Funny, and it points directly to the actual issue.
As a female and a minority computer scientist (non-Asian, by the way), I find the article both intriguing and disappointing. I understand the dilemma - it is a real one. But promoting CS while leaving out a major component is a mistake. The goal is not to dumb-down the curriculum, but to catch the female's interest.
Females are loosing interest at an earlier age because a stereotypical CS is a male figure who has no social skills, unclean, and very awkward as you clearly pointed out. Regardless of what anyone says stereotypes do make a BIG impact. As someone who has been stereotyped many times in many ways, whenever someone finds that I don't fit their stereotype, they are genuinely very surprised. Honestly, that's to be expected. In many ways, I actually enjoy smashing people's stereotypes. Women have enough stereotypes to deal with in the first place (whiny, overly-sensitive, freaks of nature...). Some just don't feel like putting up with anymore than they have to. Those of us in the field already either don't care or have already learned to adapt and handle those who have the stereotypes.
I believe the answer is more successful female computer scientists and engineers showing how they live their lives and how much they enjoy doing what they do and what they can accomplish with the knowledge that they have. The answer is not to let people believe that programming is not a major aspect of CS. It is a major aspect - one that has many rewards.
The point in all of this should be to show people that being a nerd can have some awesome and fulfilling results without being stinky and anti-social. There are females nerds out there - I'm one (and I smell pretty good). We need to work on not making them feel more out of place than they already feel. It's not a problem with CS. It's the PERCEPTION of those who are in CS. Thank God we did not all have the aforementioned CMU experience... RedHat Rocks!!
Slashdot Mirror
Funny, and it points directly to the actual issue.
As a female and a minority computer scientist (non-Asian, by the way), I find the article both intriguing and disappointing. I understand the dilemma - it is a real one. But promoting CS while leaving out a major component is a mistake. The goal is not to dumb-down the curriculum, but to catch the female's interest.
Females are loosing interest at an earlier age because a stereotypical CS is a male figure who has no social skills, unclean, and very awkward as you clearly pointed out. Regardless of what anyone says stereotypes do make a BIG impact. As someone who has been stereotyped many times in many ways, whenever someone finds that I don't fit their stereotype, they are genuinely very surprised. Honestly, that's to be expected. In many ways, I actually enjoy smashing people's stereotypes. Women have enough stereotypes to deal with in the first place (whiny, overly-sensitive, freaks of nature...). Some just don't feel like putting up with anymore than they have to. Those of us in the field already either don't care or have already learned to adapt and handle those who have the stereotypes.
I believe the answer is more successful female computer scientists and engineers showing how they live their lives and how much they enjoy doing what they do and what they can accomplish with the knowledge that they have. The answer is not to let people believe that programming is not a major aspect of CS. It is a major aspect - one that has many rewards.
The point in all of this should be to show people that being a nerd can have some awesome and fulfilling results without being stinky and anti-social. There are females nerds out there - I'm one (and I smell pretty good). We need to work on not making them feel more out of place than they already feel. It's not a problem with CS. It's the PERCEPTION of those who are in CS. Thank God we did not all have the aforementioned CMU experience... RedHat Rocks!!