The Best Stories from 2008: Girls and Boys Equal on Math Skills

Take that, Mr. Banon! He was my sixth grade math teacher who missed my dormant math skills. Oh yes, I read with giddy delight earlier this year that a study published in the journal Science of school age boys and girls. It revealed that there is NO difference between girls and boys in the area of mathmatical knoweldge and skills.

Girls are on an equal playing field inn standardized test scores in math (not that this is the only measure of success, of course). According to MSNBC:

"Ten states provided enough statistical information to review test scores by gender, allowing researchers to compare the performances of more than 7 million children.

The researchers found no difference in the scores of boys versus girls — not even in high school. Studies 20 years ago showed girls and boys did equally well on math in elementary school, but girls fell behind in high school.

"Girls have now achieved gender parity in performance on standardized math tests," said Janet Hyde, the University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who led the study."

For years girls have been thought (often by old, middle age men who teach math) to have less natural ability in math. But this study proved what most teachers and parents already knew-- that the idea that girls were less skilled in math was built on a house of sexist and pariachial cards.

And a stiff wind blew it down.

Enough metaphors. When you are constantly barraged with stories about more chemicals in toys, products, and in the air, articles like this can make your heart sing.

Or maybe that's just me.

If you want to see the details, just click on over to this story on the study on MSNBC's website.

image: Google images