Hidden in a Chronicle round-up on what psychological researchers think they know about differences in mathematical ability between male humans and female humans:
Data from Mr. Stanley's program, at Johns Hopkins, shows just how strong the cultural factors are in determining math achievement. In the early 1980s, he and Ms. Persson Benbow reported a whopping disparity in the numbers of mathematically gifted boys and girls who scored 700 on the math section of the SAT at the age of 13, a distinction achieved by one in 10,000 students. A quarter-century ago, there were 13 boys for every girl at that level. Now the ratio is only 2.8 to 1, a precipitous drop that has not been reported in the news media. "It's gone way down as women have had an opportunity to take their math earlier," says Mr. Stanley.
I spent much of my adolescence in milieux where so many people were in one of the Stanley et al samples that I sometimes had to explain that, no, the talent search just hadn't reached Weatherwood yet when I was that young. I was haunted by their work, the same way I used to feel like I couldn't really be smart 'cause I didn't have bad allergies like all the really smart kids did. I am so glad to see this factoid slip out.
Even more so, since, unlike most of this "research," it really is about the far right tail of the distribution.
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