[Edu-sig] Thoughts?

[Douglas S. Blank]

I'd like to see the data that the article uses, especially for the sciences,
and computer science, specifically. I teach computer science at an all-women's
college. We haven't seen a jump in any enrollment statistics. Although we did
have a general enrollment decline (like most colleges/universities did) after
the tech-pop, and also after 9/11/2001.

I would be very hesitant to link these stats to changes in the way we teach
computer science. For one thing, most of the research doesn't advocate
teaching a topic in a "girl-centered" way, but rather teaching in a more
inclusive manner. That would include making assignments and examples
accessible to all. 

For another thing, I don't think most people in CS have changed the way they
teach. I have heard too often that schools "don't have any gender issues",
because *they don't have any women in their CS classes*.

I don't know what Art (and his ESP) have in mind when making his general
criticisms, but my colleagues and I see Python as being an instrument to make
computing more accessible---to everyone, and that the status quo of how we
teach CS needs some serious revision.

For further information, I suggest taking a look at Margolis and Fisher's
"Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing". Also, you might enjoy a short
article on "Patterns of Curriculum Design" and other ramblings at:

http://dangermouse.brynmawr.edu/publications.shtml

-Doug

ajsiegel at optonline.net said:

> 
> From: Marilyn Davis <marilyn at deliberate.com>
> Date: Saturday, December 4, 2004 1:45 am
> Subject: [Edu-sig] Thoughts?
> 
> > 
> >
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=742&e=1&u=/usatoday/20041203/cm_usatoday/paycloserattentionboysarestrugglingacademically
> > 
> 
> 
> My thoughts?
> 
> I would like to use the information - if nothing else - to quiet talk of
manipulating programming/math educational curricula to better appeal to
women/girls.
> 
> Those kinds of efforts and that kind of thinking was yesterday's academic
flavor of month, and at least partly responsible - in my mind - for the
statistics you cite.
> 
> That being another thought - my objection to the article is only to the
extent it gives credit to the "report" and the "small group of experts". Other
reports and other small groups of experts had formally concluded much about
the male-dominated nature of the curricula and the vital need for reform on
this score.
> 
> Why to someone like myself, without an agenda, was it clear that this agenda
was overstated, and likely to lead to more "injustice" than it corrected.
> 
> This *is* political.  And the antidote is unfortunately too simple to be
taken seriously. To trust more our senses (I think we have more than 5 of
them).  And trust less the small group of experts.
> 
> Another thought is more controversial and more dire - that the "girl"
friendly curricula to which we have evolved is a seriously inadequate
curriculum on the merits, irrespective of the issue of the gender to which it
better appeals. But it will take many years to reverse and correct where good
intentions and the experts have brought us.
> 
> Art
> 
> 
> 
> > struggling academically
> > 
> > Fri Dec 3, 6:17 AM ET
> > 	
> > Op/Ed - USATODAY.com
> > 
> > Girls are taking the nation's colleges by storm.
> > They're streaming to campuses in greater numbers,
> > earning better grades and graduating more often. The
> > same phenomenal success shows in high schools, where
> > girls dominate honor rolls, hold more student
> > government spots and rake in most of the academic
> > awards.
> > 
> > So says a just-released report from the U.S.
> > Department of Education (news - web sites).
> > 
> > Impressive. But the real news is tucked into the
> > deeper, darker corners of the report. Boys are doing
> > miserably, and nobody knows quite why. On measures
> > ranging from writing ability to the likelihood of
> > needing special education, boys are flat-lining - or
> > worse.
> > 
> > The phenomenon is most serious in inner cities, but
> > it's evident in even the wealthiest school districts.
> > And it's not confined to the United States. The same
> > trend is turning up throughout the industrialized
> > world.
> > 
> > The impact could hardly be overstated.
> > College-educated people earn twice as much as high
> > school graduates. If boys can't get to the good-jobs
> > starting line, which these days is a bachelor's
> > degree, they won't get a chance to use their natural
> > competitive skills in the marketplace.
> > 
> > And when fewer men earn college degrees there are
> > fewer partners whom educated women find desirable to
> > marry. That's a debilitating social phenomenon
> > African-American women have struggled with for years.
> > 
> > The problem has already grown so severe that three out
> > of every four private colleges (an informal estimate
> > from admissions directors) quietly practice
> > affirmative action for boys, favoring them over girls
> > in admissions to get near balance.
> > 
> > Yet for most educators - from kindergarten on up - the
> > problem is invisible. Any teacher looking for national
> > research that might define classroom solutions won't
> > find any. They don't exist.
> > 
> > The small group of experts who research the problem
> > only now is beginning to trace its outlines.
> > 
> > It isn't so much that schools have changed in ways
> > that hurt boys. It's that society has changed in ways
> > that help girls.
> > 
> > Increasingly, success requires verbal skills, which
> > everyone agrees come more naturally to girls.
> > Industrial-age jobs that required minimal verbal
> > skills are disappearing, replaced by information-age
> > jobs that range from filing insurance claims to law.
> > Even in technical fields, verbal skills are at a
> > premium. An auto mechanic or TV repairman now needs to
> > master complex technical manuals.
> > 
> > School reformers eventually spotted the need and
> > reacted strongly, setting standards and writing tests
> > that demand verbal skills. The SAT and ACT required
> > for college applicants, for instance, now have an
> > essay component.
> > 
> > This puts boys at a huge handicap, and schools haven't
> > begun to adapt.
> > 
> > One hint of the inadequacy can be found in research
> > done by Michael Gurian, author of Boys and Girls Learn
> > Differently. He surveyed the course offerings of
> > schools of education throughout the country. His
> > discovery: 99% of universities and teacher colleges do
> > not offer a course on the biological differences
> > between how girls and boys learn. So teachers enter
> > classrooms unprepared to turn boys into successful
> > readers.
> > 
> > Other factors also come quickly into play, setting off
> > a downward spiral that looks something like this: At
> > home, dads read to their daughters and throw footballs
> > to their sons. In elementary school overwhelmingly
> > female teaching staffs naturally teach in ways that
> > connect better with girls. Fidgety boys are quickly
> > defined as suffering from reading disabilities. In
> > middle school, teachers - still unattuned to the boys'
> > disadvantages - take no action to correct swelling
> > reading gaps.
> > 
> > That brings boys to the pivotal ninth grade, the first
> > year when they run up against the heavily verbal,
> > college-track curriculum that school reforms demand of
> > most schools. And the boys flounder.
> > 
> > The trend holds through the remaining school years:
> > Girls shine; boys fade.
> > 
> >         
> > 
> > Some responses suggested by researchers appear easy.
> > Assign boys books that they find more appealing, for
> > example. And bring them along gradually, so they don't
> > quit.
> > 
> > But in the end, the problem runs much deeper. It
> > surely won't be fixed until educators first come to
> > see that it exists.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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> > 
> 
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-- 
Douglas S. Blank,       Assistant Professor         
dblank at brynmawr.edu,          (610)526-6501
Bryn Mawr College,  Computer Science Program
101 North Merion Ave,  Park Science Building
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 dangermouse.brynmawr.edu