Biased mindset proves to be great divider in math studies

The East China Normal University Press is at the center of a gender discrimination debate after publishing two versions of a math book, one for boys and the other for girls.

The publishing house said on its official WeChat account that they used big data to identify gender-specific weaknesses, which the book Boys and Girls Learning Math would help overcome. But the article also quotes a girl's parent as saying, "My daughter is good in math, so I will buy the boys' version for her," implying that girls are weak in math compared to boys.

Society often reveals its prejudice that boys are better than girls at math after observing boys performing better than girls in math in school. Also more boys are engaged in professions that require a good understanding of math. However, the observers have erred in basing their findings on examination results of the past, when the percentage of girls receiving education and working was very low compared to boys.

Many girls then lacked the opportunities to tap their math potential. But as more girls receive compulsory education, the gap in performances is narrowing and in recent years girls have been top science scorers in the gaokao, or national college entrance examination.

International studies show no significant differences exist between boys and girls with regard to their intelligence or math skills.

In fact, a survey of Shanghai's primary and middle school students' learning situations in 2012 and 2017 showed girls outperforming boys in almost all subjects in the seven grades; the only exception was chemistry, in which both performed equally well.

The improving academic performance by girls in recent years is an outcome of gender equality measures. Although the East China Normal University Press responded to public criticism by stopping publication of the textbooks, it is a pity that some educators still have such biased mindsets.