Achievements and Aspirations among Boys and Girls in High School: A Comparison of Two Israeli Ethnic Groups

Two important attributes that tend to interact with achievement in determining an individual's status are sex and ethnic group affiliations. Accordingly, it was hypothesized that achievement and aspiration differences would be found between the sexes within different ethnic groups in society and that in some cases there would be a sex-ethnic origin interaction, meaning that gender differences would vary by ethnic group. After controlling for socioeconomic status (SES) and ability, social sex roles and the process of identifying with them were expected to explain the differences between boys and girls in achievements and aspirations. Such differences were found in the discontinuity of girls' achievements in high school (teacher evaluations, grouping and tracking, getting into the academic track, number of school years-all girls' advantages) and their early status attainment as it is expressed in cognitive achievement and educational and occupational aspirations at age 17-18.