Do You Know Your Boys and Girls?

     While we're on the subject of students, let's see if you can guess the sexes of these students of mine, good and bad:

1. Asked about aspirations, this freshman English major, alluding to Inferno 4, without bothering to mention Dante, says, "I want to be seventh in that academy."

2. This student, hearing in lecture about the dream-vision encounter of a father and his deceased little child, lowers the head to the desk, takes out a handkerchief, and, listening intently, does not look up again for forty five minutes.

3. This student meets a friar for the first time, who begins a conversation about the faith.  "Father," laughs the student in a wholly good-natured way, "you couldn't have it more wrong.  I'm an atheist!"

4. Two students, identical twins, plagiarize their papers -- each of them copying material from a different "friend," all of them students in the same class.  Confronted with the evidence, they deny it.

5. A student is present before class when a professor tells a politically incorrect joke, followed by a an apology and a brief but serious discussion of the Million Man March.  The student waits until final grades are submitted before writing an article in the student newspaper condemning -- anonymously -- the professor.

6. A highly intelligent and likable student disappears from school on the last week of senior year, and is not heard from again for a year and more.  The same student, exceptionally good looking, once came to on the streets of Boston, having spent two days in an apartment of someone of the opposite sex -- drugged, with only the vaguest memory of what happened.

7. Student comes to the professor to complain about 4 points on one of three exams in the middle of the semester.  When the professor explains the grading scale, the student persists in complaining.  This, despite the extraordinarily high grades given out in the course.

8. Student organizes a religious retreat for fellow students, even though the student's own faith is unsure at best.  Student visits various favorite professors to ask them to pray for the young people on retreat.

9. Student reads Kafka between classes, follows no instructions, is underestimated or overlooked by almost everybody, and writes better -- is smarter -- than almost all of the faculty.

10. Student, child of a professor, required to write an essay exam for placement in freshman English, freezes; sits for two hours and does not write a single word.

Your guesses, ladies and gentlemen?

Comments

[Oldanglican]

1. Boy
2. Girl
3. Boy
4. Boys (the twins)
5. Girl
6. Girl (This was a hard one to decide.)
7. Girl (A boy wouldn't haggle over 4 points.)
8. Girl
9. Boy (Smart but quiet type.)
10. Boy (I don't think a girl would freeze like that.)

[Beth]

Weeellll, I've seen most of these behaviors (or close enough) from both sexes, but I'll take a stab at it (though I have a feeling this is a trick question . . .):

1. M
2. F
3. M
4. M (my female twins who did this broke down almost immediately on confrontation . . . )
5. M
6. F
7. M
8. F (could certainly be M, though . . .)
9. M
10. F

[gsk]

1. boy
2. boy
3. boy
4. girls
5. girl
6. girl
7. girl
8. boy
9. boy
10. girl

[Martha]

(1) Boy
(2) Girl
(3) Boy
(4) Boys (wibbled back and forth on this one)
(5) Girl
(6) Girl
(7) Boy
(8) Girl
(9) Boy
(10)Girl

[Bobby Winters]

1. Boy

2. Girl

3. Girl

4. Boy

5. Girl

6. BOy

7. Girl

8. Girl

9. Boy

10. Girl

[Bobby Winters]

I am against the majority on (3) and (6). I present my arguments below.

>>3. This student meets a friar for the first time, who begins a conversation about the faith. "Father," laughs the student in a wholly good-natured way, "you couldn't have it more wrong. I'm an atheist!"<<

A boy wouldn't be good natured. It would be an ego thing. Growling would commence.

>>>6. A highly intelligent and likable student disappears from school on the last week of senior year, and is not heard from again for a year and more. The same student, exceptionally good looking, once came to on the streets of Boston, having spent two days in an apartment of someone of the opposite sex -- drugged, with only the vaguest memory of what happened.<<<

I know a few examples of boys like this, dating back more than 20 years.

[Stuart Koehl]

1-Male
2-Male
3-Male
4-Female
5-Female
6-Male
7-Female
8-Female
9-Male
10-Male

[Kyle Eastwood]

1. M
2. F
3. F (I'll wager Mr. Winters is correct on this one)
4. F
5. F
6. F
7. F
8. M
9. M
10.M (I've heard of this happening to smart people, esp. when they over prepare)

[Doug Drysdale]

I suspect that all 10 of these are the same person. No real idea who, but how about Albert Einstein?

[gsk]

Bobby: I see it so differently (#3). Men/boys have a way of making choices that aren't personal. Whether ego was or wasn't involved in that scenario, it was detached. If a girl were an atheist, it would be deep, it would be personal, and it would create a chip on the shoulder. If you called her on it, she would personally invest in the defense. And when she worked through her personal issues, she would work through her path to God. I find boys/men more academic about such things.

[Judy K. Warner]

Was Albert Einstein identical twins?

I don't have a clue about the sex of these students. Except

4 and 9: Boys

[David R.]

I have a similar feeling as Beth that this is a trick question. I'm going to go out on a bit of a limb and guess that they are all boys.

[labrialumn]

Most of these things have nothing to do with sex. Though some may trigger stereotypes. I'm with those who hope it is a trick question.

[Tony Esolen]

So far, ladies and gentlemen, your composite score, including Judy's two guesses, is a very impressive 52-20, or .722..... I'll let this go on for a while -- then I have a few stories to tell about the nice people in this bunch.

[dj]

1.B
2.G
3.B
4.Gs
5.G
6.G
7.B
8.G
9.B
10.G

[James Kabala]

1. Boy

2. Girl

3. Boy

4. Girls

5. Girl

6. ? In the pre-Lohan-Spears era, I would have said Boy; now I'm not so sure.

7. Boy

8. Girl

9. Boy

10. Girl

[Joseph L]

Are these supposed to be representative of sex differences? If not, there's really no way to guess.

1. F
2. M
3. F
4. M
5. F
6. Is this reverse psychology? Almost all victims of this kind of thing are women. However, I do know a homosexual male student who was drugged at a party. I'm sticking with female.
7. F
8. F
9. Is there any clue as to the sex here?
10. M

[John L]

No, I can't guess.

[Michael]

1. There's an Inferno 4? I'm going with male.

2. Male.

3. Female.

4. Males.

5. Female. (If said student "anonymously" rebuked the professor, how do we know?)

6. Male.

7. Female.

8. Female.

9. Male.

10. Having done this myself (on a calculus test), male.

[Ethan C.]

1. Girl

2. Boy

3. Girl

4. Girls

5. Boy

6. Boy

7. Girl, for sure!

8. Boy

9. Girl

10. Boy

I wonder if maybe it's a trick question, though, and they're all boys. When do we get the answers? Not too soon, I hope; this is fun!

[Ethan C.]

Yeah, Michael, Inferno 4: Flames of Vengeance, starring Stephen Baldwin as Dante and Peter Fonda as perennial franchise villain Malacoda. James Cromwell plays Virgil, but only in a flashback, because he got killed off in Inferno 3: Satan Unfrozen.

[Michael]

>>Yeah, Michael, Inferno 4: Flames of Vengeance, starring Stephen Baldwin as Dante and Peter Fonda as perennial franchise villain Malacoda. James Cromwell plays Virgil, but only in a flashback, because he got killed off in Inferno 3: Satan Unfrozen.<<

Hilarious. Well played, sir.

[Simran]

Lol.. some of these students seem pretty notorious. Maybe you should encourage them to attend the CS Lewis seminars or something of the like. CS Lewis is pretty profound and thought-provoking. It'll probably subdue them a bit!
You can lure them by saying that he's such a great author, that his books are now being put to reel coz I just recently caught the awesome trailers of the latest Narnia movie-Prince Caspian. It promises to be simply spectacular by the looks of the special effects, war sequences and the background score as well. You can watch it here- http://www.disney.in/narnia

[marie]

All boys.

[CKG]

1) M
2) F
3) M
4) Ms
5) F
6) F
7) F
8) M
9) M
10) F

Although I'm somewhat suspicious that this whole thing has a 'twist', like these are all the same person, or somesuch. . .

[Rev Dave]

1. M
2. F
3. M
4. M
5. F
6. M
7. F
8. M
9. M
10.M

#10 Sounds like something I did in high school.

[Abigail]

The only one I have a guess about is #2: a boy, because girls don't use handkerchiefs; they use tissues.

[Michael Prince]

1. Boy

2. Boy

3. Boy

4. Girl

5. Girl

6. Girl

7. Girl

8. Boy

9. Boy

10. Girl

[Nick]

1.) B
2.) G (I think it far more likely that a girl would both cry and have a handkerchief. They're almost never used now and it is more likely to be used by a girl IMNSHO)
3.) B
4.) B
5.) G
6.) G (drugged? If drunk boy...but "drugged" might be a neutral term to throw us off track)
7.) G
8.) B (the one I had the hardest time with)
9.) B
10.) G

[Tony Esolen]

Abigail,

I meant "tissue" ... but I'm not implying anything about whether you're right or wrong :)

[Tony Esolen]

More clues, ladies and gentlemen:

Student 1: Used to read Wittgenstein's Tractatus for pleasure.

Student 2: Sent professors presents of chocolate for Christmas.

Student 3: An ebullient and forceful yet cheerful antagonist in an argument.

Students 4: Used to swipe one another's ID cards to mark the absent twin as present in class, and would sometimes walk out the door immediately anyway

Student 5: Used to whisper, to a friend, about a nerdy young lady in the class, and laugh when she showed too much excitement for the material

Student 6: Perpetually late in turning in assignments

Student 7: Agreed to meet with professor to talk the matter over, then did not show up

Student 8: Would come to visit favorite professors now and then, after having graduated

Student 9: Sat in professor's office one day for 5-6 hours, reading Kant, and serving as professor's go-fer, fetching 40-50 books from the stacks as needed

Student 10: A perfectionist, not a procrastinator; always turns in papers late

[Joe Long]

1-4: boys.
5: girl - and a real piece of work she is, too.
6: boy, but atypical; you just wanted to throw us.
7: boy.
8. a sweet sincere girl, or a really, really horrible boy.
9-10. boys.

The "punchline" could indeed be "they're all boys..." - and I began to type that before reading the rest of your answers; now I feel less clever. Well, "Touchstone" is generally good for that.

[Joe Long]

No fair - I cross-posted with the hints! Now 7's a girl.

[Bob]

Sorry, I don't see how most or any of these lend themselves to gender identification.

[Kyle Eastwood]

Well it is certainly not all boys.

Dr. Esolen said we got 72.2% right last night.
And we guessed 47.2% males. (that is counting the twins as one person... that's how Dr. Esolen seemed to tally it)

Since our correct percentage is already pretty good we could make a democratic master list and tally up the votes for each guess to decide. I know-that is silly.

[Joe Long]

Well, Bob, if it were too easy, it wouldn't be fun. And if you dare guess, it's a fair indicator of your shallow prejudices (mine on display above).

[Beth]

I'm sticking with my first choices, although I could go either way with 6 more readily now; I still think 8 is female, but maybe a little stronger ambivalence (is ambivalence strong? don't mind me; I'm grading freshman essays . . .).

[cnb]

1) boy
2) girl
3) boy
4) girl
5) girl
6) girl
7) boy
8) girl
9) boy
10) girl

[Nick]

Some of these are really difficult. The hints have firmed up my conclusions on some and weakened them on others. I'd be shocked, however, if (1) was a girl. I just can't imagine anything but a boy picking that place. One, Two, Three, and Five seem like sure things.

[Oldanglican]

From the additional clues, I revise my list as follows:

4. Could be either though I think twin girls might be more prone to this.

6 & 10 I'm beginning to think they're the same person, a boy.

7. Could be either.

[Janet]

1. Boy
2. Girl
3. Boy
4. Boys
5. Girl
6. Girl
7. Girl
8. Girl
9. Boy
10. Girl

Have you ever noticed how weird Girl looks when you type it 6 times?

"Well it is certainly not all boys. Dr. Esolen said we got 72.2% right last night.
And we guessed 47.2% males. (that is counting the twins as one person... that's how Dr. Esolen seemed to tally it)"

OK, now was that written by a girl or a boy?

AMDG,
Janet

[J. von Enthullung]

1. B
2. G
3. B
4. Bs
5. G - only a female student would have (1) the immaturity required to hold a grudge for so long and (2) the gaul to slander a professor without the (dare I say?) bollocks to identify herself.
6. G
7. G - a boy wouldn't get out of bed for anything less that 15 points, and even then it's questionable.
8. G
9. B
10. G

[Stuart Koehl]

So, when is Tony going to show us what's behind Door Number One?

[windmilltilter]

OK, I'll bite. (Though I may have the inside track on a few of these...we'll see how I do)

1) Boy --(heck, it could have been me...I don't know any girls who would want to join a bunch of dead classical poets (all men at that) for all eternity...though I do know one or two guys.

2)Girl --I used to know a girl like this at PC. (Dr. E, I'd be curious to know if it was her...she of the extraordinairy hats, dramatic talent, and quick and kind wit.)

3)Boy--I think GSK nailed it

4)This pair could be girls or guys...Odd that these students seem most "gendered" when they perfrom actions that betray some virtue, but that in vice, they are far less distingishable...

5)Girl-- I think a boy would have either A) retold the joke, or B) forgotten it in the following discussion.

6)I'm leaning Girl

7)Girl-- This seems to be the one that splits most people...

8) Boy, for sure--(actually this boy seems...familiar...)

9) Boy--Kafka and Kant wouldn't be enjoyment reading for almost anybody...but I think this sounds more like a brainy boy overlooked because he colored outside the lines, than a brainy girl, who I'd imagine would have better taste in philosophy.

10) Girl-- (If the test was on Swedish culture, would she have done better? )

[Bob]

Joe said: Well, Bob, if it were too easy, it wouldn't be fun. And if you dare guess, it's a fair indicator of your shallow prejudices (mine on display above).

I agree that it's not fun if it's too easy, I guess, but there simply isn't sufficient information to make anything like a real guess, prejudicial or not. I like to think I have some ideas about the differences between boys and girls, but the list just doesn't lend itself at all, even in the least way, to any real differences. As far as I can see, people are just playing the game because it's there and coming up with reasons to fit random answers, some of which will end up being right, and then we'll all nod sagaciously at the differences we think we've found that aren't really anything like the real differences probably.

Hate to spoil the party and all, but that's how I see it.

[James Kabala]

The further clues confirm my original impressions. I have a little more doubt about 4. What is the sex distribution of original twins? I assume there must be equal numbers of boy pairs and girl pairs, but for some reason ones I have known tend to be girls. And identical girl twins seem more likely to be best buddies and go to the same college, while identical boy twins seem more eager to differentiate themselves from each other. So for that reason, I will stick with girls, but either sex could be capable of the perfidy described.

Joe L.: I interpreted "drugged" as meaning high out of his/her mind, but voluntarily; if it means involuntarily slipped something in his/her drink, then you are right and it definitely is a girl.

[James Kabala]

P.S. Like Windmilltilter, I think I might know who the girl in Number Two is. (I might also know the boy for Number One, for that matter.)

[Joe Long]

#2: but a boy unshamed to weep in class WOULD carry a handkerchief, as a Victorian throwback like the rest of his personality. (And that's a compliment, of course.)

[barlow]

perfectionism is the cause of quite a lot of procrastination...

they are probably all female...

[dj]

nothing in the clues to change my original post. I stand fast. But I reserve the right to try to weasel about when the answer is posted.

[dj]

windmill tilter said, "4)This pair could be girls or guys...Odd that these students seem most "gendered" when they perfrom actions that betray some virtue, but that in vice, they are far less distingishable..."

If I may kindly disagree with this observation. (and by doing so betray even more loudly, my own prejudices) I think that their vices identify them as well or better than their virtues.

[barlow]

Might be more fun to guess the majors! I always have pre-health majors asking for better grades so they "get into medical school"

[Wonders for Oyarsa]

1. Inferno 4: Male, much more likely to be a guy to joke about Hell.

2. Tissue: Female, absolutely - more likely to show public emotion, and definitely more likely to have a tissue.

3. Atheist: Male, more likely to compartmentalize and joke about serious debates.

4. Cheating: Male, I would guess more likely to cheat in general, and certainly more likely to refuse to lose face and admit wrong even when confronted with hard evidence.

5. Newspaper: Female, more likely to avoid direct conflict.

6. Drugged: Female, I can't imagine that many women drugging and abducting men.

7. Complaining: Female, only because every person I have known like this to nitpick over grades has been female.

8. Retreat: Male, again, only because I know someone like this.

9. Kafka: Male, more likely to be consumed in free time by a single subject - especially philosophy.

10. Freezes: Female, I would imagine a guy would be less of a perfectionist, but am less confident here.

[Janet]

I think it's interesting that Joseph asked about #9, "Is there any clue as to the sex here?" because it's the only one that is unanimously one sex (male).

AMDG, Janet

[Janet]

Bob, There must be something more than guessing going on here because all but one of the categories has at least a 2/1 ration and half of them have better than a 2/1 ratio. It will be interesting to finally see the correct answers.

AMDG,
Janet

[Bob]

Sure, it just means that people have the same misconceptions about easily idenitifiable gender differences?

[Tony Esolen]

OK, guys, here they are. Some could have gone either way. I'll tally up the results ... I think Bobby came closest, 9-1. Somebody else got 9 of 10; a student in my office got 9 also, but that doesn't count, since he was one of the nine:

1. Male. That combination of emulation, honor, and cockiness I've seen from only a handful of students, all of them boys.

2. Female. I actually had to look away while she was weeping silently, or she'd have got me going, too! One of the finest human beings it has ever been my privilege to know.

3. Male. I agree with a couple of the commenters here. Young men will sometimes boast about being atheists, without being belligerent about it. Young ladies who lack the faith will often still go to church once in a while, but be functional atheists otherwise. I don't know if I've ever met, at least at my Catholic college, a young woman who blurted out that she was an atheist. A follow-up to this story: the young man in question went on to meet a few people, including Milton and Dante. He is now a novice in the Dominican Order. Deo gratias!

4. Males. Real bullies, too. About 80% of my plagiarists have been boys. I will admit that my worst plagiarist, a long time ago, was a girl -- who plagarized twice, and who then got her mother to harass me over the phone when I caught her. The honor court at school expelled her for the violation -- or maybe suspended her for a year, I can't remember.

5. Female. No comment.

6. Male. This could have gone either way -- it was the one with the most wrong guesses; in fact, it was the only one, I think, that more than half chose wrong. I have had one, possibly two, female students who have suddenly disappeared in the last weeks of senior year. But in my experience it's mostly young men who fall prey to these massive acts of self-destruction. I can start naming them, one after another... Usually the self-destructers are bright, too. An added twist to this case: when he came to in Boston, he had no wallet in his pocket, either. Now he has gotten himself together, and is serving his nation bravely.

7. Female. Almost all my grade-grubbers, and I mean well over 90%, are girls. It can be really discouraging.

8. Female. This too could have gone either way. The key is that it takes an act of utterly un-self-conscious generosity to ask professors to pray; it is a thing that most boys would be too shy to do. I guess I know several young men who have the faith who would do it, but if they didn't have the faith, they probably wouldn't. Most of my flat-out generous students have been girls.

9. Male. The overlooked genius, the one who goes his own way, is almost always a boy, from what I've seen. The girls follow directions and the grades follow. At least, that is what my experience has been.

10. Female. This could have gone either way...

[Bobby Neal Winters]

90%--Not bad.

[Beth]

Interesting, Tony. This has made some interesting thinking for me the past couple of days, mulling over the behaviors I've observed over twenty years of teaching.

5. I have seen a number of young men recently do the anonymous attack thing . . . maybe it's a deal at my college where they are feeding off each other. Also it looks "cool" to pretend that you are afraid of the administration punishing you for speaking out openly, even if nothing could be further from the truth . . .

6. I would have said boy automatically till recently, and waffled on this one a lot -- but I've seen several girls self-destruct in similar ways recently . . .

7. I wonder if this has anything to do with the professor's gender, too? I have almost never had a girl nit-pick grades with me, but boys sometimes do, and are incredibly rude and angry about it. I've even had a male colleague intervene once when a male student called me a liar in front of a whole class; although I dealt with it as best I could, it was the last straw for my department head, who had been monitoring the young man's treatment of women in authority over him. He told the student that if he ever showed me disrespect again he would be kicked out of the major, and that actually did solve the problem. Funny how it's easier for a man to put the fear of God in a young male than for a woman to! :) I shall ask my male colleagues what their experience has been; off-hand, it seems to me their complaints along this line *have* usually been about girls.

[Bobby Neal Winters]

So, Beth, you made a 70% and are arguing with the teacher. TSK!

[Beth]

:)

[Martha]

80%. I picked the wrong ones for Nos. 6 and 7.

No. 6 really surprised me - I'd expected it to be a girl, when it came to "drugged" and "opposite sex"; I have never heard of a woman drugging a boy like that. But, as James said, it depends on whether it was something slipped into the drink or whether the boy was persuaded to voluntarily get high.
Also, girls often will throw it all up for a 'love of their life', so that seemed to me to fit with the leaving in the last week of senior year and not being heard from again - intelligent, so it wasn't bad grades or exam failures that caused the disappearing, and likeable and good-looking, so that seemed to indicate a romantic entanglement.

No. 7 I expected to be a boy, since competitiveness and higher evaluation of own intelligence and ability, and thus expecting commensurate results, seem to be more typical of boys :-)

[Tony Esolen]

The scores, counting my student in the office, and not counting second guesses, and not counting people who thought it was a trick question:

1. (M) 21-2
2. (F) 16-7
3. (M) 18-5
4. (M) 15-8
5. (F) 21-2
6. (M) 8-15
7. (F) 19-4 (giving Joe his immediate revision)
8. (F) 14-9
9. (M) 22-1
10. (F) 13-10

Now that's interesting. Basically, everybody identified, without much ado, the Dante emulator and the quiet Kafka reader as boys, and the poison pen as the girl. Other correct answers over 70% were the boy atheist and the girl complaining about grades. Hovering at about 2/3 correct were the boy plagiarists and the girl lover of poetry; slightly above 60% was the girl retreat organizer. The really tough one was 10; I don't know how I'd have answered; as it turns out, you all scored .565 on that. I also don't know how I'd have answered 6. My guess is that plenty of boys are, technically, raped, but as long as it isn't by another male they don't care too much about it. Well, he was pretty shaken up, but obviously he didn't have to worry about pregnancy.

The total score was 167-63, far, far above any margin of error -- basically, impossible to arrive at by dumb luck. It's a .703 average. Take away the question of the kid who was drugged, and the score rises considerably, to 162-45, a really ridiculously high .783 percentage. Take away the lowest and highest scores, and we have 140-44, or .761.

It seemed easier to guess the boys than the girls, but I think that was entirely on account of the kids I happened to think of.

[Roger Cleofan]

"9) Boy--Kafka and Kant wouldn't be enjoyment reading for almost anybody...but I think this sounds more like a brainy boy overlooked because he colored outside the lines, than a brainy girl, who I'd imagine would have better taste in philosophy."

Be careful---not all women have better taste in philosophers. Simone de Beauvoir, after all, had a taste for Jean-Paul Sartre, and most female philosophy students have an affinity toward militant feminist doctrines. Let's not equate liberalism with good taste here---you show me a female student who will kiss the toes of Aristotle (without any promiscuous teleology of looking up his robe), or be swept away by awesome deluge of Plato with more sincerity and passion than a male...well sir, I will knock down my king and declare, 'Behold! I am in checkmate!'

[windmilltilter]

80%...Off on 6 and 8

DJ,
For those numbers which had to do with virtue (roughly 1,2,3,8,9,and 10) you guessed correctly 6 out of 6 times. I guessed correctly 5 out of 6 times (missed #8)

For those questions which unambiguously had to do with vice, 4,5,6,and 7, you guessed only 1 out 4 (the nitpicker) while I guessed 2 out of 4 (counting my answer for the twins as incorrect).

It seems it was easier to pick the virtues out after all.

Now, before anyone gets squeamish about how I chose my criteria for "virtuous" and "vicious", let me explain. 1, 3, and 10 seem at first glance perhaps to show vices or at least insufficiencies, but I'd argue that #1 shows a healthy, if naive ambition, based on respect for the achievements of the greats of the past...#3 demonstrates the brash openness which actually reveals an honest pursuit of truth. He wants combat, because he wants to be proved right, or proved wrong. And #4, hardly a vice, but perhaps not even an insufficiency...the desire for perfection, and the demand for the best from herself.

When people act as they ought, they act as men and women, displaying themselves truly as sexed beings. However, when they do not act as they ought, often it is because they are immitating the vices of the other.

[CKG]

I got 8/10; slightly 'above average', strictly by the numbers. . .

I missed Nos. 6 and 8. #6, probably because I've known two women who 'disappeared' from college, and no men. In both cases, it was a kind of 'running from their problems' thing that I don't think of in quite the same way for young men. The 'sex-and-drugs' angle didn't weigh as heavily in my thinking as perhaps it should have.

I have known a very 'altruistic' young man who would have done pretty much what your young woman from #8 did - solicit prayers raised to a God of whose existence he himself wasn't fully certain. . .

[Joe Long]

Missed 2 and 10; I was sure 2 had to do with Falkneresque "father issues", and I knew a boy who "choked" in a fashion quite similar to 10.

That we got most of these right says...something. If a different group got most of them wrong, we could claim "Touchstone" afficionados are more in touch with human nature; if most groups actually got most of them right, we could say that everyone "deep down" understands sexual differences better than they might admit in public.

If "Touchstone" readers fell below-average, we could berate Dr. Esolen for his flawed quiz.

[Bob]

Joe, whatever happened, I'm sure the result would be those sagacious nods I mentioned and the conviction that this exercise actually revealed anything at all.

[Michael Prince]

I failed my sexes! (Wasn't that an Ed Wood movie?)

[Tony Esolen]

Bob,

Why so grumpy? The sexes are different. If I said, "I saw a five year old turning a ladle into a catapult," and you had to bet $100 on boy or girl, and you were assured I had only reported something I'd chanced to see and was not trying to trick you, wouldn't you bet on "boy"?

Odds that at least 22 of 23 people randomly select any "right" answer of two possibilities: 23/8388608, or about 1 in 364,722. I think we all knew that the overlooked Kafka reader was a boy. If I said, "Person A is in jail for burglary," you'd say, "Man," and you'd almost certainly be right. If I said, "Person B can play, mentally, 50 chess games simultaneously," you'd say, "Man!" and with only one exception I know of, you'd be right. If I said, "Person C has thrown a surprise 50th anniversary party for Mom and Dad," you'd say, "Woman," and you'd almost certainly be right. Stereotypes get to be stereotypes because they serve as shorthand for reality.

And, to quote Chaucer, let's not make earnest of game.

[Bob]

I agree, the sexes are different. Thank goodness they are. Absolutely agree about stereotypes, too.

Not so much grumpy as bemused because it just didn't seem to me that most of the examples lent themselves to identification on anything but a guess. Hell, maybe I'm wrong. It just didn't seem to me like there was enough info in the instances as there is in the examples you just gave.

(Susan Polgar?)

[Wonders for Oyarsa]

Not so much grumpy as bemused because it just didn't seem to me that most of the examples lent themselves to identification on anything but a guess. Hell, maybe I'm wrong. It just didn't seem to me like there was enough info in the instances as there is in the examples you just gave.

I'm confused, Bob. You didn't see how one could figure out the sex of the various examples, but on average people did indeed figure it out, so therefore you're mad at the game? Sour grapes?

[Francesca]

>>(Susan Polgar?)<<

I expect he's thinking of Judit, although Susan and Zofia Polgar, along with other women grandmasters, could certainly handle 50 game simuls. And let's not forget Yifan Hou, who is already rated 2,549 at the age of 14.

[Ethan C.]

2 out of 10. And I was the lone wrong answer on #9, and one of just two on #1. That'll take me down a peg!

To do so badly, I must have been overthinking them. I likely would have done better to just flip a coin. Well, it's the first quiz I've flunked in quite some time. :)

[Nick]

Don't fret Ethan, an 80% on the rather limited information is quite good. And it places us in the same boat.

[Bobby Neal Winters]

Ethan,
Don't fret. I've seen hundreds of students over the last 19 years. Life is the best teacher.

Bobby

[smh]

Saw Tony Esolen's test. Thought he might do really badly on it, so didn't take it because he didn't have to: Boy: me. While there were a few to which I immediately said, "female," about half of them I couldn't decide, although with more data, I might have taken the leap. And I will be frank that to some of these, my growing-up experiences would prompt me to ask about the person's ethnicity before I would ask about his sex--and this may be verboten even in the Touchstone context.

[James Kabala]

I would be actually curious to hear Mr. Hutchens's theories on the ethnicity of the students involved. (Although Dr. Esolen might be unable to confirm on deny the theories; even last names would be relatively little help since so many people today are mixed.)