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Hi Susan - You've raised some great questions, and given us a lot to think about. I've seen some of these studies too, as well as studies showing that women who graduate from all-female colleges advance further in their careers than those who go to mixed campuses.

Personally, I think the outcome is highly dependent upon the attitude and expectations of the teachers. If they encourage students, they will do well. If they have bias, and bring it into the classroom, the bias will be reflected in student achievements. I base this on a study in which students, male and female, were segregated by eye color, with some eye colors labeled as showing intelligence while others were labeled as showing a lack of intelligence. Sure enough, the students' self-beliefs and their academic performance reflected what they were told, which had absolutely no basis in reality.

There are also some pilot projects currently underway in urban, inner-city areas of the country on both the East and West coasts in which students who had been labeled as poor performers have been placed in new environments which encourage them and demand that they achieve, and in each case the students have shown significant gains in knowledge and academic accomplishments. Again, it was the attitude and expectations that the adults had for these students that made the difference.

The researcher you mentioned - John Philippe Rushton - isn't credible to me. Public records show he has relationships with known hate groups and his work has been criticized by other researchers and civil rights organizations as being poorly researched and racist in nature.

I would much rather see research that focuses on how we can maximize the potential of all human beings, male and female.
Pat

December 9, 2009 - 6:50pm

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