Boys, Girls and Math

Although we haven’t heard Barbie complain about how hard math class is for a while, we now have an answer for why there’s a gender gap when it comes to math. A new study from the University of Missouri claims that it’s because boys are more impulsive than girls in answering questions in class.

The study followed 300 students from first through sixth grade, and found that boys called out answers in class more often girls. (Shocker.) In the early years of school, the boys were wrong more often as well, but by the sixth grade, the boys were not only answering more questions but also getting more correct. 

The researchers found that boys were more likely to call out answers from memory, while girls were more likely “to favor a slow and accurate approach” to get the right answer. Boys, it seems, are less likely to care if their answers are wrong as long as they get to answer it.

Drew Bailey, who led the study, said that "over time, this practice at remembering answers may have allowed boys to surpass girls in accuracy."

So, the lesson is that we shouldn’t encourage girls to not be so well-behaved, intellectual, and willing to patiently solve a problem correctly. Instead, we should tell them to spazz out and scream the first thing that pops into their head.