So, China and India force women to be geeks? And -- the solution is for us to *force* women to take more math by making everyone take more math?!!? I'm a little perplexed as to why, in a free society, this would be a good thing. Isn't this the intellectual equivalent to "busing"?
I think you're looking at it the wrong way. I went to public school in Florida, which is pretty near the bottom of the list in educational quality. The highest level of math I had was geometry. I went to a pretty decent private college but graduated taking nothing higher than Finite Math, word-problem type stuff. I've never even touched calculus. Even though back then I was glad to wriggle out of math requirements, I now have the feeling I short-changed myself. I hear people from other countries talking about taking calculus at incredibly young ages. Here's the really interesting part: ----------------- "Broad cultural support for equal opportunity is also not a good predictor. None of the study's highest-scoring nations _ Turkey, South Korea and Ireland _ the authors noted, is particularly known for gender-egalitarian attitudes or practices. "There is no doubt that collective beliefs that men are naturally 'better' at maths and science are major factors that influence women's choices of college majors _ and determine the climate in maths and science programmes worldwide," Charles said. "When we emphasise choice and hold up self-realisation as an educational goal, girls will often freely choose poorly paid, female-typed fields of study that are in line with a conventional feminine identity and stereotypes about what girls are good at," she added. ---------------- Aside from a few geniuses, most of us don't just leap into doing what we love and become incredibly good at it... there's an element of coercion from parents, school laws and the overall economic environment. On the Asian side of my family there's not much talk about doing what you love, fulfilling yourself as a person through studying, etc... you study because you have to, no choice, period. I think this study points out that women, just like men, are essentially lazy and will take the path of least resistance when offered the choice.... just like I did when I skipped out on taking any advanced math or science courses. It also makes sense as a roadmap to increasing U.S. strength in the sciences. Simply raise standards for as much of the country as possible, and make more math and science content mandatory... and this means better public schools! By the time people start college it is practically too late. You'll get more men in the sciences and a LOT more women.
I think it's the chafing from the pocket protectors. I can't tell what they want. I disagree with them in the penultimate quote but have no problem with what's in the ultimate quote.
Oddly enough.... After years of colleges trying to push more women into computers they are still outnumbered by men in CS and IT programs. However, I work for a state government and the exact opposite occurs in our upward mobility programs. Many if not most of our very large female IT staff are graduates of the UM program. I guess it is because they realize only after the fact the advantages offered by the higher IT salary.....
Once upon a time a Russian MD (a woman) told me that the majority of MDs in the Soviet Union (this is 'the old days') were women because the more prestigious occupation was Engineering. More women would have pursued engineering careers if they were allowed to do so. They became MDs as a second choice. My point is that it probably has a lot to do with some fairly complex cultural contingencies. Jack
I think that strengthening math requirements in secondary school and college general ed is a good thing and I support it strongly. One reason that lots of students avoid the sciences and engineering is because they perceive themselves as bad at and clueless about math. If the US wants to maintain its technological edge, it has to address that problem, and soon. Pumping up the math requirements might help get a lot of students over the hump and on to the point where they start feeling confident and even fascinated. But I'm not sure if requiring all students to take more math will result in the percentage of women in the scences and engineering increasing. It's possible that there are more males than females among those who would like to major in impersonal subjects that focus on inanimate objects and their abstract relationships, but presently feel intimidated by all of the calculus.
Maybe. But freedom and opportunity are huge factors in innovation. Many (perhaps most) of our great inventions didn't come from the brightest in their fields.
