Will girls stop doing homework?

More girls will soon stop doing homework.
That's the startling prediction from my always-ahead-of-the-curve co-author Julie Coates.

She says that while more boys are dissatisfied with school than girls, that the growing rate of dissatisfaction is higher among girls now than boys. Just back from England, educators there say that if students have to characterize school in one word, 85% of them will say "boring." Even if girls don't join the boys and revolt against homework, there's other reasons why girls do not benefit from the anti-boy gender bias in grading. Here they are.

1. Girls are not learning more.
   Even though girls are given most of the A's, good grades, and seats in college, they still are not learning more than the boys, according to test scores.  When we start to treat boys and girls differently in the classroom, girls will benefit just as much as the boys.

2. Some girls are being misled.
   Some 30% of girls are being given better grades than their test scores would justify, according to the analysis of date in  Gender and Fair Assessment by ETS researchers Warren Willingham and Nancy Cole.
   So some girls are getting "A"s in English or Math not because they know English and Math, but because they are polite, neat and turn in their homework on time.  They're being misled.

3. Family suffers as husband pool shrinks.
   Every study shows a huge majority of girls want to marry someone who makes more money than they do. With 35% of the smart (high earning) boys taken off the job market, they are also off the marriage-market.  Many girls want the option of raising a family before entering the workforce (see this huge trend among Gen X women).  With family-supporting men down 35%, not a good prospect for girls.

4. When society loses...
   When society loses scientists, mathematicians, and sends 35% of its smartest male workers to WalMart and McDonalds, the economy and society suffers, along with it the girls. 

5. Smart Girls, Bad Grades
   While boys are far more likely to have high test scores and low grades, some 20% of girls also have higher test scores than grades.  These girls may be shortchanged in college just like the boys.
((photo of girls in Moscow, Russia, behaving just like kids everywhere))

What do you think? Will more girls soon stop doing their homework? Tell us your opinion.

Comments

[Jasmine]

I am a female student at high school and I have no problem handing in homework or assignments on time. Even if I know the information already, there may be something in the topic I haven't picked up before. There is no harm in finishing your homework. It keeps you motivated and may even extend your general knowledge of the topic. At the end of the day, the students who have covered the topic and have handed in their homework do much better than the students who have just covered the topic. You will be surprised with what you may learn when you do homework. If you are bored with the topic than try branching out to other areas of that same topic and try 'thinking outside of the square.'

[Gemi Powell]

My oldest daugher has always been the model student. Everything was turned in on time. We moved this year to a new school and the criteria for advanced classes was different and she didn't "meet" those guidelines. She had been in advanced and gifted courses up to this point. She has stopped turning in homework, her grades are still good but I thought her work ethic had declined. I began to ask questions about what was going on and what is happening. Her reply is extremely interesting. she replied, "I did all this work last year and already know it. I can take the test right now and have an A. What is the point?" It seems her reason for not turning in homework is exactly the same as my two boys. If they know the work and have mastered the topic they are finished. It is extremely important to my daughter to know the material and that is where the hard work is displayed. Knowing the material is just not enough for the school.

[Rich Harrison]

had an interesting conversation earlier today that I thought you might find intriguing…

I was talking with a 21 year-old web developer who recently interviewed for an intern position with a large, well respected, private software company. Its the kind of company that lots of other software developers I know or have worked with wanted to work for because of its reputations, interesting project, employee benefits/perks, etc. He told me that he probably wasn’t going to take the intern position because everyone had their own, private office.

After first I thought that was a strange reason to not want to work there. But after talking a little more it seems he wants to work in an environment where his co-workers are in the same, less structured work area and can interact without having to go from office to office. A few minutes later he did say that the interaction wasn’t jut verbal. It also includes IM, text messaging, etc. even when in the same room.

Most of my career I’ve worked with folks that have strived to get to the point where they have a private office, with a door. But, if this conversation is representative of the changing work environments people are looking for, we may have to re-think our work spaces.

[Terry Newman]

One of my daughters was notorious about not doing homework. Or if she did it, she wouldn't turn it in. I think there were some issues of rebellion against the school system which did not fit her personality. She is very smart but her creative side was not served in the traditional classroom.