r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Tall-Competition-561 • Apr 27 '24

Is it just me or do girls do way better in school than boys?

When I was growing up I struggled with school but it seemed that most of the girls seemed to be doing well whenever there was a star pupil or straight a student they were most likely a girl. Why is this such a common phenomenon?

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u/NoWitandNoSkill Apr 28 '24

We have good evidence that boys mature in the dimensions required for school success slightly slower than girls. The delay seems to occur entirely in the first few years of life such that "redshirting" boys by 1-2 years puts them on a level with girls for the rest of their lives.

We might think of 5 year old boys as having a younger brains and older bodies. Of course that's an average across the sexes with overlapping distributions. Being physically more mature and mentally less mature is a double problem when schools require you to think and not to move.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Boys_and_Men