According to a bunch of academic analyses into high school and university results, young girls are way smarter than boys. We’ve all been thinking it, but now the proof is in the pudding — boys are dumb as bricks.
The study comes from the University Admissions Centre (UAC), which looked into performance differences between young boys and young girls. It focused on Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks (ATARs) and data from first-year university grades.
The result? Girls absolutely demolish boys in academic fields. Not surprising, to be honest, I’ve dated some brainless men out here. Turns out they were brainless as young boys, too.
The disparity between male and female grades was so severe that the UAC admitted that “the effect of being male was greater than any of the other recognised disadvantages we looked at.”
Fkn yikes.
The UAC also confirmed that no matter the socio-economic circumstances, girls came out on top.
HSC data did however underrepresent boys, including those who chose “study patterns that do not make them eligible for an ATAR or an HSC”.
We also need to take into consideration that the academic achievements made by non-binary and gender-diverse students are not represented in HSC data. Considering this erases the identity of these students, we should probably change this ASAP.
When it comes to first years at university, the UAC found that female students enrol at higher rates than male students, are more likely to actually pass their subjects and don’t receive as many fails as young men do.
There’s no real reason as to why female students outwit, outplay and outlast boys by miles, but there are some assumptions.
It could have something to do with the prefrontal cortex, which doesn’t fully develop in young men until they’re 25.
However, some folks reckon it has something to do with English being a requirement in the HSC.
“On average, girls would appear to benefit more from this requirement than boys, due to the archetype of girls performing better in English,” Director of Academic Profiles Robin Nagy told the Sydney Morning Herald.
You could examine the reasons why boys perform worse in the HSC for days until you find some semblance of a concrete answer. It may in fact be the inclusion of English, but who knows for sure. I bloody loved English.
Maybe it’s just time we agree that boys aren’t that bright.
