Learn English – How to degender “separate the men from the boys”

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How can one degender the phrase "separate the men from the boys"?

Examples of how this phrase has traditionally been used:

Math teacher: "The ability to do proofs of this type is what separates the men from the boys in this class."

What has occurred to me so far:

Parent, talking about relative merits of several different possible independent special education evaluators: "It's the training and experience with the specific disability that's going to separate the men from the boys and the women from the girls."

Has anyone found a more concise way of degendering (is that a word?) this expression?

How about something of the form "separate the serious from the __________"? In place of the blank, hopefully a word similar to "dabblers."

I need a phrase that doesn't show disrespect for the folks who are not up to doing the difficult proofs, or who do not have training and experience with the specific disability.

Best Answer

In addition to Jacinto's answer, you can also avoid the human element altogether and use a phrase like:

Math teacher: "The ability to do proofs of this type is what separates the wheat from the chaff in this class."

The Free Dictionary describes the phrase as meaning:

to separate what is useful or valuable from what is worthless; to choose what is of high quality over what is of lower quality

In response to the OP edits:

You're going to have a hard time finding an answer that doesn't slight those that don't stack up (at least on some level) because your original phrase "separating men from boys" places a measure of disrespect on the "boys", essentially calling them weak, immature, and less macho.

Any equivalent phrase, no matter how degendered, will place some level of inferiority on the, ahem, inferior.

At some point, you have to step back and look at what you're trying to say. If you're trying to say that a certain process weeds out inferior special education evaluators, the men/boys or wheat/chaff expressions fit nicely. If you're trying to encourage a student, letting them know that this task will be difficult without placing inferiority on those that don't catch on, you probably shouldn't be making a "separates this from that" comparison.

I'd instead go for something that focuses more on the victors rising to meet the challenge or the challenge itself. These immediately come to mind:

Math teacher: "Learning proofs of this type is a real trial by fire."

or

Math teacher: "The ability to do proofs of this type is what determines the cream of the crop."

or

Math teacher: "The crème de la crème in this class will be able to do proofs of this type.

or

Math teacher: "For some of you, learning this type of proof will be your crucible."

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