Re: Sex Differences In The Brain

Posted by Natalie L. Smith on May 22, 2002 at 13:31
(168.216.151.37)

Re: Sex Differences In The Brain (Thermus aquaticus)

I don't dispute these findings. But what I feel should be understood is that these differences in, for example, visuospatial performance are not a situation where every man does better than every woman. They are simply an OVERLAPPING shift in two (probably) bell-curve distributions. Therefore, there will be some women who will be better at visuospatial tasks than most men and there will be some men who are worse than most women.
Therefore, to separate school classes by gender on such grounds makes NO sense at all. Better to address all different learning styles in all classes as far as is practical. Some classes (again, physics is a prime case) lean heavily on visuospatial reasoning and there really is no way around it. If you take two physics classes and teach one in a manner that relies heavily on such skills and one in a manner that relies less so (even slightly), I can promise you that, all other factors being equal, the second class will not go as far or as deeply into the subject matter as the first. Now tell me that you are going to call these two classes the "boys' class" and the "girls' class" and claim fair treatment. Right. If we are to avoid making a total sham of womens' rights, all research into "gender differences" must make clear at all times that the variation in individual performance on such tests is much greater than the difference in the group means. This doesn't mean the research is useless. It might explain, for example, why the gender distribution in certain occupations is not 50:50. Still, it's rather dangerous ground. Sexism is still alive, kicking and doing damage the world wide. Let's please not give it excuses.
A good scientist would read these articles and know the limits of their valid application. But the world is full of politicians and selfish ****s who have eternally been more than willing to misuse and wrongly apply perfectly good information. Considering the looooong-standing and ubiquity of the subjugation of women in the world, we need to fully appreciate the fragility of the gains we have won. They could be lost in a heartbeat.

Follow Ups:


Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:

Subject:
Comments:

[ Forum ] [ New Message ]