Gender: The difference myth

[Francis Hult]

The Boston Globe

 

The difference myth

 

We shouldn't believe the increasingly popular claims that boys and girls think differently, learn differently, and need to be treated differently

 

[...]

 

In the past decade, such claims have coalesced into an almost unshakable conventional wisdom: Boys and girls are different because their brains are different. This idea has driven bestsellers, parenting articles, and even - increasingly - American education.

The problem is, a hard look at the real data behind these claims suggests they are simply untrue. 

 

Some of them are baseless, using the language of science to cloak an absence of serious research; others are built on tenuous studies, with methodological flaws and narrow margins of significance. More and more, they are simply coating old-fashioned stereotypes with a veneer of scientific credibility.

 

Scientists have turned up some intriguing findings of anatomical differences between the sexes. But we know very little about their real-world effect on how boys and girls behave - meaning that any conclusions based on these findings are premature.

 

 

Full story:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/10/28/the_difference_myth/

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