Boys, Girls and Grades: Why Do Girls and Boys Achieve Different Results

What are the reasons for the differences we have discovered? Are girls simply smarter? Is academic success predetermined at birth? Do certain aspects of culture and society assist or retard learning among children of one or both genders? Is it girls or boys who suffer most from poor or misguided pedagogical practice or school organization? Are girls more able or willing to "play the game" in order to maximize their post-secondary opportunities?

Equally as important, can good teaching and counselling overcome such differences or deficiencies as may be native to each of the genders?

Basic questions remain regarding the existence, nature, and strength of gender-based differences in learning ability. For example, in much of the research on second language learning, uncertainty seems to be the only constant.

Graeme Hirst reviews the research on innate gender differences in linguistic ability in a 1982 paper. His concluding statement indicates the state of confusion surrounding attempts to uncover such differences.

We have seen that there may be sex differences in both linguistic ability and functional brain lateralization, and the two may be causally related. If the differences do exist, they may be related more to handedness than sex and may be influenced by hormonal activity, or correlated with age of maturity, or may perhaps be mostly induced by social factors.

Rafik Loulidi weighs in with a catalogue of possible gender-based attitudinal and socio-cultural causes for differential success in language learning. Among the more unusual of the hypotheses is this (regarding England's most widely taught second language):

It is true that in the popular imagination French is usually associated with fine wines, good cooking, haute couture, and luxurious perfumes--all either "domestic" or "feminine" in orientation . . . This, it has been suggested, may be seen by boys as incompatible with their emerging masculinity. 20

In a brief paper published in 1983, David Cross reports on his own experiment on differences between achievement by boys and by girls in language classes. 21 Cross found that where some of the language teachers were male, boys--who generally do not do as well in this area--performed at levels equal to, or higher than, girls. He suggests that this may in part be attributable to differing attitudes of boys toward teachers of the two genders.

Finally, Rebecca Oxford suggests that success as a language learner results from the application of specific learning strategies that can be adopted by the learner. She notes that, "research has repeatedly shown that the conscious, tailored use of such strategies is related to language achievement and proficiency." 22

At least in this area of learning, differentials in outcomes between the genders have a wide range of suggested causes, each of which, independently, may not be of significance, but, taken together, can generate startling results. If such differences, regardless of their origin, do exist, is there anything that schools can do to mitigate their influence on students' achievement? It seems clear that the answer is yes. There is little in the literature to suggest that the genders are fated to perform at any pre-determined level. In their comprehensive research review, The Psychology of Sex Differences, Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Jacklin, write,

All the abilities discussed in this chapter [verbal, mathematical, spatial, and conceptual skills] improve with age, from early childhood to adulthood. Our educational institutions are dedicated to the proposition that these changes are not entirely (or even primarily) a result of simple maturation--that verbal, mathematical, spatial, and conceptual skills can be taught, and indeed if they are not taught, they will probably not be learned to an adequate level of proficiency. This is not to say that success in teaching is independent of a child's already-developed readiness to learn a given task, or that success in training does not depend upon genetic factors (including those controlling maturation) and previous learning. However, if any group of children have not acquired certain intellectual skills that other children of their age possess, there is a reasonable presumption that at least part of the problem lies in deficiencies in the teaching they have received. 23

Successful teaching recognizes that individuals and groups of individuals come to their academic studies with differences that, if not attended to, may result in differential success. In those schools where attention is paid to these differences, the gap in achievement between girls and boys will be smaller.

It is not just in academic results where confusion exists regarding the bases of gender-related differences in behavioural patterns. As we shall see below, one can predict with some accuracy that more boys than girls will choose physics in the senior secondary years. Similarly, more girls than boys will choose to begin or continue their study of second languages. Is this in the genes? Is it a result of boys being brought up differently from girls?

In a study using the theory of planned behaviour to predict the enrollment intentions of secondary school students, F.E. Crawley and Carole B. Black concluded the following:

Of particular interest is the finding that gender does not have a significant impact on the personal beliefs that students form about the consequences of enrolling in physics. Personal beliefs are instrumental in the formation of students attitude toward physics enrollment, which in turn influences their enrollment intentions. 24

They note, however, that this result "contrasts sharply with the gender differences in physics preference and choice reported by Ormerod and Duckworth." 25 The latter extensively review post-war research results and present a wide range of possible reasons for the male domination of the study of the physical sciences--and physics in particular--in England during the 1970s. Of particular interest is the observation--noted by a number of researchers--that in co-educational situations, the boys and girls become polarized in their choice of courses. Ormerod and Duckworth, citing other research, noted that

in such co-educational situations, "one sex--girls in the case of physics; boys in the case of French-- became discouraged in the presence of the other gender by their superior performance." 26 Such polarization tends to make each gender avoid further contact with the offending subject area.

Crawley and Black conclude with a detailed discussion of the remedial action that school counsellors and administrators can take to ensure that enrollment behaviour is characterized by more rational decision-making.

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Last Modified: Thursday, May 20, 1999.