MODERN EDUCATION is based on a false assumption: that boys and girls learn at the same rate and in the same way. In fact, the sexes develop differently and possess distinct ways of viewing reality from an early age, as anyone with the slightest experience with children knows. This common sense has been so stifled we need major research to tell us what we refuse to acknowledge from experience.

Simon Baron-Cohen, the British psychologist who specializes in sex differences, recently wrote:

We know that the male brain is on average 8 per cent bigger than the female brain, even at as early as two weeks of age. But probably more important is that girls’ brains tend to develop faster than boys’. We know from studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that girls peak about four years earlier than boys in terms of when they reach their maximum total brain volume and about two years earlier in terms of when they reach their maximum amount of “grey matter” in the brain. This important discovery tells us that, on average, girls mature at very different rates from boys.

In the current mode of schooling, these differences work against boys, who are often unfavorably compared with girls in their mastery of academic skills and organization. This begins early in life and extends to higher education, where we now see the disproportionate number of girls in colleges and universities viewed as a sign that young men are lazy or incompetent. In truth, boys and men develop at a different rate than girls, a difference that makes sense in light of the natural roles of men and women.

Single-sex schools or single-sex classrooms, though generally considered less enlightened by modern standards, are practical and sensible. Home education is naturally coeducational, but then home education is by its very nature more individualistic and attuned to differences. Small schools also can more easily accommodate coeducation. Single-sex schooling does not prevent all interaction between boys and girls, which naturally occurs outside of school.

Interestingly, Baron-Cohen refuses to draw out the obvious implications of his research. He writes:

Speaking for myself, I strongly oppose any form of discrimination or inequality, whether based on sex, ethnicity, social class or disability. Knowing a person’s sex tells you nothing about his or her abilities, aptitudes or interests and making any assumption about that person on the basis of their sex would be sexist, scientifically inaccurate and morally wrong. But science helps us to uncover the mysteries of nature, including the nature of sex differences. Handled sensitively, it can teach us a lot about why we turn out the way we do.

In his mind, “discrimination or inequality” apparently means any formal recognition of differences. After demonstrating that sex differences do matter, he turns around and tells us they mean nothing. This hypocrisy is neurotic – and very unscientific.

Baron-Cohen does not specifically address the issue of coeducation here. For some reason, most people tend to think of single-sex education as regressive and that with less mixing of the sexes boys and girls become too much like themselves.

 — Comments —

Daniel writes:

As an autism researcher, I have a long-standing admiration for and acquaintance with Simon Baron-Cohen. I am writing not to disagree with your stance on co-education, but to contend that you are misrepresenting Simon Baron-Cohen. He’s contributed significantly and honestly to the research on sex differences in neuroscience, and just because he claims these differences need to be handled “sensitively,” I don’t think he is refusing to draw conclusions.

In fact, given that girls’ brains mature faster, the conclusion one COULD argue for is that girls are somehow “better” than boys and smarter, etc, which is exactly what Baron-Cohen refuses to do when he writes: “Knowing a person’s sex tells you nothing about his or her abilities, aptitudes or interests and making any assumption about that person on the basis of their sex would be sexist, scientifically inaccurate and morally wrong.”

So Baron-Cohen is refusing to say that girls are better than boys just because their brains mature faster!

Baron-Cohen is a researcher, not a social engineer, and I respect his calm and integrity in contributing to the science behind sex differences. He does not need to champion particular conclusions beyond his own very busy, very valuable career.

Laura writes:

I have discussed Simon Baron-Cohen’s work favorably here before, specifically his book The Essential Differences: The Truth about the Male and Female Brain. His description of the male brain as essentially “systematizing”and the female as “empathizing” is a very useful way of thinking about cognitive sex differences. I respect his work too and strongly recommend this book. The paragraph I quoted above, in which he relegates these differences to nothing more than “mysteries” uncovered flatly contradicts the meaning of his work. 

He is not simply refusing, by the way, to say girls are better than boys, which is not a conclusion one would logically draw from the fact that girls develop faster. He says any “discrimination” or social recognition of sex differences is “morally wrong.” That is a prescription for social paralysis. You say he does not need to “champion particular conclusions.” I agree. Unfortunately, that is exactly what he has done here. This statement is very disappointing.

Steve writes:

Perhaps Baron-Cohen is using “discrimination” as a synonym for “irrational discrimination.”  I have found that this use is unfortunately and almost entirely normative nowadays.  Obviously no
sane person is for irrational discrimination, ergo we must be against “discrimination”.  And sadly, few people want to even think about times when rational discrimination might not only be tolerated, but be a great positive good.  That we do so, i.e., discriminate, every day makes little difference; we don’t call that “discrimination,” the connotation of which is today almost entirely negative.

Laura writes:

Yes, the connotation is entirely negative, rendering it nearly impossible to talk about proper discrimination. I would be inclined to think Baron-Cohen simply succumbed to the current Newspeak if he hadn’t gone onto to say it is morally wrong to “make any assumption”about a person on the basis of sex, which is something all of us, even those of us who know nothing about the science of sex differences, do every day of our lives. Bear in mind, this piece appeared in the left-wing New Statesman.

Please follow and like us: