Are Boys or Girls Smarter?

 Boys are smarter than girls for many reasons. There are articles and topics that support this. Some have to do with tests taken by both sexes, and others deal with the physical features of both males and females.

            Firstly, men have larger brains. According to an article by Jeanna Bryner, after comparing body sizes the average male has a bigger brain than the average female by almost 100 grams. Rushton, a researcher, did an intelligence test on 17 and 18 year old students. He averaged each gender’s score on the SAT and in the end, men averaged 3.6 points higher than women. Another test was planned by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. The researchers looked at different parts of the human brain and found that men have a greater proportion of brain tissue that is used to transferring information.  These tests have proven that men’s brains are made for interpreting and transferring information better than women.

            According to the national ACT website, in Missouri, males do better than females overall when taking the test in 2008. The ACT is divided up into four different sections; math, science, reading, and English. While females do better in reading and English, men do better in math by 1.3 points and better in science by 1.1 points. Men’s total score also averages .5 points higher than females. The same pattern shows nationally too. Throughout the entire nation, the average male has a total score .2 points higher than females. Also, in math 48% of males meet the college benchmark while only 37% of females meet this in the math category. In science, 36% of males fall into the college benchmark category and only 26% of females do. These results haven’t just been in 2008; from 1999 to 2004 males have averaged .2 points higher than females on the ACT.

        All in all, there is not enough conclusive evidence to support either side of the debate. While females do better in reading and English and males do better in science, math, and slightly better overall, this is not enough to prove which gender is smarter. Though males also have larger brains and are built differently from a female’s, just one test can’t determine who is smarter.