Scientist: 'Immature boy brain causes educational disadvantages'
For boys, much can be gained if education takes their brain development more into account, according to neuroscientist and psychiatrist Iris Sommer, who wrote the book 'The women's brain', among other things. The often immature brains of boys cause educational disadvantages, especially around the seventh grade, says Sommer.
Image: Techniekbeeldbank.nu
You make the link between the male brain and the early selection of children in the Netherlands?
“Before the physically visible puberty - with, for example, breast development in girls and muscle growth in boys - brain maturation takes place. Boys do this on average three years later than girls, when they are 14,5 years old on average. ”
With the result?
“With a mature brain, you learn to organize your schoolwork, look critically at your own behavior and control impulses. Boys often do not succeed in doing so, and this is reflected in their educational results. They are more likely to stay put and the number of boys who leave school without a diploma is much higher than the number of girls.”
At the same time, the final test and first grade take place early in the school career.
“For boys, that is on average too early. Skills such as planning come in handy from seventh grade."
If you treat absolutely equally what is in fact unequal, you actually promote inequality
Have you already told the education ministers?
“It has been known for quite some time that female and male hormones influence brain development. We just prefer not to talk about it. Women have come such a long way from emancipation to achieving, or approaching, equality that it is almost taboo and politically incorrect to name the differences. But if you treat exactly what is in fact unequal, you actually promote inequality.”
Like with that brain maturation?
"Yes. Another difference is that the female brain is on average two ounces lighter than the male brain. The female brain also contains fewer brain cells, but there are more connections between those cells. These differences do not affect intelligence, however. I see the male brain as a kind of American sled and the female brain as a European car with a powerful engine.”
What do teachers need to know about women's and men's brains?
“Sex hormones influence a person's motivation, interest, personality, in areas that are important in education via the brain. Knowing more about that can help you better understand your students. Note that this is not a binary system. You always have guys with a lower than average male sex hormone, and girls with more testosterone than you see on average in women.”
In primary education, most teachers are women. Does that still have a link with the brain?
“No, I think that really has to do with the status and salary of the profession. Unfortunately, you see the same mechanism in medicine. A traditionally male profession is feminising and that brings the status down.”
Do you also link the fact that women still do not opt for technical professions en masse to the brain?
“When a fetus is exposed to large amounts of testosterone in the womb, which usually happens in boys, they become more interested in technical things as children: bridges, cars, planets, airplanes. Women can be just as good at technical subjects, of course, but in the Netherlands we don't choose a profession primarily on the basis of what we are good at, but on the basis of what we like. That preference is partly determined by your sex hormones, even before birth.”
What profession does the female brain tend to?
“Low testosterone before birth makes relationships, communication and grooming important and fun. This applies to both women and men. In that respect, the profession of teacher may be a good fit.”
In the autumn of 2021, research by qompas, a company that specializes in career development and study choice, that the popularity of VMBO school subjects is strongly related to the gender of the students. Read: 'At VMBO, boys do technology and girls do creative things, at HAVO-VWO, students choose less according to gender' from the Volkskrant.
