotypes exist, and I'm worried because some posters here believe in very shocking stereotypes, and are happy to judge and be judged by them. However, I personally refuse to resign myself to whatever female-male or racial stereotype one may conjecture, and I don't believe anyone should. I also think that people should avoiding ascribing to stereotypes when judging <em>others</em>, as much as possible. If the top scientists are males because they're genetically programmed to get a head start over females, fine, as long as stereotyping doesn't get in the way of an equally brilliant female scientist reaching the top and contributing her bit to the world too.</p>
<p>I had not perused the entire contents of that link Jwvccal and I find it very interesting. I think it suggests that the gender gap might be even more pronounced then it already seems. Possibly as much as 50-70 points in effect, if not in actuality. Very interesting.</p>
<p>i don't think that you have to break the stereotype in order to succeed...girls don't have to not care about shopping or boys or anything like that to succeed on standarized tests.</p>
<p>ellafunt: well, not letting something "get in the way" isn't exactly the same as 'breaking'. Yea, you don't have to break anything, just don't let anything constrain you, is what I meant.</p>