European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 6, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday february 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 men women now reasoning together by Thomas h. Maug los Angeles times san Francisco differences be tween men and women in mathematical and spatial reasoning ability have declined almost to Zero researchers report. Marcia Linn professor of education atthe University of California Berkeley and psychologist Janet Hyde of the University of Wisconsin Analysed hundreds of studies of sex differences and reasoning ability conducted during the last 20 years in adults and children. They found that men s verbal proficiency has been increasing to match that of women while women s ability on mathematical tests has been increasing to match that of men. The differences Are now so Small Asto be negligible Linn told a meeting of the american association for the advancement of science. We should de emphasize this  parents and teachers Are apparently not Urban schools need teachers report says Washington a America Surban schools face serious and growing teacher shortages particularly of minority instructors but Cash Short school districts Are launching innovative programs to at tract and retain their teaching staffs according to a recently released private study. We want to make Clear that although the needs of Urban areas Are critical the situation is not without Hope said the report from the Council of the great City schools. We Are moving ahead with or without the additional funding because we cannot afford to  the study teaching and leading in the great City schools said teacher Short Ages Are four times higher in Urban areas than elsewhere in the country and could quadruple by 1992 in the biggest cities. Shortages of specialized and minority teachers Are particularly severe it said. For the 45 Urban districts included in the study 70 percent of students were minorities compared with 32 percent of the teaching Force. The sad truth is that most new teach ers would rather teach anywhere other than a Large City the study said. Blac teacher education students possess no More inclination to teach in Large cities than White  part of the problem is that salaries in other areas Are catching up with City districts which were once higher paying it said. The Council a coalition of 45 of the largest Urban school districts in the coun try seeks to promote improvements i education through research legislation advocacy and special projects. Doing that however. In a paper schedule for later this month psychologist Jacque Lynne Eccles of the University of coloradoan Boulder will report on a 10-year study in which she found that both groups offer far More encouragement to boys to learn Sci ence and mathematics. Parents of boys think it is important to encourage their child s interest in technology Eccles said. For girls unless they initiate an interest in the subject on their own parents Don t make an Effort to encourage  Linn and Hyde s study flies in the fac of a growing body of experimental Evi Dence in animals that differences in exposure to hormones before birth Are responsible for men s enhanced aptitude absolving problems involving spatial reasoning such As picking out a simple Fig ure embedded in a More Complex design. Only two months ago Canadian re searchers reported that these sex differences increased and decreased on a monthly Cycle corresponding to fluctuations in blood Levels of the sex hormone Strogen in women. That study has since been widely criticized by women s rights groups who fear that its conclusions willbe used to keep women out of Many High level jobs. I Don t know if my results Contra dict that body of evidence but what the certainly suggest is that in general there is a decline in cognitive gender differences and therefore that an important part of the variance in cognitive ability is probably a result of experience or other influences on performance Linn said. But actually i Don t think the data Are very Strong in that area. There have been some studies that suggest relation ships Between hormones and performance but they Are difficult to do an there s an awful lot of error involved in those kinds of analyses. I Don t think they Are yet  their study Linn and Hyde used a relatively new technique called Meta analysis that allowed them to Combine data from a Large number of different experiments. Doing so they found that the differences Between men and women on tests of various types of verbal and reasoning skills had typically declined by two thirds or More since the Early 1970s. In All cases except one the trend is to Ward no gender differences Linn said. The one exception involves the ability to rotate objects mentally. The tests continue to show a Large advantage for Menin this ability she said. The convergence of men s and women s scores on tests was apparent on All tests but one the Scholastic aptitude test or sat in mathematics. That test which is taken by High school senior preparing for College continues to show a 42-Point advantage for males on a scale that ranges from 400 to 800. Is Dave Didio we Brucken High school senior Dianne Cannon 17, tiring of a conventional Reading position finds it s More comfortable to stretch out under her desk. The daughter of col. Charles and Karen Cannon is working on an assignment Given out by her creative writing teacher Don Nukala. The student s fascinated expression appears to indicate that the novel she s Reading Isan assignment she enjoys completing. Project seeks to give kids healthy fear of guns by Jonathan Franklin new York times in a lethal version of show and Tell students Are increasingly bringing guns to elementary school and accidentally maiming or killing classmates. While school districts nationwide grasp for solutions officials in Dade county Fla., unanimously approved the nation s first comprehensive gun aware Ness program. Rocked by the deaths of 39 county residents under the age of 19 last year the Dade county Board of education decided to teach students a new lesson. Simply put we Are conveying the message that guns Are bad they kill said James Fleming associate superintendent for communications and manage ment services. Fleming described a typical Case where an 11-year-old girl found a gun brought it to school to show friends and it fired hitting somebody in the  Bill Harris a safety supervisor for the Dade schools said children Are finding guns under pillows under the bed Between the pillows on the night stand All places they should t  in setting up the program Board of education officials rebuffed the National Rifle association an organization that opposes virtually All gun control Laws when it offered to provide gun safety literature. The Era material said Fleming makes it seem perfectly Normal to have a gun in the  the Dade county program is based on the recommendations of a task Force of teachers police chiefs and parents that was formed last Spring after officials noticed Sharp Rise in the number of youths killed by firearms. The initial stage of the program declared dec. 9 As unawareness Day for the 281 Public schools in Dade county. Using video monitors intercoms and classroom discussions teachers and principals attempted to instill combination of fear and respect for guns. Our Little 6-year-Olds go Home and almost All know there is a gun in their Home said Robert Kalinsky principal of the 1,200-student Douglass elementary school in Overtown Fla. Ronald Henry a teacher at Douglass believes his third Grade students have a healthy fear of guns. Many of them have seen the result of a gun he  a father an Uncle or a brother is no longer in their House As a result of a  sought to leave his 5 to 8-year-old Stu dents with a simple but somber message just say no to guns. He began the Day with a talk on the dangers of guns and held a school wide moment of silence for Dade county children killed by firearms. It was interesting to see Little children quiet he said. You got the impression they understood the seriousness of  the program seeks to convince parents that guns at Home Are an inherent danger to children. Some schools directly confront parents at every Opportunity other schools such As Douglass encourage children to Edu Cate their parents