Girls dominate Canada science fair; boys don't show up

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090515.wlfair15/BNStory/lifeMain/home

by sethg • 17 years ago

8 14 17 years ago

This can be a really difficult issue to discuss. I have a theory as to why this is happening, but I think it would inevitably be misinterpreted as being sexist (against females).

I'd also guess I'm not the only one thinking along these lines.

Edit: Well, OK, here goes...I am not at all 100% sure of all this, but it appears females, on average, have more respect for societal measures of prestige than males do. Now that females are more empowered to do what they want (which is great) they're chasing after the generally accepted indicators of prestige of the past and present. School awards, doctors, lawyers, college degrees in general, and in fact credentials of virtually any type are all seeing a dramatically increased female presence; in same cases females are starting to outnumber males entirely. Since credentialism was a mistake to begin with, as it slowly erodes (both because of males starting to choose not to go down the path of credential-seeking and thanks to the later results of that - i.e., as more and more people without credentials do well, credentials become less important) people are going to notice that females are "overrepresented" in many areas where credentials are emphasized. Credentialists[1] (who are usually the ones quoted in the media) will see this as a problem, when it's really a sign of the decline of credentialism.

This is a trend that will probably take decades to play out. But you can already see the signs. There was an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education recently about how going to grad school to study the humanities is a disastrous choice today, and it is now overwhelmingly women who are making that choice. That's just one of the more obvious examples.

Who knows, maybe this is a one-time phenomenon that has resulted from female empowerment, and it won't happen again?

I don't think I did a very good job of explaining myself here, but I'm a little rushed so I'll try to elaborate on it in the future.

[1] People who tend to believe in or support credentials.

oz• 17 years ago

Please, let us hear it. The world has enough political correctness to deal with.

russell• 17 years ago

Go for it. A thoughtful comment is welcome. I dont think it is as simple as girls trying to please teachers. These kids are putting in far too much effort for that to be the motivating factor. Or is it that fairs are biased towards bio rather than physical sciences and math? I wonder how a mathematical proof would even be evaluated.

johnnybgoode2• 17 years ago

oz and russell, I took your advice and updated the original comment. I agree that it's not as simple as girls trying to please teachers - it goes beyond that.

marcusbooster• 17 years ago

'Cause the boys are on the computer.

abstractbill2• 17 years ago

Would a computing project not be accepted as a submission in a science fair?

TriinT• 17 years ago

Except that they may be shooting virtual martians with their plasma guns instead of doing anything "productive" ;-)

axod2• 17 years ago

Can "the differences between men and women in tech" be added to the things that aren't useful to discuss/post?

It's becoming the 'politics' of HN.

abstractbill2• 17 years ago

I think it's a somewhat interesting topic, but this article was full of unfounded speculation, and very light on real content unfortunately.

axod2• 17 years ago

Sure. I'd be interested in scientific studies, analysis of male/female brain differences etc - real data - hard facts. Having said that, I still think it's a bit of a toxic subject.

Dilpil• 17 years ago

It is an interesting topic to hear other HN users discuss, though the articles in question are generally pretty horrible.

But that is really the point of HN. So many topics are interesting, and lack thoughtful discussion. HN is where I come find that sort of thing.

pg• 17 years ago

No, but I'll add "blanket proposals to ban discussion of certain topics" if you like.

xenophanes• 17 years ago

OH MY GOD the ratio shifted from 55/45 to 44/56. IT'S SO UNEVEN!!

ansostuhmieng• 17 years ago

Why would you ask Person A why Person B is not interested in a particular subject matter? Why not just go ask Person B?

Is there a good reason for this approach that I have missed? It seems to be a popular approach, but I don see the value in it. Anyone able to enlighten me?

Girls dominate Canada science fair; boys don't show up

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