Valedictorians reverse gender gap

The Oregonian
Betsy Hammond
June 3, 2004

Across the Portland-Vancouver area, 71% of the students in the class of 2004 who earned the grades necessary to be honored as tops in their class are girls. Susan Bailey, executive director of the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), attributes much of this success to an increased level of attention to girls’ participation in math and science, as was called for by WCW's 1995 report How Schools Shortchange Girls. Now, however, it is the boys who need to receive that same level of attention to help them succeed in school. "When we said girls don't get enough encouragement to do the same things boys do, everybody understood that. It was seen as a move up for girls. But when we say our boys should start doing the same things girls do, it's seen by many as a step down. Skills that girls have ought to be seen as good skills for boys, too."

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