Saturday, 20 May 2006 - 9:00 AM

I do agree with most of the "suggested reasons" and I believe boys do get distracted a lot more than girls, especially when they hit puberty. At that point, all they are concerned about is: GIRLS! Sex and girls constantly keep running in their mind. They are too curious about the body of a girl and the experience of sex. They would rather stare at a female classmate rather than pay attention to what is being taught in the classroom. Ofcourse I'm not talking about all the boys, but MANY!

On the other hand, girls also get distracted when they realize that boys are noticing them and staring at them, but not necessarily in a negative way. They start to become very conscious and keep wondering if they look attractive enough to get the guys' attention. They start focussing on their looks while ACTING annoyed by the guys who constantly keep staring at them. Basically, the girls hide their feelings while guys do everything in the open. I mean, you won't find a girl sitting on the roadside staring at the guys passingby. Girls hide their feelings and eventually become more calm and focussed. They just start focussing on their education much before than the guys do.

The point of the story is that girls are NOT CURIOUS about the opposite sex. They don't sit and fantasize about a guy's body (probably because nothing really remains as a mystery about the boys' body) nor do they CRAVE for attention. If they do get the attention, they will feel happy inside and move on. This way they end up becoming immune to distractions because they reach a point where they just have to ignore the guys as there are too many of them who like to stare.

So, the curiosity factor in boys definitely takes their focus away from education and becomes a reason for their bad performance in academics.

Ofcourse, my statements are only my opinions based on my personal experience and I would surely welcome any critics.


Oh I would also like to know how the good, male, students cope up with such distractions, if they have any!

Sunday, 28 May 2006 - 3:53 PM

I dont think boys are habitually backward or less intelligent... in Asian societies, girls arent encouraged to go out much, their movement is restricted... thats why they sometimes have nothing to distract them and end up scoring higher marks... but that doesnt mean they r better than boys, who knows, most of them end up sitting at home inspite of all those good marks.. i can say that from my experience in a girls school/college.. girls who get very good marks based on theoritical knowledge, dont necessarily outshine boys later in life... in fact, when it comes to practical stuff like facing interviews, trying to get into jobs, they cant handle it... : )
better performance doesnt necessarily indicate that girls are more mature, its only that they dont do things openly, they r much more cautious (probably becoz of female psychology/maternal instinct)... and yes, they dont experiment as much as boys do, which is why they wont get too carried away.. they also know that if something goes wrong, they can end up in trouble.. thats why they stay quiet under their burqas...
of course, what i typed above is based on my experience of studying in a minority college... could be very different otherwise... : )
but in my life, i have seen brilliant girls, who dilligently sit spending hours in study, top the state in their course, but they end up nowhere in life later, becoz somehow, those good marks dont get converted into good practical work later... : ) ofcourse, if those girls were pushed/encouraged by parents to work, i dont know how it would be... i have often come across news items which say that women make better managers, are better at multitasking, etc... : ) its difficult to analyze this situation especially in India, where there r cultural/religious obstacles...
diverging from the topic on girls outshining boys,
i dont think women's reservation helps much in uplifting women, an asian woman will never gain total emancipation with only financial independence, she still stays under her family.. and her unemployed husband (womens reservation leads to men losing prospective jobs right) can still control her and bully her all the more...
but still, its some kind of attempt to bring about gender equality.. i guess our politicians try to solve any kind of inequality only by issuing quotas/reservations! ;)

Wednesday, 31 May 2006 - 6:30 PM

Well, two comments from two women, both highly intelligent, yet highly divergent. I am sure you will be more emancipated than the previous generations, and posterity will be progressively assertive. One thing I have always believed, and here I concur with Vinita, that academic brilliance does not mean as much in real life; the two situations test us in different ways. And one sad story is that one dosen't prepare us for the other. But women recieve more practical training from their mothers. Sons, if they are not hooked on to earning money at an early age, are less practical. In the outside world, their outgoing adventurous nature and their gender definitely puts boys at an advantage. The only way to avoid being a complete failure in life is to be focused on something-anything-at some point of time. Being focused on studies during student days leads to good performance, but most academic beacons lose their shine once out of college; it's a rare individual who can focus on different things during different periods in his/her life. I will talk about reservations in a different post.