You're correct: you get what you work for, but the work you have to do to get somewhere can be radically different for men and women. I think that, while higher education has gradually gotten better, there are still serious problems with schools. When I was young (read 5-6), I was classified as gifted and even though I showed an aptitude for mathematics and sciences, I was *encouraged* to study languages and the so-called softer sciences. At one point, the gifted program that I was enrolled in offered a career day; when I informed the teacher that I wanted to be a doctor, she made me shadow a nurse for the day because women don't become doctors. Even though I was the best student in the class, my mathematics teachers would make fun of me for "trying to be a boy." My parents were extremely supportive and moved me from school to school, but this kind of treatment still persisted. To this day, incidentally, I hate math. When I was in eighth grade, the gifted program at the school I was in got to take their SATs, just to see what we would get. I got the highest score in the state that year, but my school refused to recognize it, saying that it must have been a fluke. I think that the reason there are so few women in the sciences is not solely because some "big bad sexist teachers", but mainly because they got tired of having to fight for everything. I was lucky - I had a wonderful family who encouraged me in everything I did - many people (male and female) don't.
I think the main reason is that they were trying not to attract Sauron's attention in order to forestall any nasty attacks, and it would be a little difficult to sneak a brigade of Elves and Ents through Mordor. Given that the soil in Mordor was presumably fairly toxic (one would think), I doubt that Ents would have survived anyway.
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The Lone Gunmen are due as a replacement series next fall.
You're correct: you get what you work for, but the work you have to do to get somewhere can be radically different for men and women. I think that, while higher education has gradually gotten better, there are still serious problems with schools. When I was young (read 5-6), I was classified as gifted and even though I showed an aptitude for mathematics and sciences, I was *encouraged* to study languages and the so-called softer sciences. At one point, the gifted program that I was enrolled in offered a career day; when I informed the teacher that I wanted to be a doctor, she made me shadow a nurse for the day because women don't become doctors. Even though I was the best student in the class, my mathematics teachers would make fun of me for "trying to be a boy." My parents were extremely supportive and moved me from school to school, but this kind of treatment still persisted. To this day, incidentally, I hate math. When I was in eighth grade, the gifted program at the school I was in got to take their SATs, just to see what we would get. I got the highest score in the state that year, but my school refused to recognize it, saying that it must have been a fluke. I think that the reason there are so few women in the sciences is not solely because some "big bad sexist teachers", but mainly because they got tired of having to fight for everything. I was lucky - I had a wonderful family who encouraged me in everything I did - many people (male and female) don't.
I think the main reason is that they were trying not to attract Sauron's attention in order to forestall any nasty attacks, and it would be a little difficult to sneak a brigade of Elves and Ents through Mordor. Given that the soil in Mordor was presumably fairly toxic (one would think), I doubt that Ents would have survived anyway.