I Am Fascinated By Human Behavior

Why do you think girls are now doing better in school than boys and girls outnumber boys in graduating college? In fact, from what I've heard more women are the breadwinners of the family than men at least in the millenial age group. I think at least part of it is boys are disciplined less and parents are generally more demanding of girls. I'll never forget what a sub teacher said to a bunch of boys who were goofing off when I was a senior in high school. He said, "in every school I go to I see boys misbehaving while the girls study hard and get good grades. Do you know what'll happen someday fellows? Women will take over the world." Most men will object to this, but girls and women are not trying to compete with or outperform men. It just seems to be happening naturally with boys and men goofing around and being lazy.

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busdriver · 31-35, F

Part of the problem is the difference in how teachers treat students in public education. Studies have found that boys are praised less than girls for good marks and also that girls are more likely to receive encouragement when they don't perform as well academically.

Women make up the majority of teachers in the US, so what often happens is that teaching styles -whether intentional or not- are skewed to be more receptive to girls.

Men also are also more likely to drop out because colleges are becoming a hostile environment in certain ways. The discussion around sexual assault and harassment are almost exclusively about the actions of men. The narrative of race essentially demonizes white men. Those dialogues don't leave room for nuance and essentially have men feeling like scapegoats for things they haven't done.

There are definitely more reasons why, although they're not as well studied. A lot of men also choose not to attend college for short term economic gain. Some men join the military. Some attend trade schools. There's no silver bullet

Cloud7593 · 46-50, F

@busdriver Boys misbehave more may be part of the reason girls are preferred by teachers.

busdriver · 31-35, F

@Cloud7593 Is that a recent phenomena? You're currently seeing a trend of fewer men in college and being breadwinners and performing worse academically. That wasn't always the case.

Looking back at the portrayal of boys in literature, visual media, and even in anecdotes will paint them as being generally more active than girls, and not just in the US. It's a long standing observation that wouldn't explain the recent trends

Cloud7593 · 46-50, F

@busdriver Boys certainly misbehaved more when I was in school. They disrupted class way more often.

Quizzical · 46-50, M

Well... In the UK they moved away from sit down exams, which boys excelled at, to a large percentage of the syllabus being coursework, which girls excelled at...

They just moved the goalposts.

However they didn't move them to a halfway point as you would think to give both sexes an even chance.

What happens elsewhere I have no idea.

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