+
Most Shared

The sad reasons why women may perform worse on tests than men.

Standardized tests: sexist by nature?

If mock college-entrance exams were the actual exams, more women might get top scores, new research has found.

But the same wasn't true for men in the study. And that could add to the idea that the way standardized tests work is gender biased.


Photo via iStock.

Researchers at the National University of Singapore analyzed how 8,000 young men and women performed on China's national college-entrance exam. They tracked the scores for both the actual exams and the mock ones, which students took a month beforehand.

They found that women were much more likely to perform better on the mock exam than the actual one. Nearly 1 in 6 women who didn't qualify for entry into a top school would have qualified if the mock exam scores had been the ones that counted.

But what's to blame for this discrepancy?

While the study didn't pinpoint a clear reason why this disparity exists, previous research may give us a hint.

And as NPR noted, the big c-word may be a culprit. Competition, that is; it favors guys.

Many studies have found that "women on average are simply not drawn to competition as much as men are drawn to competition," NPR social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam explained. "So studies in the United States, for example, show that if you have a highly competitive setting, fewer women will step forward — and this is the really important bit to remember — even when the women are likely to do really well in the competition."

Photo via iStock.

This gender disparity could play a role in how women approach (and feel during) a real college entrance exam — arguably one of the biggest "competitions" a person can participate in.

So, are women to blame for their own shortcomings? Do they need to just, you know ... up their competitive edge with the big boys?

Not really. As Vedantamnoted while citing other research, it's not that men are naturally more competitive than women. They tend to be more so in more patriarchal (read: sexist) societies.

Photo via iStock.

So, as one theory goes, the more patriarchal a society, the more competitive the men are, which may collectively have a negative effect on the women they're among.

But there are other factors that can hurt women in the test-taking process, too.

In the U.S., scores from the SAT tend to underpredict the success of women once they're actually in higher education. That may be because many standardized tests operate in ways that put girls and women at a disadvantage.

Men tend to score higher on multiple-choice questions (they're more willing to guess on questions they don't know the answer to). They also benefit from timed testing; one study found that when time limits were removed from the SAT, girls were far more likely to see their scores increase than boys.


Photo via iStock.

Negative stereotypes don't help, either. When a girl takes a math test, the stereotype that girls are worse at that subject may (subconsciously) give her more anxiety because the pressure's on for her to disprove the negative assumption. The same stereotype can apply to say, a black or Latino student who's been told by society they're somehow less "college material" than their white counterparts.

This has been dubbed "stereotype threat." And, ironically, it only perpetuates these fallacies by increasing test-taking anxiety among oppressed groups. Stereotype threat may help explain why research found that girls were more likely to do worse on their AP calculus exams if they checked the gender box before completing the exam rather than after.

Something needs to change.

If research tells us one gender (or any group, for that matter) is at a disadvantage when it comes to the way we test, shouldn't we be rethinking our ways?

It's not a matter of life and death, but it is a matter of passing or failing. And that can make a world of difference.

Joy

Sorry, Labradors. After 31 years, America has a new favorite dog.

The American Kennel Club has crowned a new favorite.

via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

The sweet-faced, loveable Labrador Retriever is no longer America’s favorite dog breed. The breed best known for having a heart of gold has been replaced by the smaller, more urban-friendly French Bulldog.

According to the American Kennel Club, for the past 31 years, the Labrador Retriever was America’s favorite dog, but it was eclipsed in 2022 by the Frenchie. The rankings are based on nearly 716,500 dogs newly registered in 2022, of which about 1 in 7 were Frenchies. Around 108,000 French Bulldogs were recorded in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing Labrador Retrievers by over 21,000.

Keep ReadingShow less
via Google and Freepik

Google's new personal information removal submission page.

In the internet era, the idea of personal privacy is all but a myth. With a few keystrokes just about anyone can get your home address, phone number, email, age and the names of your family members. The fact that this information is readily available puts us all in the dangerous position of being the victim of fraud, stalking and violence.

What makes the situation even worse is that our information was put online without any of our consent.

The good news is that Google just made a big change that gives us all a little more control over our personal information. On April 27, the company announced it will allow anyone to request removals of their personal information from its Search feature.

“Open access to information is a key goal of Search, but so is empowering people with the tools they need to protect themselves and keep their sensitive, personally identifiable information private. That’s why we’re updating our policies to help people take more control of their online presence in Search,” Michelle Chang, Google’s Global Policy Lead for Search, announced on the company’s blog.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

An 8-year-old snuck his handwritten book onto a library shelf. Now it has a 56-person waiting list.

Dillon Helbig's 81-page graphic novel— written by "Dillon His Self"—captured the hearts of his local librarians and their patrons.

Dillon Helbig's 81-page graphic novel captured the hearts of his local librarians.

Writing a book is no easy task, even for adult professional writers. Many would-be authors dream of a day when their work can be found on library shelves, unsure if it will ever come.

But for 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, that day has already arrived—in truly unconventional fashion—thanks to his own determination to make it happen.

Dillon wrote his 81-page graphic novel, "The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis" (written by "Dillon His Self") in a hardcover journal with colored pencils over the course of a few days. He even put a label on the back of the book that reads "Made in Idho" [sic] and put an illustrated spine label on it as well. Then, without telling anyone, he brought it to his local library in Boise, Idaho, and slipped it in among the books in the children's section.

Keep ReadingShow less

Becca Moore and Raul Torres having margaritas.

Becca Moore is a popular TikToker with over 800,000 followers who's known for her funny, laid-back takes on dating. Like any influencer-type she was at the Coachella music and arts festival in Indio, California recently. While she was at Coachella, she was robbed of her phone, rental car keys and wallet.

“I went to Coachella this weekend and I thought this guy was kinda hitting on me but then he just robbed me,” Becca says at the beginning of her three-minute TikTok video with over 3 million views. After the festival, she was left with no ride, money, or means to get in contact with friends and family. She was stranded in the desert.

Becca’s friend’s hotel called her an Uber so she could get to a local store to buy a new phone. The driver she was incredibly lucky to be connected with was a lot more than a guy with a car in a time of need, he was a guardian angel named Raul Torres from Fresno, California, six hours north of Indio.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

44 years ago he became her protector after a terrible act. Today, they've been reunited in love.

Betsy and Irv are finally getting the happy ending they deserve. Together.

It’s pretty safe to say that everyone loves a good love story.

There’s a whole genre of music and movies dedicated to the idea of someone being swept off of their feet after circumstances tried to keep them from their true love. Romance novels could single handedly keep public libraries and bookstores afloat. Everyone loves "love" and the story of Betsy and Irv just takes the cake. Betsy Sailor attended Penn State University as a business major, which was almost unheard of in 1978 and Irv Pankey attended the university while playing football. The pair’s paths never crossed, until an unfortunate incident bonded the two forever.

Keep ReadingShow less
@SopheAlice/TikTok

Best way to travel, really.

As they say, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”

This old adage was brought to life in a whole new way after two friends who thought they booked tickets to Budapest, Hungary, instead found themselves heading to Bucharest, Romania.

Just a minor 500-mile difference, but who’s counting?

TikToker @SophAlice posted a video of the pair realizing their mix-up, which went viral and set them off on an impromptu adventure based entirely on the comments they received.
Keep ReadingShow less