Girls Smarter Than Boys? (II)

I've written exactly a year ago on the matter of girls being smarter than boys. Then, it was noted that from 1995 to 2005, the number of women in public universities is 472,279 (59.2%) compared with men 326,024 (40.8%). But given some recent articles on the same matter recently, I thought it was worth a revisit. The ratio of girls to boys entering university is now so bad, that for every 7 girls, there are only 3 boys. What exactly is happening? Are men going extinct?

How are our politicians and academics reacting to this phenomenon?

MCA secretary-general Datuk Ong Ka Chuan had this piece of advice for the boys:

Study hard to achieve excellent results or you may end up cooking and washing clothes at home for your family.

Ouch. Like that's going to happen though. They are probably more likely to end up in the streets peddling pirated DVDs.

More recently, there was an interview with Professor Dr Mohamed Yusoff Ismail, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) on the same topic. Now, his views certainly deserve some brickbats and rotten tomatoes – but they are absolutely hilarious. Here are some of the funny bits.

On why are there more women in universities?

Women are more obedient by nature. They are more serious and less playful in school. Men, on the other hand, are more rebellious. Men suffer from the Oedipus complex — they rebel against authority... Men are also easily distracted by other activities such as racing, karaoke and smoking.

Err.. hmmm. And why do women perform academically better?

With our current education system, women are destined for academic excellence from the first day they start school. Women are just so much better at rote learning and memorisation.

Boys can’t be bothered. Our system does not encourage critical or analytical thinking, which boys are better at.

I nearly died reading that! What sort of caveman mentality is that? Also, something which many will find equally disagreeable,

Women also think better under pressure. Thus, as they are usually better prepared for exams, they just perform better. Men panic more when it comes to exams.

Huh?! And Professor Dr Mohamed Yusoff Ismail's sociological theory on our education system's bias toward women is equally mind-boggling.

...the demographic factor indicates an Amazonian orientation in society. In schools, this is reflected by the fact that most of the teachers and principals are women. Such an atmosphere is very conducive to younger women. They feel more secure.

Some women also tend to be more prejudiced against males — this is an Amazonian concept. As such, in the case of teachers, they tend to favour the female students. So the females are given more encouragement and tend to excel. Of course, the females are usually easier to handle.

What?! Here's some more juicy stuff:

Some highly-educated women actually find men a nuisance. Furthermore, did you know that in rural society, as men get older, they lose their importance and their control over the families? The women start making fun of them when they reach that age. I can’t say for sure, but I think in the Malay society, this happens to men when they reach the age of 60.

Amazing! Did he do an academic study of 200 Malaysian Malay male specimen aged 40 to 80, and a regressive analysis of the surveys conducted to determine that men lose it when they reach 60? Or is he just feeling a little too hen-pecked himself? Hey, if you read between the lines when he gets queried on whether women who are strong would find it harder to get married, that might just be the case!

If I were born again, I wouldn’t get married. I tell my sons not to get married. There are many problems that come with marriage. It is unfortunate that women who choose not to marry get so much more attention than men who do not marry.

Speechless.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.


Footnote: In my most recent round of recruitment exercise, I interviewed 14 girls and hired 5 of them. The 3 guys who were shortlisted decided that the interview wasn't worth their time. Not only are there more girls in the universities today, they are performing academically better as well! If I was guilty of hiring disproportionately higher number of girls before with my recruitment methodology, then I think I deserve the death sentence in my most recent recruitment exercise.