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Re: Where Have All the Boys Gone?



Mark and Others:

This is bound to result in vitriolic attacks, but it is an issue that
needs to be addressed. I'm glad that you've done so.

There is a continuing (and incorrect) perception that males in
high school science and mathematics outnumber females. In fact,
the ratio of girls taking high school science and mathematics
reflects the ratio quoted in your article. It is to the advantage of
special interest groups, however, to promote this misperception.

As a high school teacher of math and science, it has been my observation
that young men have been crushed by the combined weight of social attitudes
and legal statutes. Young women make up MORE than 60% of my physics
and AP Calculus classes. Their constant refrain is "boys are dumb". When
I ask them "why do you think so?" they reply "look around, Mr. Davis, how
many
boys do you see in these classes." The other day I assigned a young man to
a lab
team with three females. He begged me to reassign him saying "they make fun
of
me. They think I'm dumb because I'm a boy." "Girls rule" IS the rule
despite my
best efforts to prevent such gender competition in my classroom. I find it
almost
impossible to counter ideas that these students have been exposed to all
their lives.

For 35 years television and movies have exposed the public to a fairly
uniform
theme: women are intelligent, capable and innocent victims of men, whereas
men
are stupid, incompetent and predators on women. How could our young males
feel
otherwise? 85% of all public school teachers are women who, in many cases,
actively pursue their own feminist agenda. When I walk into the classrooms
of
women teachers on campus, I see the walls covered with posters of women
achievers.
There is NO mention of men. I was asked recently to review an AP Calculus
text book
for our district. Virtually all of the photographs of working
mathematicians were of women.
There were a few minority males, but NO white males. That's the way to get
books
accepted in the public schools today.

More than half of all medical school students are women and virtually
all veterinary
students are women. The ratio of females to males across the board is
increasing.
Where is the outcry that we heard from the feminists years ago? All we hear
on the
media are continuing stories of discrimination against females. Meanwhile,
the numbers
become continually more imbalanced against males.

Flame on.

Wes Davis





-----Original Message-----
From: Shapiro, Mark <mshapiro@EXCHANGE.FULLERTON.EDU>
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Date: Friday, June 30, 2000 6:59 AM
Subject: Where Have All the Boys Gone?


Dear PHYS-L and CUR-L colleagues,

This week's Irascible Professor commentary looks at the growing
imbalance between male and female students in U.S. higher education.
The number of women students in U.S. colleges and universities is now
approaching 60% of the total enrollment. This trend has significant
implications for the future of the scientific workforce.

The commentary can be found at:

http://members.home.net/mshapiro2/comments-6-30-00.htm

I'd be interested in your comments on this issue.


Sincerely,

Dr. Mark H. Shapiro
Editor and Publisher
http://www.IrascibleProfessor.com