Why I can’t balance my checkbook

Experts: Some women perform well in math

Talk about a non-surprise.

The title of this article, as usual, is misleading. The study served not to verify that some women can do math (duh), but to demonstrate the powerful effect gender stereotypes have on women’s math performances. In this study, women who were told that men are innately superior at math did worse on a subsequent math test than women who were told gender doesn’t affect math aptitude. Even women who are merely reminded of their gender in a math-free context do worse! It kinda makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

This study follows on the heels of a Canadian study by J.P. Rushton that got a lot of press in September. Rushton is just the latest of a pack of researchers arguing that men are demonstrably smarter, including controversial Brits Lynn and Irwing, who claimed in Nature that men have an advantage of ~5 IQ points. I haven’t yet read Rushton’s article (no access to the journal, Intelligence) but apparently Rushton and his team based their conclusions on SAT scores, which I find suspicious. Not everyone takes the SAT, only those intending to go to college, and more women take it than men. The extent to which students prepare for the SAT also varies. Back when I took the SAT, I was under the naive impression it measured innate ability. I didn’t study or review for it at all – what would be the point? When I did quite well on verbal but only moderately well on math, it was exactly what I, and everyone else, expected. After all, I’m pretty smart for a girl. I’d been told so often that girls aren’t as smart as boys, especially in math.

It kinda makes you wonder how many of the girls taking the SAT expect to underperform because of their gender. (If you believe overt gender bias has been eliminated from our schools, then you must live in a very different region of the country than I).

I’ve completely internalized the idea that I am “bad at math.” I refuse even to balance my checkbook. Every time I consider my own math abilities, I recall my 6th grade math teacher, Mr. Florence, who told me I was a stupid girl and made me cry in front of my entire class. I can’t remember how I felt about math before Mr. Florence, but after a week with him, I was definitely “bad at math.” The As I earned in college calculus and physical chemistry count as absolutely nothing against the humiliating memory of his class.

It kinda makes ya wonder.

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