Well goody for you, I'm so glad your parents are "successful", too bad they weren't so successful at teaching you how not to be an arrogant ass.
"How would my daughters know they can be anything they want when their female role model can't understand basic math?"
Both of my parents graduated with liberal arts degrees. My mother barely passed geometry. I surpassed her (and my father) in math and science by sophmore year of high school. The first time I needed help with math was calculus. Naturally, my parents couldn't offer any help, so I had to turn to classmates. I never thought less of either parent because of this. Never did I think that I couldn't be anything I wanted! Nor was I embarrassed by the fact that neither of my parents is particularly adept at math or science. Their strengths lie in other areas. My dad's excellent in dealing with people. He's skilled at listening to them and solving problems.
My mother stayed home to care for us as kids. She did an incredible job. I only hope that I do as well with my kids. She went back to night school when I was in high school to get a nursing degree. She had to take chemistry courses at the local cummunity college first since she didn't have those in undergrad. Sometimes I had to help her with her homework. But she graduated at the top of her class and has been a nurse for 25 years. She recently earned a "Best of the Best" in nursing award. I respect her and admire her for her achievements more than my own, one of the reasons being that it was more difficult for her. She had to work much harder than I ever did in school. It was always easy for me.
I graduated with a BS in comp. sci. a semester before my husband graduated with the same degree. I supported the both of us. This enabled him to start his own company. When we had kids, we made the decision for me to stay home with them. I had a very lucrative job (and the only medical benefits) that was doing cutting edge OOP with a bunch of brilliant people. I don't regret the decision a bit. Do my kids think of me as "just" a housewife? Hell no. They are at ages where they can appreciate what it means that I stay home. When they need volunteers at school, I'm there. When they need homework help, it's me. Since my husband is a computer geek, too, he's at work a lot and travels frequently. So it's me who is at all the sports events and talents shows and concerts and whatnot. Sometimes it's not how smart and successful you are that makes your kids look up to you...it's listening to them and being there for them that counts. And as for believing you can be anything? That doesn't come from what your parents are, it comes from them believing in you.
"The last girl I (briefly) dated was a grade-school teacher who couldn't spell and didn't like to read."
Yeah, talk about arrogant and prejudiced. My husband can't spell worth squat. We suspect he's dyslexic but nobody knew about it back then. Somehow, he still managed to write a book despite this fact (that's what spellcheckers were invented for!)
I wish it were more common for men not to be so judgemental. Adjust your attitude and you might have better luck with the geek girls. Or any girl for that matter.
Slashdot Mirror
Well goody for you, I'm so glad your parents are "successful", too bad they weren't so successful at teaching you how not to be an arrogant ass.
"How would my daughters know they can be anything they want when their female role model can't understand basic math?"
Both of my parents graduated with liberal arts degrees. My mother barely passed geometry. I surpassed her (and my father) in math and science by sophmore year of high school. The first time I needed help with math was calculus. Naturally, my parents couldn't offer any help, so I had to turn to classmates. I never thought less of either parent because of this. Never did I think that I couldn't be anything I wanted! Nor was I embarrassed by the fact that neither of my parents is particularly adept at math or science. Their strengths lie in other areas. My dad's excellent in dealing with people. He's skilled at listening to them and solving problems.
My mother stayed home to care for us as kids. She did an incredible job. I only hope that I do as well with my kids. She went back to night school when I was in high school to get a nursing degree. She had to take chemistry courses at the local cummunity college first since she didn't have those in undergrad. Sometimes I had to help her with her homework. But she graduated at the top of her class and has been a nurse for 25 years. She recently earned a "Best of the Best" in nursing award. I respect her and admire her for her achievements more than my own, one of the reasons being that it was more difficult for her. She had to work much harder than I ever did in school. It was always easy for me.
I graduated with a BS in comp. sci. a semester before my husband graduated with the same degree. I supported the both of us. This enabled him to start his own company. When we had kids, we made the decision for me to stay home with them. I had a very lucrative job (and the only medical benefits) that was doing cutting edge OOP with a bunch of brilliant people. I don't regret the decision a bit. Do my kids think of me as "just" a housewife? Hell no. They are at ages where they can appreciate what it means that I stay home. When they need volunteers at school, I'm there. When they need homework help, it's me. Since my husband is a computer geek, too, he's at work a lot and travels frequently. So it's me who is at all the sports events and talents shows and concerts and whatnot. Sometimes it's not how smart and successful you are that makes your kids look up to you...it's listening to them and being there for them that counts. And as for believing you can be anything? That doesn't come from what your parents are, it comes from them believing in you.
"The last girl I (briefly) dated was a grade-school teacher who couldn't spell and didn't like to read."
Yeah, talk about arrogant and prejudiced. My husband can't spell worth squat. We suspect he's dyslexic but nobody knew about it back then. Somehow, he still managed to write a book despite this fact (that's what spellcheckers were invented for!)
I wish it were more common for men not to be so judgemental.
Adjust your attitude and you might have better luck with the geek girls. Or any girl for that matter.