Do more redheads fail math than students with other hair colors?

Answer 1

There have been a lot of claims that this physical feature or that affects intellectual ability, and maths in particular. Some claim that race matters, gender, head size, body size, you name it.

Now, let's ignore things that really can matter, such things as undiagnosed and uncompensated problems with hearing, sight, health in general, and education and upbringing. All the things that can affect your learning and thinking. No one would be surprised if a blow on the head, or chronic lead poisoning messed up your maths or reading or anything else that needed brainwork, would they?

But a lot of studies that have looked at such things as skin colour and so on affect maths scores. The general effect has been that social factors have a greater effect than any of the others. For example, in communities where learning is seen as sissy or geeky, or where "sexy girls have no brains" and so on, children don't want to do well at maths. But apart from that there is too little effect to matter; perhaps none, for all we can tell.

Two of the smartest maths pupils I have known were a very pretty pair of blonde twins. Two other top scorers were red-headed sisters. Another one that springs to mind as being memorable was a brunette, and another had mousy hair. No baldies, I must admit, but you don't find many of them in high school anyway... And that is not even counting kids who dyed their hair!

You want to know who scored best in general? The ones who took pride in doing a good job, who were interested in life and in doing well, who had the guts to face up to a challenge.

They had hair of any colour you can think of, and every texture.