In looking into the different characteristics that females and males bring to engineering, I found it important to look into different test scores. In a recent study of 2015 SAT exams, there was a 31% difference between the level at which males and females performed. According to AEI's Rick Hess these numbers are in fact "ugly" and represent a sad fact about traditional high school in current America. The males scored an average of 527 on the 2015 SAT exam while females only scored an average 496. Even into 2015 there is a statistically significant difference, particularly in math, in favor of males across all ethnic groups. AEI argues that this is because males are better prepared. However, according to College Board, this is not accurate. Rather, they argue that females are more prepared because in 2015 there were near 100,000 MORE females that took the exam that year. It might be just me, but this is mind-blowing. How is that, despite having a larger number taking the exam, females still struggle? In the next week, I plan to look into why colleges are going out of their way to recruit females despite their lower scores.
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| Here's a trend to think about. Over many generations, males have been scoring higher than females. This includes males of all ethnicities. Interesting? I think so. |
This is really interesting. It is hard to believe that the difference between the male and female scores are so high. I am looking forward to reading your next post!
ReplyDeleteIt is really weird to think about! The reasons why are even stranger to consider.
DeleteHuh, I've never looked at SAT scores with gender in mind, I always thought that differences were due to socioeconomic standing and race. Other than the fact that there were more females to take this exam, do you know why this difference exists?
ReplyDeleteHey Nic! Yes, a lot of the difference within scores arise from different educational opportunities. As you mentioned, some socioeconomic backgrounds have less resources than others to prepare for the exam which influences their performance. I think that girls might be scoring different for similar reasons. For instance, any math or science portion of the exam might be geared towards skills more easily understood by men, such as spatial reasoning, and the resources they were offered did not aid with this. More to come on this idea!
DeleteNot many people know this but I am a 12 year Girl Scout. I started a troop when my oldest was in 1st grade and they are still active. The programs that were set up for the girls just started using STEM along with the traditional cooking, sewing, and some sports. Girls got dolls while boys got Legos or action figures that came apart and were put back together. It is obviously changing because my girls grew up with the Legos more than the dolls and maybe that is why their ACT and SAT scores align more with the boy’s average. Do you think that society is pigeon holing women by marketing stuff to them that takes away from their ability to explore STEM Topics as a child?
ReplyDeleteHi Mr. Weber!
DeleteFirst off, that is incredible. I think that encouraging your girls to play with non-traditional toys when it came to their gender was one of the best things that you could have done for them! To answer your question, yes, the toys that are geared towards different children are greatly influencing their standardized test scores, class selection, and many other social aspects. Look to one of my next few posts for more on this!
-Elizabeth