QuoteSo... what are other possible factors that cause so many girls to hate maths?
Short of saying "you'd have to ask them", my honest answer is that I don't know. One thing I would say, however, is that compulsory education where you don't choose what you study, you just have to do it whether you like it or not... well I don't think it's quite the same thing as education you choose to undertake. And often classes are taught to the lowest common denominator - so kids who are, shall we say, a bit smarter than the average bear... well, they feel a distinct lack of challenge and lessons are inherently unappealing to them. I mean, my maths teacher was a crashing bore. His voice was monotonous and his teaching style was akin to dragging your fingernails down a chalkboard. He did nothing to make maths fun. At all. So by the time I was done with the compulsory lessons, I figured the only way I'd be studying it further would be tied to a chair with a gun to my head.
Speaking from my own experiences of school, which are no doubt different to your own (and that's partly the point), it was actually the boys in my class which professed to hate maths. Mainly because the cool boys hated it, because they were of the "I come to school to work on my social life, not to study" types. And since the cool boys were, well, cool (apparently), the vast majority of the other boys tried to mimic this behaviour thinking it would make them 'cool' too.
Maybe that's a factor in your experiences. Peer pressure. Or maybe it's a cultural difference between countries. Or maybe celebrity culture. I don't think there's just one cause that links every single girl who doesn't like maths in school, or boys who do. I think if you asked each of those girls why they didn't like maths, they'd give you a different answer.
To illustrate, I found an article from one of the newspapers in the UK, talking about the situation over here (where I live). It made for fascinating reading and maybe you'd like to take a look at it. According to this article, the difference in girls and boys who study maths, while still marked, is nowhere near as striking as the one you're talking about. Which again may be a cultural difference or something else.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/maths-reform/9126371/Make-Britain-Count-Are-girls-really-worse-at-maths-than-boys.htmlDispite the title, the article talks about more than just aptitude. It's really worth a read.
This discussion is a prime example of why I try not to generalise and believe more that each individual is a complex amalgam of everything they've experienced, biochemistry, culture, beliefs, upbringing, those around them, emotional baggage and lord knows what else. It's fascinating to see how other people think and feel about things.
QuoteSo why did I want to learn languages, and why did I do well in them, without obvious upbringing factors? Again, it makes me feel tempted to take the "easy way out" and make that brain difference argument thing, but I want to try to consider other possible reasons first...
Maybe neurological factors
do play a part. I don't know for sure. Maybe you watched tv shows in foreign languages and wanted to learn them, or saw pictures in books of the countries associated with the languages and that instilled a desire to learn them... or maybe knowing that since you couldn't learn them at school, it would have to be something you did on your own initiative. Maybe it was a display of independence and an affirmation of growing up, taking responsibility for yourself.
As for why you did well in them. It could just be, as I suspect, that you're a highly intelligent individual.
Who knows, other than you? And that's really I guess the point I want to leave this on. That's the reason we encourage people to see a therapist when dealing with gender issues, on a one-to-one basis, so that how everything relates to that particular individual can be explored and decisions reached free from generalisations, bias and stereotypes. Issues can be explored on a deeply personal level, integrating the physical issues associated with dysphoria, for example, rather than just the mental issues of what constitutes being who you are.
The best any of us can do is theorise and hypothesise about why this or that may be the way it is. Short of getting inside someone else's head, experiencing their emotions and living their lives, that's really the best we can hope for. And while it makes for fascinating discussion, as in this case, the final say on whether someone is one thing or another lies, in my opinion, with the individual themselves.
