Academics Lopsided Toward Girls

AP courses dominated by male students are now a thing of the past at SVHS. In recent decades, female students have outnumbered male students in almost all offered AP courses. 

In many severe cases, classes can be seen with a female to male ratio of approximately 3.5 :1. 

AP Chemistry teacher, Ms. Weiner stated “the ratio for my own 5th-period class is heavily skewed with 12 of my 17 students being female.” 

Classes focusing around liberal arts such as AP Literature, AP Language, and AP Art Studio to name a few, have only a handful of male students, some with numbers ranging from 5-7. 

A study conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California claimed that “female students in California tend to have stronger high school records and greater rates of college attendance and completion than male students do.”

This rise in female enrollment  in Advanced Placement courses at the high school level has translated directly into college as many universities have seen a student population of around 60% female. 

Junior and senior level AP courses have seen the extremes of this trend, with many of these classes even being close to 75% female. 

Mr. Tierney, AP Government and Economics teacher, mentioned the trend is “painfully evident and is a continuation of a shift that [he’s] seen over the last decade since he has been teaching.” 

Overall, female students in California, specifically SVHS, are doing well. AP courses are seeing a continual increase in female student enrollment, while boys now tend to fall short of the mark.