Charlotte Hawkins brought a contentious Good Morning Britain debate to an end on Friday's show as guests clashed over school subjects and the discussion was disrupted by alarms in the background.
Charlotte and ITV co-host Ben Shephard were at the helm of the show as it came to an end for another week, and as the show was nearing the two hour mark, they discussed a statement from head teacher Katharine Birbalsingh claiming that girls don't like Physics because they're "put off by hard Maths." Looking less than impressed, Charlotte asked: "Well, is there any truth in what she said?"
As Charlotte spoke, the question 'Are there Boy and Girl subjects?' flashed up on screen and pie charts seemed to back up the teachers statement. The charts were based on the A-level subject choices for both sexes, with results showing that Physics classes were made up of 77% male students, while Performing Arts was 94%.
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Katharine, head of what is dubbed to be 'Britain's strictest school,' joined Charlotte and Ben as a guest via video call from a staff room, while leading female mathematician Professor Christina Pagel, who has a PHD in Physics. Katharine denied she was so stereotypical with her comments, but said she believed there were 'cultural issues,' as to why different genders pick certain subjects, adding: "On average girls are more empathetic, boys are more systematic."
Bizarrely, given what she said, Katharine then revealed that her entire Physics department was staffed by women, telling Ben and Charlotte: "The evidence is there to show that girls perform across the board. The fact is girls will pick English, History and Drama, while the fact is there are lots of boys who will pick Physics and Maths."
When the conversation was passed onto her, Professor Pagel said she was puzzled why things "hadn't moved on," adding that stats show that girls "out perform," boys in Maths ad Physics year after year. Homing in on what Katharine said she quizzed: "Why does empathy make you less likely to do well at Physics?"
Katharine, who'd been interrupted by her school alarms, which she described as 'pips," as students arrive, replied by saying it was "wrong," to have the idea that we needed to have 50% girls in all subjects, before host Charlotte interrupted to bring things to a close, saying: "Listen we are going to have to leave it there," before Ben joked: "Our pips are going off!"
Charlotte then delighted in confirming what Professor Pagel said about girls getting better A-level results than boys in Maths and Physics, before reading out messages from viewers which conflicted Katharine's claims.
