[quote]Boys are much more likely than girls to be influenced by where they stand in ability in school, research suggests. A study from the London School of Economics indicates being seen as a high flyer in primary school, regardless of actual ability, can be a strong motivator for boys' performance in secondary school. Boys were "four times more affected by being top of the class than girls". The study was based on results of more than two million pupils in England. The research, from Richard Murphy and Felix Weinhardt, examined how much pupils might be affected by comparisons with others in primary school and how these perceptions might become a factor in raising or lowering confidence. It found that pupils benefited from being top of a weak class, rather than being middle ranking in a class of high-performing children. "We find that the pupil who was top of the class becomes more confident and performs better in secondary school than the pupil who had the same test score in primary school but a lower rank," say the researchers. And they say that this challenges the "conventional wisdom" that pupils will do better if pushed into a higher-performing peer group.[/quote] Guys excelling against their peers thrive and have a confidence boost? Gee who would have guessed, I imagine these guys failed to learn the history of our species. Men are always fighting for dominance against other males, to stand out and they obviously excel when they are the top dog. Lowing somebody's confidence gets you no where.