I had a discussion about this with a friend recently. She linked me to this: http://scienceblogs.com/purepedantry/2008/07/math_performance_in_the_us_boy.php h

I had a discussion about this with a friend recently. She linked me to this: http://scienceblogs.com/purepedantry/2008/07/math_performance_in_the_us_boy.php http://scienceblogs.com/purepedantry/2008/07/math_performanc... Of particular note: "The present study also indicated that the variance ratio for boys and girls is inverted for Asian American students -- the girls have higher variance. Thus, higher variance in boys is not always a robust finding." I can't speak to the significance of this, it being way out of my knowledge, but if true it certainly suggests something strange is going on.