Despite the fact that female students in New York City public schools (referred to as “girls” below) generally outperform male students (referred to as “boys” below) academically, a study by the City Department of Education revealed that girls are far more dissatisfied with their classroom learning experiences compared to boys. Asian female students have the lowest dissatisfaction rate, but it is still higher than that of Asian male students.
According to a report by the education news website Chalkbeat on the 12th, the city’s high school graduation rate for girls is 10 percentage points higher than that of boys. Girls have an 11 percentage point higher rate of attending college compared to boys, and their English state exam scores in grades 3 to 8 far exceed those of boys, with their performance in math also not lagging behind boys.
Despite the academic success achieved by girls, an investigation conducted by the New York City Department of Education in 2023 among over 350,000 middle school and high school students across the city found that girls have higher dissatisfaction with their classroom learning experiences compared to boys, with a difference of more than ten percentage points.
80% of girls reported feeling stressed during the learning process, while the figure for boys was 63%; 61% of girls felt anxious while studying, compared to 47% of boys; 53% of girls felt that teachers would notice them when encountering difficulties in learning, whereas the figure for boys was 63%; 46% of girls believed that teachers would provide support when feeling discouraged, while the percentage for boys was 56%.
In terms of ethnicity, although Asian female students experience the greatest amount of stress, they are least likely to complain about teachers not paying attention to them or failing to provide support, hence their lower dissatisfaction rate. However, their dissatisfaction is still higher than that of Asian male students.
Experts have differing interpretations of these survey results. According to Chalkbeat, Chris Emdin, a science education professor at Columbia University Teachers College, pointed out that girls are often taught from a young age to be obedient and good students. However, while achieving good grades, certain behaviors may be suppressed or certain needs ignored, leading to psychological and emotional setbacks and resulting in a higher level of dissatisfaction with school experiences.