Boys are not so good at English when there are girls in their class, a research student said. This finding disagrees with the widely held belief that girls always have a good influence on boys in school.
Boys do best with as few girls as possible in English lessons at primary and secondary schools, Steven Proud, a research student at Bristol University, told the Royal Economic Society’s conference.
But when it comes to math and science, both boys and girls at primary schools achieve up to a tenth of a grade higher when there is a greater percentage of girls in the class, Proud found.
Proud kept a record of boys’ and girls’ test results at the ages of 7, 11, and 16 in 16,000 schools in England. He studied the test scores to see whether the percentage of girls made a difference to the results of both boys and girls in math, science and English.
Boys always perform worse when the number of girls they study English with increases, which is especially the case at primary schools. Proud also found that girls are unaffected by the number of boys in their English class.
Proud said boys may do worse in English when there is high proportion(比例) of girls in their class because they think that the girls are better than them. It could also be that teachers use teaching styles more appropriate(适合) to girls when there are more girls than boys in the class.
Proud argues that his results show boys should be taught English in single-sex classes.
However, Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, said, “Boys may be discouraged by how well girls are doing in English, but you can’t say that it means boys and girls should be separated. It has very little practical importance to schools.”

Theme	Boys may do ___ in English in a class with a higher percentage of girls.
Widely held _________	Girls always have a good influence on boys in school.
Proud’s ______	When there are more girls	both boys and girls at primary schools perform better in math and _______.
When the number of girls _____.	boys perform worse in English
When the number of boys changes	girls aren’t _____ in an English class.
Possible _______.	Boys think that the girls are better than them. Teachers use ______ styles more appropriate to girls.
Proud’s suggestion	Boys and girls should be taught English in ____ classes.
Alan’s opinion	Don’t _______ the boys and girls.