Back up academic gap with proof

I am a rather typical man. Rather extroverted. Good at mechanical manipulation. Drawn to sporting activities.

My wife, in many ways, is a typical woman. More inward. Good with numbers. Drawn to more purely intellectual pursuits.

Our daughter, now 6 years old, shows every sign of being like my wife. Very focused and patient. Not as physical or spontaneous as boys her age. I would much more expect her to become a physicist than, say, a mechanic. But this is just anecdotal evidence of the “natural” difference between the sexes. Even I, just a bus driver, know to qualify my statements.

Of course there are differences between the sexes. Of course those differences guide our development in subtle yet definite ways. But if one is going to make definitive statements or implications, as letter writer Judy Kessinger did (“Harvard president points out reality,” Jan. 27) that link these differences to the academic achievement gap in our colleges, one had better have definitive studies to back up such statements. You’d think the president of Harvard would know that.

If anything, it seems to me that women are more suited to purely intellectual pursuits and perhaps someday, under optimum conditions, may far outnumber men in tenured academic positions.

After I fix the car, I’ll ask my wife to do some research on the matter.

David Lambert

Everett