American Culture Derails Girl Math Whizzes, Study Finds

[amyrose2712]

ScienceDaily (Oct. 13, 2008) — A culture of neglect and, at some age levels, outright social ostracism, is derailing a generation of students, especially girls, deemed the very best in mathematics, according to a new study.

In a report published Oct. 10 in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, a comprehensive analysis of decades of data on students identified as having profound ability in math describes a culturally constricted pipeline that puts American leadership in the mathematical sciences and related fields at risk.

According to the report, many girls with extremely high aptitude for math exist, but they are rarely identified in the U.S. because they veer from a career trajectory in the mathematical sciences due to the low respect American culture places on math, systemic flaws in the U.S. public school education system, and a lack of role models.

(snip)

Joseph A. Gallian, a co-author of the report, a professor of mathematics at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and current president of the Mathematical Association of America, says, "Just as there is concern about the U.S. relying on foreign countries for our oil and manufactured goods, we should also be concerned about relying on others to fill our needs for mathematicians, engineers and scientists."


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081010081648.htm

[no_hypocrisy]

1. And this proves it in spades.

The Woman Who Could Have Prevented This Financial Mess Was Silenced by Greenspan, Rubin and Summers

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/102559/the_woman_who_could_have_prevented_this_financial_mess_was_silenced_by_greenspan%2C_rubin_and_summers/

[bean fidhleir]

6. Typical hoked-up story

She's hardly the only or first one to sound that alarm. EVERYBODY who knew anything about the history of the post-Depression separating legislation knew that eliminating those barriers would let the greedheads loose and eventually cause exactly what it did cause! This was totally predicted, as a review of news reports at the time will show.

[burythehatchet]

2. Objective, fact based science and math is so yesterday.

[JDPriestly]

3. This is absolutelly true, painfully so.

[vanderBeth]

4. I don't think that they should be worried about girls, but students in general.

I don't think it is a gender thing, but a failing of the US educational system. When I did attend school not too long ago, the shoved Math and Science down mine and the other girl's throats. Girls aren't encouraged to go into "soft" subjects anymore. I feel this has been overplayed too much and blown into a bigger issue that it is.

I would like to get into men's minds vs. women's minds debate, but it usually ends up as a flame war. :hide:

[Warpy]

7. Girls get the double whammy, though, of

being rejected as geeks and being rejected ten times more for being unfeminine, as though that were even possible.

I know. I was the school algebra shark.

Fortunately, I took a good hard look at my tormentors and realized what they were trying to cover up and let 'em have it. By junior year I was dateless but unmolested by screeching cretins.

One thing that desperately needs to be done, especially in middle school where the kids are animals, is to separate math classes by sex, the same teachers teaching both classes. Girls who are good in math might not be crushed by the time they get to high school if that is done. Boys would have to go back to picking on them because of their looks.

[vanderBeth]

10. May I ask when did you go to school?

I really don't mean to diminish your experience, but there has been so much done for females (and males) in the math and science fields, even in just the last few years- it's quite incredible. There are always jerks, but what bullying I witnessed was for both males and females.

I kind of agree with you about the Middle School thing. The students there really are animals. But then again, I went to an all-girl's school in 8th grade and I hated it.

[readmoreoften]

17. The entire point of this story is that the problem for girls in math is unchanged.

And that the evidence points to this.

[unpossibles]

5. not only is this sadly true

but I think it goes even further. Although I do think it is a far more pronounced problem for girls, I think we discourage children of both genders from being intelligent and well-informed. Throughout our culture, we seldom celebrate intelligence, and thanks to rightwing efforts, we denounce it now. People want a "joe six pack" running things, not an "elite" because they've been told repeatedly that is what is good.

We laud celebrities and sports stars and others, and sometimes the dumber and more ignorant, the "better" for our purposes. Intellectuals and the desire to train your brain and to gather new information is portrayed and seen extremely negatively.

[enlightenment]

9. I wouldn't blame it strictly on the right wing, though.

You see the culture in full evidence on DU - people who refuse to read through an OP because it's "too long" or has "too many words". As if, somehow, complex ideas that can't be reduced to "text speak" are not worth knowing.

It's true that we do not celebrate intelligence, and even when we do, we seldom celebrate the idea of learning for the sake of learning - if the knowledge does not appear to serve a 'useful' purpose it is demeaned or out-right rejected. Unfortunately, many people don't go to school to gain knowledge; they go to achieve a concrete goal - whether it is a high school diploma or a college degree. It is learning as a means to an end - and that means that there is a perception that once the end is achieved, the learning can stop.

[unpossibles]

I agree the sentiment is wide spread and not just right wing or conservative

But the Conservatives and right wing propganda (ie: radio and TV) have done nothing but increase the sentiment. I noticed people like Rush Limbaugh doing it for a while, and I always assumed it was because they know that an uneducated populace is easier to rule.

For what it's worth, I do prefer balance - I know some really smart people who are assholes about it to everyone they know, something for which there is no excuse. It's not ignorance or a lower IQ that bother me so much as willful ignorance and an incapability to want to learn or improve mental abilities.

[Scriptor Ignotus]

8. I like a nice set of brains on a woman

not sure why that's such a turn-off to so many men. I'll take a Hedy Lamar over a Paris Hilton any day.

I'll do the laundry, she can do our taxes. Haha.

[Patiod]

11. I wonder what the data is in minority communites

for both boys and girls.

How many African-American and Hispanic kids are put off math because academic success is derided as "acting white".

[wildeyed]

15. The achievement gap widens the most quickly for the brightest low income kids.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1661701,00.html

http://www.edweek.org/login.html?source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edweek.org%2Few%2Farticles%2F2008%2F04%2F16%2F33gap_ep.h27.html%3Ftmp%3D882680144&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edweek.org%2Few%2Farticles%2F2008%2F04%2F16%2F33gap_ep.h27.html%3Ftmp%3D882680144&levelId=1

[Patiod]

20. A mind is *truly* a terrible thing to waste

to coin a phrase

how discouraging

[Greyhound]

12. K & R. Depressingly accurate.

:kick: & R

[MilesColtrane]

13. In the public schools I went to, if you were going to make good grades,...

...you'd better learn how to fight.

I would have killed to have been able to transfer to a magnet school.

[wildeyed]

14. My oldest daughter is a math whiz.

At the elementary level, I did not feel that there was any particular bias against girls, there was just no plan at all to identify and nurture exceptional mathematical talent. If I fussed a lot, I could get some acceleration for her, but it required so much effort on my part. I finally switched her to a charter school where academic abilities are recognized and encouraged, but it was a long road to get her there.

This charter school has a wait list a mile long. It was just blind luck that she got picked for a spot in the lottery. And many areas don't have schools like this one at all. Also, parents and teachers often aren't aware that a kid has exceptional abilities. The kid looks hyper and weird but the reality is, he/she is just bored spitless at school and can't behave. By 4th grade that kid is often completely tuned out on academics. Sigh.

NCLB focuses all the attention on kids who are struggling. I do think that those kids need a lot of attention and resources, but all kids, including those with high ability, deserve an appropriate and challenging curriculum.

[RainDog]

16. I wonder how many European and Asian schools have sports teams?

I know that most places in Europe DO NOT have ANY sports teams at school. Sports clubs are the places where people do sports. The money for those is not mixed up in the money for academics and coaches don't teach in order to coach.

This is a side issue to this report, but it's something that is the elephant in the living room for american education. That and salaries. Organized sports should not be a part of middle or high school life. They should take place after school and off campus.

When I was younger, I was president of my class, my sister was the freaking homecoming queen, she dated the quarterback of the high school team and I was dating the quarterback of the jr. high school team. blugh. One day I decided I wanted to be smart instead of popular. Best decision of my life - but it really came about when I saw how petty and dictatorial (and ultimately boring) such cliques really are and knew there was something better than that.

All of the "heathers" crap that goes on in high school gets carried over into life for too many people, sad to say. If you want to lead an interesting life, one not bound by small-mindedness, it seems as if you just have to tell the powers-that-be, no matter how petty they may be, to go fuck themselves.

What we value in this culture is demonstrated via salaries. Which women make the most money here? Those who stuff silicone under their titties and into their lips and who act like total dumbasses.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

19. You're right

I spent one year in Europe going to school when I was 15 years old in the 1960s. There were no sports teams in school. There was gym class but no competitive teams in any sport that played after school. If someone wanted to participate in sports, they joined a private sports club after school. Nor were there any cheerleaders, homecoming queens, or dances. High school wasn't a giant dating service or party forum. If kids wanted to get together, they had parties in private places on week-ends or during the summer (and they partied just as hard if not harder than Americans). No one knew if anyone on campus was dating anyone and there were no cliques. In fact, there were no names for "geeks" or "nerds" and, instead, kids got teased for having bad grades, not good ones.

[knitter4democracy]

18. Did they take the crappy Chicago Method into account?

Michigan's all about the Chicago Method in teaching math, and it seriously sucks. It makes no sense at all. Just when the kids are starting to understand the concept, off they go onto another totally unrelated concept. My daughter, who's always been a math kid, started thinking she was stupid in math because how it was being taught made no sense to her. Of course it made no sense!! I've been trying to help her at home with it, but it's an uphill battle.

One thing I keep hearing amongst the parents is that boys handle the way math is being taught much better. Maybe if we used Saxon, everyone would do better.