"I have seen two children, one a boy, and one a girl from the same family and similar in age that will behave VERY differently about certain things."
Wow, two whole kids. Nice anecdata! Would you like an honorary degree in sociology or child development to go with your keen observational powers?
Really. It's not that girls are steered away from instrutmental or complicated things from the very moment of birth. Different colors and different levels of snuggles, even in the hospital, aren't the first signs of a massive degree of cultural firepower that repeatedly beats girls down. Nope. Nothing to see here.
Really, deep down, girls don't go into CS primarily because they just suck. It's genetic./sarcasm.
If that's your salt, you probably have high blood pressure.
Since the thread is now in the throes of "no penis = not good at math" and "it's just their personal choice," I would point to Susan Oyama, a developmental systems researcher.
She has a nice speech here about how dividing the world into "nature" and "nurture" basically turns individual persons into puppets. Larry Summers would have us believe that it's "nature" that pulls the strings. Others think it's "nurture." This really belittles individuals and glosses over very important interactions between agents and their environments. Anyway, here's her speech:
http://www.metanexus.net/metanexus_online/printer_ friendly.asp?9344
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"I have seen two children, one a boy, and one a girl from the same family and similar in age that will behave VERY differently about certain things." Wow, two whole kids. Nice anecdata! Would you like an honorary degree in sociology or child development to go with your keen observational powers? Really. It's not that girls are steered away from instrutmental or complicated things from the very moment of birth. Different colors and different levels of snuggles, even in the hospital, aren't the first signs of a massive degree of cultural firepower that repeatedly beats girls down. Nope. Nothing to see here. Really, deep down, girls don't go into CS primarily because they just suck. It's genetic. /sarcasm.
If that's your salt, you probably have high blood pressure.
Since the thread is now in the throes of "no penis = not good at math" and "it's just their personal choice," I would point to Susan Oyama, a developmental systems researcher. She has a nice speech here about how dividing the world into "nature" and "nurture" basically turns individual persons into puppets. Larry Summers would have us believe that it's "nature" that pulls the strings. Others think it's "nurture." This really belittles individuals and glosses over very important interactions between agents and their environments. Anyway, here's her speech: http://www.metanexus.net/metanexus_online/printer_ friendly.asp?9344