School Defied Google and US Government, Let Boys Program White House Xmas Trees
theodp writes This holiday season, Google and the National Parks partnered to let girls program the White House Christmas tree lights. While the initiative earned kudos in Fast Company's 9 Giant Leaps For Women In Science and Technology In 2014, it also prompted an act of civil disobedience of sorts from St. Augustine of Canterbury School, which decided Google and the U.S. government wouldn't determine which of their kids would be allowed to participate in the coding event. "We decided to open it up to all our students, both boys and girls so that they could be a part of such an historic event, and have it be the kickoff to our Hour of Code week," explained Debra Knox, a technology teacher at St. Augustine.
I only have my own personal anecdote, but I was the top boy in my highschool class by far. That didn't even get me into the top 10% of my class, though, since the top 10% were all girls. I think the only other boy in the honor society was a boy from the next year's class but I can't remember. (I know who the next highest boy in the school's ranking was but I don't remember whether or not he hit the cutoff for honor society.)
This was during the 90s in a public high school, so it wasn't like the population was simply unbalanced. This is hardly a new problem. Our education system simply doesn't engage with boys and hasn't for years at this point.
If you want links, though, it isn't hard to find them:
Itâ(TM)s Time to Worry: Boys Are Rapidly Falling Behind Girls in School
How to Make School Better for Boys: Start by acknowledging that boys are languishing while girls are succeeding.
Education: Boys Falling Behind Girls in Many Areas (Paywalled, so I have no idea what it says)
Those were just the top results on Google.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Dont forget the elephant in the corner, which is is OH so fashionable to ignore.
Who is teaching our children?
Really, especially in younger education, go and look at the male/female TEACHER ratio.
Any women claim they are unfairly treated in education? BS. They ARE education now, if they are unfairly treated it is by themselves.
It is boys that are getting hammered, by a even increasing demand of a feminised education system for them to conform to feminine standards.
Want equality? Show me the push for more men in teaching!
The "climate", as you use the term, is a big problem, and it worried me when my kids started school. We chose to send them to a private primary school (neo-humanist), and get involved. I've been a classroom helper with specialised tutoring in IT and making/editing videos, helping out in the cafeteria, etc for 11 years now, and my youngest child has just finished there.
I took a big cut in annual income to be able to work the sort of hours that allowed my participation, but it's brought the benefits. My kids are fit & healthy - the cafeteria doesn't carry junk food, period - it's all freshly made, and although lunches from home are encouraged, they have to meet certain standards - no packs of crisps, no "muesli bars", no packaged sweets, no cup noodles, etc. The kids are allowed bare feet, allowed to climb trees, and swim in the creek at the school. The local public high school teachers that these kids end up with have consistently praised the amount self-reliance and maturity of kids from this school.
I'm also well-known to the teachers, staff & other parents (especially the others that are into participation), and that's a valuable reputation. I've never had problems with parents leaving their children here for sleepovers, and vice versa - I trust my children's friends' parents. The seventh-grade teacher (female) once left me alone in charge of the whole class for an hour while she went home to collect some materials she'd forgotten.
Get involved, people - even it you have to take a pay cut to do it. Change the climate, and start with yourself.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I've seen zero indication it's for any reason beyond a lack of interest on the part of females
That's certainly true by the time that you get to university level, but the important question is why? One of my hats is to be responsible for computer science admissions at an all-women Cambridge college. From what we see from international applicants, it's pretty clear that there are cultural factors putting off women in the UK and US from the subject. We're losing out on some of the top talent because something is putting them off even considering the subject by the time they're 14-16 years old (applications are at 17, but A-level selection is at 15-16 and that's strongly influenced by GCSE choices at 13-14).
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
uh, yeah, i've had extensive elite education in STEM, in the US. it's mostly a sausage fest. statistics will back this up and, no, they're not fabricated by teh feminist conspiracy.
i have to conclude that anyone who's bitterly complaining about women having taken over STEM is just a delusional loser who probably just couldn't hack it.
The Veterinary field might be a better example of female dominance. And amazingly enough, that dominance is blamed on men being sexist discriminating pigs.
http://www.justvetdata.com/mee...
http://veterinarybusiness.dvm3...
But wait, if 80 percent of veterinarians are women, is it the men (who are claimed to be "running away from female dominated fields" somehow responsible for the lower pay and greater debt of the 80 percent? Jesus Christ, if 8 out of ten people in a room are female, at some point you might try not blaming the 2 guys for every problem. Better stop at 99 percent so you'll have at least one guy left to blame.
Something doesn't quite compute. One might be able to make an alternative speculation that a lot of women simply do not like men.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.