The uprising of women

The trend is clear: highschools become more feminine. In Zurich 60% of baccalaureates in 2007 were female, while 20 years ago the ratio between women and men was 50:50. Victor Lavy from the university of Jerusalem and Anlia Schlosser of the Princeton University conclude in their study that the "climate of learning" becomes better the more girls sit in a class. Upwards of a 55% ratio of girls the performance of all kids significantly increases. Researchers agree that this is not because girls are more intelligent, but because of their more adapted behavior. Boys are more aggressive and confrontational, rather than seeking harmony. In short, they are more exhausting for teachers. In addition the curriculum is focussed on language skills, which suits boys less. Such classes make up 40% of today's curriculum, while mathematics and natural science classes only account for 30%.

Source: Tages Anzeiger Special - 175 years of Zurich highschools, page 5

Whether this fact is a "result" of teaching being more and more a domain for women, while in the medieval times it was predominantly one for men, could be an interesting field of research. But I believe that over the course of 20-30 years, there will be an adjustment to bring this figure back to "equality", as for instance Zurich's education council now demands that going forward chemistry, biology, physics, history and geography have to be graded individually again.