Thursday, August 25, 2016

Gender difference in circadian rhythm?

Which is the better learner in school, men or women has been discussed for many years, mostly to lead to a dysfunctional argument.

In real, it seems that girls are more adaptive and good students. They have better marks in school than boys. Nowadays, women are more likely to go to university than men in some developed countries.


These facts do not mean that women are better at school learning. In elementary school ages, girls grow up faster than boys. Therefore, they become more serious to commit the class, and can learn more things at the class. On the other hand, the higher rate of entering university in women may suggest the difficulty to get a job. Perhaps, women need a higher grade of education to earn the same money as men.

Recently, another hypothesis was suggested. According to economists at the University of California, women are productive than men on the morning. They conducted an experiment in which students began a class on the afternoon instead of the morning. Then, boys showed higher performance, whereas girls had no changes. It means that boys cannot adapt the early morning class. The researchers concluded that men's circadian rhythm is longer than women's, and therefore women are resistant to sleep deprivation.

Independent: Girls do better than boys at school because they’re morning people, study suggests

This is an interesting experiment. The result is consistent with my personal experience. Boys are likely to be late for school despite some girls are suffering from hypotension. And women seems less likely to get a jet rug.

However, it is not sure that women are proven to be morning people. It is possible that women have a better ability to adapt a new environment than men. It may be difficult to be accustomed to the class whose opening time is altered every month. To testify the difference in circadian rhythm, "alone in the cave" experiment is preferable, besides the ethical issue.

Finally, gender difference is not so eminent compared with the interpersonal difference, in my opinion. The personalized curriculum is profitable rather than gender specific programs.

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