When it comes to completing work of moderate difficulty, women are more efficient than men.
In a study involving over 8,000 males and females ranging in age from 2 to 90 from the across the United States, Vanderbilt University researchers Stephen Camarata and Richard Woodcock discovered that females have a significant advantage over males on timed tests and tasks. Camarata and Woodcock found the differences were particularly significant among pre-teens and teens.
"We found very minor differences in overall intelligence. But if you look at the ability of someone to perform well in a timed situation, females have a big advantage," Camarata said.
Perhaps it is not surprising that there is currently a gender performance gap in schools, given that homework loads have been increasing over time.
When researchers from the University of Michigan compared the amount of homework assigned in 1981 to the amount assigned in 1997, they were astonished. Although minimal changes occurred on the high school level, the amount of homework assigned to kids from six to nine almost tripled during that time! Assigned homework increased from about 44 minutes a week to more than two hours a week. Homework for kids aged nine to 11 increased from about two hours and 50 minutes to more than three and a half hours per week.
It would seem that boys can't keep up.
As women march forward, more boys seem to be falling by the wayside, McCorkell says. Not only do national statistics forecast a continued decline in the percentage of males on college campuses, but the drops are seen in all races, income groups and fields of study, says policy analyst Thomas Mortenson, publisher of the influential Postsecondary Education Opportunity newsletter in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Since 1995, he has been tracking — and sounding the alarm about — the dwindling presence of men in colleges.
It would appear that this trend may reflect underlying gender superiority in completing academic tasks in a timely manner.
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