Girls & Math: How It Works

by getp • 18 years ago

11 11 18 years ago

Here at myState University, the math department operates close to gender parity, with maybe a slight majority of women in the Applied Math concentration. Engineering is a total sausage-fest.

Which is funny, if you think about it, because engineers only need to know so much math.

I'm not even going to talk about physics.

ivankirigin• 18 years ago

CMU undergrad CS routinely checks the "people named dave" to female ratio. It used to be greater than one. My year at CMU's robotics institute had 3 Daves and 5 women.

edw519• 18 years ago

I assume a school as reputable as CMU has already accounted for the "woman named Dave" scenario.

imsteve• 18 years ago

Engineers needed to know more math where I went to school.

I'm sure the mathematicians among us may disagree with my definition of "math."

tptacek2• 18 years ago

No insight. Just a restatement of the problem. I'm no more knowledgeable about the bias against women in engineering, and I'm not laughing.

fake• 18 years ago

It's a comic. You know that, right?

tptacek2• 18 years ago

No. That's my point.

byrneseyeview• 18 years ago

Talking about Girls & Math: How It Works:

Say, roughly, (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/01/17/summers...) "Women are rare in mathematically demanding fields. This is a problem I want to solve, so I'd like to talk about the cause. Maybe it is because they are discriminated against. Maybe it is because women have other priorities than men. Or maybe it's a reflection of what we see in standardized tests -- that there is more variance in male skill." And be told that you said "Girls are bad at math."

I'm glad this is one of those issues so complex it takes a stick-figure comment to say something about it that is both accurate and noncontroversial.

wallflower• 18 years ago

Engineering is hard. Doing difficult homework problems is not fun. I only know a few engineers who were regulars on the college party circuit. The women in my engineering school (who were the minority) were smart and liked engineering.

Girls & Math: How It Works

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