In a landmark study involving over a million students, it appears that the reason boys dominate girls in STEM fields is not that they are better than girls at it (the reverse seems to be true) but, perversely, that gender differences are lower in non-STEM fields.
About the STEM grades, which are often abused as an explanation:
A classroom with more variable grades indicates a bigger gap between high and low performing students, and greater male variability could result in boys outnumbering girls at the top and bottom of the class.
“Greater male variability is an old idea that people have used to claim that there will always be more male geniuses – and fools – in society,” O’Dea says.
The team found that on average, girls’ grades were higher than boys’, and girls’ grades were less variable than boys’.
But girls' and boys' variability were much closer in non-STEM fields.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Monday December 10 2018, @05:32PM (3 children)
That is right and It is because girls mature faster than boys, and that has long been known as a factor in education circles. As an aside it is evident that many "boys" never grow up mentally at all (present company excepted LoL!) : obvious examples being Elon Musk and Fred Dibner (the UK guys will know who I mean), while the number of girls who never grow up mentally ... well I cannot think of any examples off hand. But the slower mentally maturing ones of either sex tend to overtake the faster ones intellectually in the long run.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @06:03PM
"while the number of girls who never grow up mentally ... well I cannot think of any examples off hand"
You don't date, do you?
(Score: 2) by Muad'Dave on Tuesday December 11 2018, @01:40PM (1 child)
> ... Fred Dibner (the UK guys will know who I mean) ...
Did you mean Fred Dibnah [wikipedia.org]? Even as an American I know who he was.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Tuesday December 11 2018, @06:49PM
Yes, Fred Dibnah : sorry for the slip.