Freestyle Blog Entry

For my Freestyle Blog entry, I chose to write about the issue of girls performing better on national reading tests. Two researchers from Vanderbilt University suggest that girls have a higher ‘processing speed’ than boys, and that gives girls an advantage in school even though there is no IQ advantage. This interests me because the article, “Theories abound on boys’ slow reading” from post-gazette.com, states that boys and girls learn differently- girls learn faster with repetition because of the processing speed difference, and boys are likely to learn better with fewer problems, but with a higher degree of difficulty. The article also suggests that because there are boys in other countries who learn the same as girls, it can also be attributed to a cultural difference. I find it interesting that genders learn differently and that the processing speed can make that big of a difference in reading, but I also find it interesting that cultural differences can affect it as well. I recommend that more studies based on how the genders learn be conducted and, if the large majority matches the Vanderbilt University study’s claims, I question whether or not American schools should consider offering two separate types of curriculum. They could then place genders in the types of curriculum they’re statistically better in than the other, and if they struggle place them with the other curriculum to see if it makes a difference. I would also recommend that they conduct more studies in hopes of finding a way for boys to catch up to girl's reading scores. If that were accomplished, it would be possible that the percentage of those who read for leisure would increase.