i find it very curious that in my greek class, the boys far outnumber the girls. it's a difficult language, and the enrolment numbers have always been small, but this makes it all the more surprising that there should be 7 boys in a class of 10, given that women are supposedly better at languages, and that as far as i can see there are about equal numbers of both sexes in the major. as majors have a choice of concentrating in either latin or greek, 200 level greek classes are optional. anyone who is here then presumably chose to be here. furthermore, judging from last semester, the boys are doing far better than any of the girls, some of whom, myself included, were/are struggling to keep up. outside of class i have not yet met a woman who has said she favoured greek over latin, though she may be equally proficient in both, but i have met a number of men who emphatically prefer greek.

i wonder why this is so, and whether the ancients have got something when they said that greek was the most rational and civilised language and women, as we well know, are irrational and defective creatures. however, the victorians, men and women, could read both greek and latin fluently, although writing greek without accentuation, i am told, was referred to derisively as "lady's greek", by someone famous.

why aren't there more girls in my class?