Even the most empowered girls are more anxious about math than boys

[Tanaqui]

Math anxiety — the urge to avoid numbers — plagues girls more than boys across the world, but the gender-difference is largest in economically developed nations that promote equality between the sexes, according to the study, led by researchers from the University of Missouri, the University of California at Irvine and the University of Glasgow.

 

Okay, that's really weird, and I actually have no idea what to make of this information. Any thoughts?

 

[Professormom]

Unexpected... And interesting, but I got nothin', lol.

[JumpyTheFrog]

Maybe girls in developed countries report more anxiety about everything than boys.

[Arcadia]

The report page which is wordy

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0153857#sec015

[maize]

Maybe girls in developed countries report more anxiety about everything than boys.

Interesting thought.

 

Math anxiety goes down for both boys and girls as the graph moves to the right, it just goes down more for boys.

 

So maybe we're not looking for "what makes girls have more anxiety" but "what makes boys have less anxiety" in the countries to the right.

[Professormom]

Interesting thought.

 

Math anxiety goes down for both boys and girls as the graph moves to the right, it just goes down more for boys.

 

So maybe we're not looking for "what makes girls have more anxiety" but "what makes boys have less anxiety" in the countries to the right.

Good point. I have always wondered about the value of girl-specific STEM programs. Not that I think they are bad. On the contrary, I have that type of brain and am so grateful that I live in a time where I can use it:-) But, by separating girls out in the younger years, do they then feel more pressure when they have a less supportive, less gender-divided environment in the later years? And, is that one reason boys don't experience that dip? Their environment remains constant?

 

Apparently, I am the woman of many questions with no answers today:-)

[Katy]

I wonder how much of this isn't relative to gender as it is relative to self-esteem focused cultures.  IE:  School comes easier to girls when they are small. They can focus better, sit still better, have better communication skills and better dexterity at young ages.  Girls get told they are good, they are smart. They're getting praised for something that comes easily to them, not for something they're working hard at.  Then you combine challenging & more abstract work (algebra) at the exact time of the worst hormone fluctuations make girls extremely distractable and suddenly they don't feel smart any more, which makes them anxious.  In reality they aren't less smart, they're just facing more challenging work at exactly the same time biology makes school more difficult for girls, and the only area that's more challenging is math. 

 

In countries where this isn't the case I'm guessing they get praised more for working hard (which they can control) than for being good or smart (which they can't control).

 

IME girls who are exposed to the challenges of algebra years before puberty AND who are given impossible problems as a fun challenge rather than a measure of their ability are much less likely to be anxious about math as teens.  That concept is the very reason why some of us use Beast Academy & Art of Problem Solving.  Enjoying the challenge of doing nearly impossible things helps much more than memorizing rules and facts and thinking you're good because sitting still comes more easily to you.

[wapiti]

IME girls who are exposed to the challenges of algebra years before puberty AND who are given impossible problems as a fun challenge rather than a measure of their ability are much less likely to be anxious about math as teens.

 

That's an interesting perspective.  We are seeing dd's prior AoPS experience pay off hugely.  She is far more willing to give a go at solving hard problems no one else has yet solved in her math club and in her math classroom than I ever would have been.  She takes a step back and thinks about alternate routes that not even the teacher thought of.  No fear as a freshman in math club of mostly upperclassmen.  There may be better math students in her class, but this habit of considering other angles is something I love to hear.  (Disclaimer, she attends an all-girl high school.  There is an associated all-boy school across campus but the math teams compete separately at coed math contests.  I attended an all-girl high school too, but I had zero exposure to the world of problem solving.)

Edited May 8, 2016 by wapiti

[regentrude]

I think a lot of this ties in right with the observation that girls are more likely to pick up math phobia from their (female) elementary teachers.

This has been extensively discussed on the board recently:

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/604614-math-for-girls-math-for-boys/

[StephanieZ]

FWIW, I love math, and I hs'ed my kids, and none of them are anxious about math. In fact, they all like it and excel at it. I have plenty of anxiety, lol, but math is not one of the things I'm anxious about. :) I personally feel like anxiety is contagious, and, I avoided exposing my kids to MY anxiety -- for instance, about the dentist -- I made dh take the kids to the dentist most of the time . . . and when I did it, I put on my best big girl panties and faked calm. :) So, my theory would be contagion. 

[regentrude]

Why do boys not pick up math phobia from their teachers? In many cases they are in the same classroom as the gals who do develop phobia.

Because girls want to please and emulate their teachers to a larger degree, especially female teachers.

 

http://www.pnas.org/content/107/5/1860.full

The real issue is this:

 

Interestingly, elementary education majors are largely female and have the highest levels of math anxiety of any college major

As long as we let girls who are math phobic be math teachers, nothing will change.

Edited May 8, 2016 by regentrude

[regentrude]

I personally feel like anxiety is contagious, and, I avoided exposing my kids to MY anxiety ...So, my theory would be contagion.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/04/25/stop-telling-kids-youre-bad-at-math-you-are-spreading-math-anxiety-like-a-virus/

[SparklyUnicorn]

Because girls want to please and emulate their teachers to a larger degree, especially female teachers.

 

http://www.pnas.org/content/107/5/1860.full

The real issue is this:

 

As long as we let girls who are math phobic be math teachers, nothing will change.

 

Although the best math teachers I had were female teachers.  I didn't have many, but they were exceptional.  My husband says the same thing.  (Not that this is proof of anything at all.)

[Joyofsixreboot]

I have often wondered how girls would do if there was no grade, and had the opportunity to work to mastery by topic. Son realized in calc 2 that the high achieving gals in his high school cohort didnt have a clue. His teacher used the West Point method of boardwork...but on a high school short class period with a 45 person class it was easy for them to avoid the chalkboard (with 45 they didnt have enough board so some had to work on paper)...very apparent that all of the few males in the class were going for understanding, but only 1 gal, and she was being tutored by her stem profeseor father rather than joining the males asking questions in class. Really apparent to son that fiddling with different approaches, and exploring what-ifs were not something most were comfortable with, even the ones that had been in his elementary classroom where just trying the POD was rewarded.

I think it may be tied to possibly greater numbers of girls being " addicted" to high grades, perfection and the accolades that follow that. My high achieving girls really enjoy those rewards while my boys were more about " making stuff work". Of course there are differences and these are generalizations.

[Entropymama]

I only have my own kids to observe, but my girls seem to be more anxious in general about their performance. 

 

Also I wonder if all-girl STEM programs and the emphasis on 'girls can do anything!' is actually detrimental to some girls. There's a lot of pressure now for girls to be good at math, and for those who aren't, or just don't like it and want to put the effort in to get that way, it can be a hostile environment. 

Edited May 8, 2016 by Entropymama

[maize]

I think a lot of this ties in right with the observation that girls are more likely to pick up math phobia from their (female) elementary teachers.

This has been extensively discussed on the board recently:

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/604614-math-for-girls-math-for-boys/

 

I was thinking of the same research, but it doesn't explain the high levels of math phobia in both boys and girls in less developed countries. I wonder what is contributing to  phobia there (teaching style? insufficient teaching? lack of resources?)

 

Another possible factor: I've read research recently about brain development in boys and girls, indicating that the parts of the brain that handle visual-spatial stuff (including math) tend to develop about four years ahead in boys (language areas develop as much as six years ahead in girls). All this stuff pretty much evens out by adulthood, but maybe the combination of too-much-too-soon plus anxious female teachers is a double whammy for girls.

[Crimson Wife]

When researchers studied giving everyone unlimited time on standardized math tests, it didn't make a significant difference on boys' scores but it did for the girls. Our education system really stresses churning through math problems quickly rather than solving more difficult problems without any time pressure. That I think hurts girls more than it does boys.

[J-rap]

Maybe girls are just more honest.  ;)

[Ali in OR]

My first thought is the perfectionism/fear-of-failure thing. I'm a former math teacher who enjoys math, yet my dds did not adopt my strange math-loving ways! My older dd definitely doesn't naturally experiment, fiddle with things, work on puzzles, etc. She's a decent math student but doesn't like the subject, and I would guess that she feels stress trying to get the problem right.

 

I definitely felt out of my league in college math/science courses. I think a more female-friendly model (or one I would have enjoyed anyway) would be a collaborative problem-solving approach. Still working hard problems, but working together and challenging the whole group to see new concepts, make connections etc. By contrast, the program of individual competition and weed-'em-out technology courses feels more male to me.

[maize]

None of the K to 3 teachers here are math phobic....some have undergrad degrees in math. They are very aware of inserting bias, and they have a mastery curriculum. If the gals wanted to emulate the teacher, they would be trying to solve the PODs, not trying to hide. Still, by 3rd grade, the unwillingness to think thru a POD and share one's solution is very evident. It seems to be gamers who are willing to stick with it...those who have been taught that failure is necesary and expected, not those who have been taught the winner take all, bench yourself if you lost attitude.

What does POD stand for?

[hornblower]

I only have my own kids to observe, but my girls seem to be more anxious in general about their performance. 

 

Wasn't that essentially the thesis of the Triple Bind? With the messages that girls can do & be anything, girls are internalizing that the *should* be everything: academic, athletic and attractive... 

 

 

[hornblower]

Maybe girls are just more honest.   ;)

I actually think you might be onto something. I know I've read articles that adult men are more likely to apply for positions which they're only remotely qualified for & that they sometimes just bs their way into jobs. Women don't even apply until they think they meet ALL the qualifications & more. 

 

I think this programming must start early. So I'd be looking at messaging very early on about how girls are encouraged to push ahead (& potentially fail) vs. not going forward until they're sure... Do we reward girls for intellectual bravery and brazenness when they're little? 

[Tanaqui]

I know I've read articles that adult men are more likely to apply for positions which they're only remotely qualified for & that they sometimes just bs their way into jobs. Women don't even apply until they think they meet ALL the qualifications & more.

 

Two thoughts.

 

1. Do you have a link?

 

2. Is it possible that men who don't have all the qualifications are more likely to get a callback than women who don't (or even women who do)?

[hornblower]

Two thoughts.

 

1. Do you have a link?

 

2. Is it possible that men who don't have all the qualifications are more likely to get a callback than women who don't (or even women who do)?

 

this is primarily from an internal HP study and was quoted in Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In. 

 

it's also discussed, in a large context, in this Atlantic article The Confidence Gap 

 

"A review of personnel records found that women working at HP applied for a promotion only when they believed they met 100 percent of the qualifications listed for the job. Men were happy to apply when they thought they could meet 60 percent of the job requirements. At HP, and in study after study, the data confirm what we instinctively know. Underqualified and underprepared men don’t think twice about leaning in. Overqualified and overprepared, too many women still hold back. Women feel confident only when they are perfect. Or practically perfect."

[hornblower]

 

 

2. Is it possible that men who don't have all the qualifications are more likely to get a callback than women who don't (or even women who do)?

 

Oh I think so. We've seen it when applications are gender blinded that there IS bias. I think there's systemic misogyny in many sectors. 

[Ausmumof3]

Maybe girls are just more honest. ;)

I think this is probably it.

 

Some of the generalisations on this thread annoy me, admittedly I was the only girl in higher math class but I definitely had better understanding on got better results than many though not all of the boys. However I would have been more likely to admit to being nervous about exam results even though I know they were experiencing nerves as well they just wouldn't admit it. Girls may be less likely to work problems on the board because they are less confident getting up in front of a bunch of others NOT because they are less capable or have less understanding.

[Ausmumof3]

I agree, but if the same gal can get up in front of 700 people for a fine arts solo or a sports performance, I dont think the problem in math class is stage fright. Test results and fear of collaborating on math problem solutions says its math conceptual understanding. Id like to see this as a study.

Most girls would experience anxiety in those situations as well. I definitely would.

[regentrude]

I agree, but if the same gal can get up in front of 700 people for a fine arts solo or a sports performance, I dont think the problem in math class is stage fright. Test results and fear of collaborating on math problem solutions says its math conceptual understanding. Id like to see this as a study.

 

I think what may contribute to the effect is that societal approval is given for performing arts or sports - but academics of any kind, not so much. As long as it is considered uncool, especially for a  girl, to be smart, and particularly to be good at math, and as long as the school social culture celebrates mediocrity, this won't change.

I have seen the bullying that being a smart girl incurs - so I bet many girls pretend to be dumber than they are not to fall out of popularity.

And I do not believe that culture like this remains without consequences... and once you play dumb long enough, you forget that you're smart.

[hornblower]

being smart is for many girls the end of dating. Many (obv not all) boys will not date smart girls or heaven forbid, girls who are smarter than them. I think if you spend time with young women & pay close attention, you can often see how much they cover up their brains in order to appear non-threatening to guys. 

 

[Entropymama]

Wasn't that essentially the thesis of the Triple Bind? With the messages that girls can do & be anything, girls are internalizing that the *should* be everything: academic, athletic and attractive... 

 

 

 

 

So the question is, are girls more naturally anxious or is it culturally driven? 

 

When I was in high school I got good grades and was one of the 'smart kids'. I did want to hide it - I even lied about my ACT scores to my friends. But I don't know why I did it; I couldn't say that I felt pressure from my peers not to be smart. 

[Entropymama]

Wasn't that essentially the thesis of the Triple Bind? With the messages that girls can do & be anything, girls are internalizing that the *should* be everything: academic, athletic and attractive... 

 

 

 

 

So the question is, are girls more naturally anxious or is it culturally driven? 

 

When I was in high school I got good grades and was one of the 'smart kids'. I did want to hide it - I even lied about my ACT scores to my friends. But I don't know why I did it; I couldn't say that I felt pressure from my peers not to be smart. 

[Crimson Wife]

being smart is for many girls the end of dating. Many (obv not all) boys will not date smart girls or heaven forbid, girls who are smarter than them. I think if you spend time with young women & pay close attention, you can often see how much they cover up their brains in order to appear non-threatening to guys.

 

 

This is what I loved about college as opposed to high school. Everyone at my alma mater was smart so I didn't have to "play dumb" in order to have a social life.

[Bluegoat]

I don't actually think solving a problem in front of people is a lot like performing or giving a speech.

 

I'm quite happy to do the latter things, or even to go into a debate or improvised speech where there is a structure I am comfortable with. 

 

Suddenly being asked to make public comments at an event that I wasn't expecting - instant terror.

 

Working a problem in  front of people, to me, is a lot like improvising.

[regentrude]

being smart is for many girls the end of dating. Many (obv not all) boys will not date smart girls or heaven forbid, girls who are smarter than them. I think if you spend time with young women & pay close attention, you can often see how much they cover up their brains in order to appear non-threatening to guys. 

 

Unless they come to our college, LOL. 25% female, 75% male, and I had several conversations with male students who insisted that they think smart is sexy and cannot imagine dating a girl who is not smart.

[Arcadia]

I agree, but if the same gal can get up in front of 700 people for a fine arts solo or a sports performance, I dont think the problem in math class is stage fright.

I have done fine arts solo, done track meets and swim meets and also arrowed by my teachers to solve impromptu problems on the blackboard for math, chem and physics.

 

There are plenty of rehearsals and drills for fine arts solos or sports meets. There is no rehearsal for solving impromptu problems in class that send some of my guys classmates into a panic.

 

I would estimate that I have as much or as little math anxiety as my older male cousins because they had the onerous task of babysitting me :lol: Nature and nurture.

[Arcadia]

And I do not believe that culture like this remains without consequences... and once you play dumb long enough, you forget that you're smart.

Or if in school, teachers underestimate the child's ability and does not nominate them for contest.

 

The middle school team that won the national science bowl is three boys and two girls from San Jose, California. Not bad a ratio. The high school team that won is five boys from Silver Springs, Maryland.

[LucyStoner]

Why do boys not pick up math phobia from their teachers? In many cases they are in the same classroom as the gals who do develop phobia.

 

For my younger son, all of his math teachers were female except grade 5 (and he was the worst one of the bunch as it was his 2nd year on the job). Several had undergrad math degrees (Penn state, Rutgers) plus a masters in gifted (UConn). When ds was in a classroom with a less proficient teacher he did not feel phobia, as the teacher modeled that thinking thru the posed problem was necessary.

Female students are more likely to identify with their female teachers. Male students probably don't see their female teacher for a model of their future.

 

Also, boys seem to be (for reasons not entirely understood)more willing to be wrong in public. Giving the wrong answer is a great way to learn the right one in a classroom setting.

[MamaBearTeacher]

Maybe girls are just more honest. ;)

Herein lies the problem with a study like this. It is just questioning confidence in their math abilities. It is not asking about confidence in other things too. What if we asked boys vs girls how confident they feel in general? How confident they feel that they are nice people? How confident they feel in history class? English class? In their ability to style their hair? Maybe the girls will always self-report less confident.

 

Maybe this has nothing to do with math and it has to do with self-reporting confidence. Maybe girls feel less confident in general, or maybe they don't and just feel like expressing any doubt they have. Or maybe boys feel the need to be macho, the need to exaggerate their feelings of confidence. Maybe they feel like they can't admit doubt or fear. Even in an anonymous survey.

[Bluegoat]

Another possibility could be not that girls are under-confident, but that boys are over-confident and need to be taken down a notch.

 

Actually, I don't think that, but I do sometimes wonder about the assumptions behind those sorts of statements.  maybe the issue is that schools or workplaces need to respond to kids in a different way.

 

I would also say - I don't necessarily feel that boys and girls need to always have the same kind of responses about things.  They have different experiences, and that is ok.  When I was in the army, one thing I noticed quite often was differences in the way male and female soldiers tend to communicate and interact.  There was a strong tendency for the army to operate on a more male model though, and often the women had to adapt.  To some degree that was because there were practical reasons or certain approaches, like being very hierarchical.  And the fact that there were just a lot more men also was a factor and not anyone's fault.  However, I always felt that there were advantages that came with the more female style of working that could potentially strengthen the group, and it would be better to use them than have the women simply adopt a male model.

 

One of the things about women's communication was that it was typically more collaborative, and less inclined to be interested in being the person who was right.  So a woman would say "well what about this idea." Male soldiers were often trying to see their perspective as in competition with others.  Given that my trade was one that involved a lot of working through different possibilities, I always thought that was less useful. 

 

But - like this instance with math - it was often perceived as a more confident style of working. 

[FaithManor]

I think a lot of this ties in right with the observation that girls are more likely to pick up math phobia from their (female) elementary teachers.

This has been extensively discussed on the board recently:

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/604614-math-for-girls-math-for-boys/

I think this is a huge problem. All through elementary school my teachers were female and very vocal about hating math themselves and not being good at it. When I got to 7th grade I had a math teacher who was female which in our area was unusual the because most women who pursued a secondary ed license in this region did not choose to major in math or science. She was a breath of fresh air and really helped me change my perceptions of my math abilities. But the "girls just can't be as a good at math, all girls hate math" stereotype pretty much dominated the landscape and the converse "boys aren't good at languages and writing" dominated as well.

 

I still see this with a lot of homeschooling parents...an assumption from the very beginning that their daughters will be bad at math based on gender and their sons won't be able to find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. Sigh...and of course they then approach these subjects with gender bias which negatively affects how they teach.

 

Still in terms of the article, there may a lot of cultural factors that account for the difference none of which necessarily has to do with innate math ability or classroom gender bias.

Edited May 9, 2016 by FaithManor

[gardenmom5]

1dd has never been anxious about math in her life.  she was regularly 'teaching' (demonstrating) math lessons on the chalkboard to the entire class in 2nd grade.   in high school - she always had the highest math grade in her class - even the ones where she had contempt for the teacher (there were two) and ignored everything they said.  (she also did calc. in college - but was  far more interested in language.  though she walked through a science building one day, then called me to whine how  much she missed math/science.)

 

2dd wanted to major in math.  (she ended up in chem - which uses a lot of math.)

 

1ds. ... was so anxious about math in high school - he did no advanced math.  he got over that this past year, went onto khan academy to get his math up to speed so he could start college calculus last sept. as an engineering student.

 

eta: one of my bff's - is a math teacher.

Edited May 9, 2016 by gardenmom5

[Crimson Wife]

Unless they come to our college, LOL. 25% female, 75% male, and I had several conversations with male students who insisted that they think smart is sexy and cannot imagine dating a girl who is not smart.

 

College is different because it's a self-selected population and most students fall within a very narrow range around the average academic qualifications at the school. High school isn't like that unless a student attends a private prep school or one of the handful of selective public high schools like Boston Latin, Stuyvesant and the other exam schools in NYC, Thomas Jefferson in the D.C. area, Lowell in San Francisco, etc.

[Arcadia]

Another take on the issue

"Do Girls Really Experience More Math Anxiety?" http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/do-girls-really-experience-more-math-anxiety.html

[El...]

This is a very interesting discussion.  I'm sitting next to Dd8, who is humming through BA as we speak.  I have never told her that I "wasn't good at math", because I AM good at math NOW.  We shall see how this little data point develops!

 

It seems to me that girls experience more overt anxiety in their lives as a whole, or perhaps are more open to express that anxiety, which could really skew things. 

[gardenmom5]

This is a very interesting discussion.  I'm sitting next to Dd8, who is humming through BA as we speak.  I have never told her that I "wasn't good at math", because I AM good at math NOW.  We shall see how this little data point develops!

 

It seems to me that girls experience more overt anxiety in their lives as a whole, or perhaps are more open to express that anxiety, which could really skew things. 

 

as  a mother of sons and daughters - sons also have anxiety, but there is a message in the wider society (school teachers, friends) they aren't allowed to express it.

[Arcadia]

When your daughters, or any female relatives are anxious in general, what do they do? My fellow workaholic girlfriends shoot hoops, kick soccer balls, and whack tennis balls on a half court.

 

This article is interesting

"In 2000, Taylor and others published a paper which proposed that many women do not react to stress with the traditional fight-or-flight response. She suggested that many women react in a way she named tend-and-befriend (Taylor et al., 2000). In this condition, the individual does not prepare to fight or flee, but to stand one's ground and defend those around her. In this response, blood travels to the center of the body and the individual finds it difficult to move or think. During this response, the person can freeze, finds it difficult to make rapid decisions, and needs to talk or be with close friends."

http://www.easse.org/en/expert/266/Academic+Anxiety+and+Girls/

 

The report it is referring to (19 pages pdf)

http://scholar.harvard.edu/marianabockarova/files/tend-and-befriend.pdf

 

ETA:

There is also the dart board and billard table. When guys are tense, they take it out elsewhere, hopefully not in downing a few cans/mugs of beers. Anxiety becomes an adrenaline rush?

Edited May 10, 2016 by Arcadia

[The Governess]

I have two daughters. Their confidence in their math abilities is vastly different. I believe it boils down to their earliest math teachers.

 

My girls went to a part-time school - my oldest attended through third grade, and my youngest attended through second. My oldest started K well ahead in math and learned much of her early math at home with me. The math she did at school was mostly review. By third grade she was skipped a year in math and was one of the top students in the fourth grade class. She adores math and is super confident.

 

My youngest had the unfortunate experience of having the same math teacher for K and 1st. This teacher was not confident in math or how to present the material. My Dd was constantly confused and I spent a lot of time at home with her trying to clear up wrong thinking. She developed the feeling that she was bad at math and this teacher reinforced that feeling with how she interacted with my daughter.

 

In second grade, Dd had a better math teacher and her math abilities improved, but her confidence never recovered. She would bring home tests with A grades but was constantly crying over math and saying she "didn't get it" or " wasn't good at math." For a while I was even wondering if she was copying someone else's work, but after bringing her home and teaching her every day I realized that no, it was her own work, but she just had absolutely no confidence in it. We are still battling this two years later.

 

So, now I believe that a child's early math experiences are extremely formative, and that we need to be very careful about how beginning math concepts are introduced and the attitudes that early teachers exhibit toward math and their math students. And putting an elementary teacher that lacks math confidence and knowledge in charge of even K/1st grade students can be disasterous for some kids.

 

Lesson learned the hard way, I guess. :/

[Leav97]

Years of feedback also play a role.  When tests are graded by classroom teachers, girls are given lower grades.  When the names are removed from the test to anonymize the gender of the student, the girls get higher grades.

 

http://www.npr.org/2015/09/01/436525758/how-teachers-unconscious-bias-play-into-the-hands-ofgender-disparity

[Ausmumof3]

Years of feedback also play a role. When tests are graded by classroom teachers, girls are given lower grades. When the names are removed from the test to anonymize the gender of the student, the girls get higher grades.

 

http://www.npr.org/2015/09/01/436525758/how-teachers-unconscious-bias-play-into-the-hands-ofgender-disparity

Wow that's depressing!!! Seems like a reasonable sample size though it would be interesting to see whether it's backed up by other experiments etc.

 

I do remember a comment from a school teacher about a math test that I'd done well on, about how it was maybe just because I was cute basically. I was upset and checked all the marking and I had legitimately earned the grade, I think he was just trying to make the boys who hadn't done as well feel better about themselves.