UK: GCSE exam shakeup could discriminate against girls, say teachers

Submitted by Mastodon on Thu, 2013-03-28 06:14

Article here. Excerpt:

'Coalition plans to force teenagers to sit exams at the end of their courses, rather than throughout the year, could discriminate against girls, teachers have warned.

From 2015, there will be a return to end-of-course exams and less coursework in GCSE English, geography, history, maths and the sciences. Michael Gove, the education secretary, says the move will make the qualifications more rigorous.

But the reforms could reverse the lead girls have had over boys in most subjects for more than two decades, teachers said. Exams data shows girls have outperformed boys in GCSEs for 24 years.'

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Comments

... then it's fine. No reason to question it, even if it's worse for the boys. Now if that were reversed, there'd be complaining that the current state is bad and needs to be changed so that the exams come at year's end so the girls could do better.

And so it goes: Again. It's only a problem if it negatively affects the girls.

But in any case I question the basis of the whole objection. To generalize that girls do better at tests during the year than boys because they can't handle the stress of end-of-year exams is patronizing sexism. The PC crowd loves nothing more than sexist generalizations; after all, it's been by propagating them that they've gotten as far as they have.

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Submitted by Matt on Thu, 2013-03-28 17:38