Math is Hard, Barbie Said

Name: Angela Chen（49712051）
Reaction Article#4
Date:10/31/2008
From :Newsweek
Math is Hard, Barbie Said
(http://www.newsweek.com/id/164523)
My Reactions:
Can we please retire the claim that boy brains are hard-wired for math and girl brains are not?
There has been a stereotype that girls have inferior math ability compared with boys. This article is trying to clear out the statement from biological point of view. According to the analysis the writer made, we can find chances are that the starkly social and other environmental forces in each country lead to the bias instead of the intrinsic biology. One may be confused if the outward force could make such a big influence on human’s behavior. Therefore, the writer also made efforts to clarify this point with dozens of scientific researches.
"Whether mathematical ability is identified depends on social, cultural and other environmental factors," says Janet Mertz of the University of Wisconsin, who led a study to discuss the math gender gap. It seems that the more emphasis the country put on the mathematical education, the better performance they did. For anyone still grasping for biological explanations for the math gender gap, consider neighboring countries with a common gene pool, such as the former East Germany and West Germany, or Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The female apparently did well in math.
It is no need to overestimate a man’s math ability, and to look down on a woman’s. Once people put prejudice on the gender, it may really affect the performance because one has expected it what will go on.(about 200 words)