Scientistshavetriedtocomeupwithbiologicalexplanationsforthedifferencebetweenboysandgirls.

Howevernonewerebelievableenoughtoexplainthegeneralpicture.Asonescientistpointsout“Thereareslightgeneticdifferencesbetweenthesexesatbirthwhichmayaffectthesubjectsboysandgirlschoose.Butthedifficultyisthatbythetimechildrenreachschoolagetherearesomanyothereffectsthatitisalmostimpossibletotellwhethergirlsareworseatscienceandmathsorwhetherthey’vebeenbroughtuptothinkofthesesubjectsasboys’‘territory’”.

Statistics（统计数据）showthatinmathematicsatleastgirlsareequaltoboys.Arecentreportsuggeststhatgirlsonlystopstudyingmathematicsbecauseofsocialattitudes.Oneofthereports’authorssays“Whileitissociallyunacceptableforpeoplenottobeabletoreadandwriteitisstillacceptableforwomentosaythattheyare‘hope-less’atmaths.Ourresearchshowsthatalthoughgirlsgetmarkswhichareasgoodastheboys’theyhavenotbeenencouragedtodoso.”

Theexplanationforthedifferencewhichisveryclearduringtheteenageyearsgoesasfarbackasearlychildhoodexperiences.Fromtheirfirstdaysinnurseryschoolgirlsarenotencouragedtoworkontheirownortocompletetasksalthoughboysare.Forexampleboysandnotgirlsareoftenaskedto‘help’withrepairwork.Thisencouragementleadstoawayoflearninghowtosolveproblemslateroninlife.Evidenceshowsthatexceptionalmathematiciansandscientistsdidnothaveteacherswhosuppliedanswers;theyhadtofindoutforthemselves.

Afurtherreportonmathsteachingshowsthatteachersseemtogivemoreattentiontoboysthantogirls.

Mostteacherswhotookpartinthestudyadmittedthattheyexpecttheirmalestudentstodobetteratmathematicsandsciencesubjectsthantheirfemalestudents.Allofthistendstoencourageboystoworkharderinthesesubjectsgivesthemconfidence（信心）andmakesthembelievethattheycansucceed.

Interestinglybothboysandgirlstendtoregardsuch‘male’subjectslikemathematicsandscienceasdifficult.Yetithasbeensuggestedthatgirlsavoidmathematicscoursesnotbecausetheyaredifficultbutforsocialreasons.

Mathematicsandsciencearemainlymalesubjects