of this behavior shouldn't be attributed to the patriarchal/male-dominated=
environment that our children grow up in? That same Newsweek article also=
notes:
Blame (a) culture (b) family (c) schools (d) all of the above. Little boys =
are expected to roll around in the dirt and explore. Perfect training for l=
earning to use computers, which often requires hours in front of the screen=
trying to figure out the messy arcanum of a particular program. Girls get =
subtle messages-from society if not from their parents-that they should kee=
p their hands clean and play with their dolls. Too often, they're discourag=
ed from taking science and math-not just by their schools but by parents as=
well (how many mothers have patted their daughters on the head and reassur=
ed them: "Oh, I wasn't good at math, either").
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators [mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.=
EDU] On Behalf Of Marty Billingsley
Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 8:21 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Girls avoid "techie stuff"?
There was a Newsweek article on this topic in the mid-90s that stuck
in my mind, so I looked it up again. The first section is the
standard research stuff about girls avoiding technology -- memorable
to me mostly because it profiled research done by my grad school
advisor. The second section, a personal essay, really hit home to me,
a female software engineer. It's called "Men Want to Force Computers
to Submit. Women Just Want Computers to Work"
Here's an excerpt:
"It was on e-mail, in fact, that I [the female author] described to
Ralph [her techie neighbor] how boys in groups often struggle to get
the upper hand whereas girls tend to maintain an appearance of
cooperation. And he pointed out that this explained why boys are more
likely to be captivated by computers than girls are. Boys are
typically motivated by a social structure that says if you don't
dominate you will be dominated. Computers, by their nature, balk: you
type a perfectly appropriate command and it refuses to do what it
should. Many boys and men are incited by this defiance: "I'm going to
whip this into line and teach it who's boss! I'll get it to do what I
say!" (and if they work hard enough, they always can). Girls and women
are more likely-to respond, "This thing won't cooperate. Get it away
from me!"
"Although no one wants to think of herself as "typical"--how much
nicer to be sui generis-my relationship to my computer is-gulp-fairly
typical for a woman [she likes it for the communication possibilities
it offers]. Most women (with plenty of exceptions) aren't excited by
tinkering with the technology, grappling with the challenge of
eliminating bugs or getting the biggest and best computer. These
dynamics appeal to many men's interest in making sure they're on the
top side of the inevitable who's-up-who's-down struggle that life is
for them. E-mail appeals to my view of life as a contest for
connections to others. When I see that I have 15 messages I feel loved."
There are plenty of girls who do, indeed, break this stereotype, but
as a sweeping generalization, the idea that girls don't like computers
because they don't cooperate has helped me become a better teacher to
those girls.
Background article begins here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/133594
Essay begins here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/133594/page/8
- marty
--
Marty Billingsley
Department of Computer Science
The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
"Poole, Aeronia" <apoole@MADEIRA.org<mailto:apoole@MADEIRA.org>> writes:
>
> I didn't see Stephanie Oberle's email link, but I am curious to know
> what the gender ratio is to student participants of TV production
> crews.
> I recently attended a conference that had an 8th grade production
> crew.
> Of what looked like about 10 students, 1 was female. A colleague
> commented that girls just don't show interest in the techie stuff. Do
> you all find that true?
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