http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 555_2.html
One teacher commenting on the article had this to say:
What do you think of his observations of men and women in the classroom? What does it mean (if anything) that more women than men earned PhDs?Earning a PhD requires specific skills like dedication and commitment that I see missing from a lot of young men these days. I know that's not true of all men, but I see many more young women who enjoy completing projects and completing tasks than men.
Now when I give a group of students a problem to solve that requires a lot of creative thinking, I often see boys work on the problem for days. They will debate and think it through forever. They don't like to give up and be given an answer. The girls will bore of that kind of work rather quickly.
When I give a group of students a problem to solve that requires a lot of task completion, writing, organizing, reading, etc., the boys will quit within moments of the task being assigned, where the girls, if they understand the task ahead of them, will often work on the problem for long, long periods of time.
This is obviously a generalization on my part and yet it has truly been my experience in the classroom. As a teacher I try to balance the challenges I give my students so that neither party gives up early.