Comments on Gordon's Notes: Does earlier menarche explain the growing girl-boy...

But recall that we are talking about mean biologic...

2012-01-12T14:43:37.587-06:00

But recall that we are talking about mean biological development. If there is indeed a process which is speeding biological development in girls but not boys, that process is not affecting all boys and girls equally.

So it may be true that at age 12, most boys are less developed biologically than most girls. However, these would be distributed on two (presumably normal) curves with a

That's a very thoughtful response, but I think...

2012-01-11T21:07:10.360-06:00

That's a very thoughtful response, but I think it missed the key point. It's primarily speculative by the way, I'm mostly curious.

I'm thinking in terms of biological ages.

Consider a boy and girl both born 7/1/1959.

In 7/2/1971 they are both biologically 12.

Now consider a boy and girl born 7/1/1989.

In 7/2/2001 the boy is

It is very hard to separate out the issue of physi...

2012-01-11T16:42:33.482-06:00

It is very hard to separate out the issue of physiological development from the literal time element in this context. It is true that the oldest students in a given grade are also likely to be the most academically successful (I've heard of studies to this effect). This follows them throughout their school career.

It is most likely that this due to an initial benefit in the first

Looks like WV worked a bit! I know you meant boor...

2012-01-07T22:58:11.556-06:00

Looks like WV worked a bit!

I know you meant boors. I must say though, that uneducated boars is a fantastic visual image. My son is more the boar type.

Yes, yes, yes, if the point of school is academics...

2012-01-07T22:00:05.773-06:00

Yes, yes, yes, if the point of school is academics, and my experience is that few folks have my values (at least where I live and worked), repeating, if the point is the academics, then by all means a single sex institution. I taught it what was likely the very last public girls school. I wish like h*** I'd had the resources to get my two younger daughters into all girls school. So far