I've been reading a lot about gender-specific education initiatives. A group of 10 year-old boys responds well to baseball analogies, a group of 10 year-old girls are called "honey" and "shining stars". As a result, test scores go up, and participation in after-school activities does as well. "Whatever works" is the general motto. How sad.
In 4th grade, we sat in groups of 4-5 students. Our groups changed periodically, and while co-ed, I'm sure our teacher tried to balance rowdy kids with the so-called "conscientious" types. For a few weeks, I sat next to Jean-Claude. He listened to Guns 'N Roses and liked dirt bikes. We had nothing in common. But within a few days, I knew the names of all the band members of GNS and he thought making pioneer dolls for art class was "cool". Our grades didn't change one way or another, but our attitudes did.
Years later, my senior year of high school, I reluctantly gained a few male acquaintance friends who weren't in my regular math club group. They were smart and also in my AP Calculus and AP Physics classes, but they weren't deemed "gifted" in the humanities, so I didn't know them as well. Sometimes they smelled, and often they discussed the military, which is still a topic that doesn't particularly interest me. Yet somehow we bonded in our resolve to not study for math tests. We would finish our calc homework in class, because after one or two examples, we understood the concept of the day and got bored. We pushed each other. When we spoke about the subject matter, it was about why the answer was "x" and not "y". When my female friends in class called me for help, it was all about memorizing formulas, or memorizing example problems step-by-step. I'm sure some of them thought about the theory behind the formulas, but none of them would actually talk about math that way. In the end, the girls' method was more full-proof. They rarely made careless mistakes, unlike me and the boys. The girls got the higher grades. But I gained more confidence about my intelligence hanging out with the boys than if I had gotten the top grade on every test. And I think a couple of the boys improved their math grades.
In the working world, I agree that women do deserve some "special treatment". Maternity leave, lactation rooms, these are important and necessary. But acknowledging gender differences doesn't mean they have to be emphasized/exaggerated. Especially when we're talking about young minds.