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Re: How To Recruit Women to Tech and IT Classes



Herb,

You mean to say that physical chemistry or quantum chemistry just requires
memorization? Nonsense.

Your comment simply reinforces a stereotype that is inaccurate. The
differences in means between groups is small compared to range of variation
within groups. That means that there are many women who are better at
abstract thinking than many men. In addition, there is evidence that those
skills are not entirely innate. In other words, they can be developed.

In addition, the stereotype that you repeat is not universal. There are
some countries (such as France) where a much larger percentage of the
professional physicists are women than in the U.S. Should I then assume
that French women are better at abstract thinking than American women? I
don't think so!

Mark
http://www.IrascibleProfessor.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Herbert H Gottlieb
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Sent: 8/25/00 9:35 PM
Subject: Re: How To Recruit Women to Tech and IT Classes

On Fri, 25 Aug 2000 14:08:46 -0700 "Shapiro, Mark"
<mshapiro@EXCHANGE.FULLERTON.EDU> writes:
....>. Other science departments have been able to change their
culture, we can do the same if we have the will to do so.

Mark Shapiro

But that's not the problem. Biology and the other sciences that you
mention require a different kind of thinking (memorizing ?) than is
required for physics and mathematics.
It has already been shown that women and men have thinking processes
that
are somewhat different.

Herb Gottlieb from New York City
(Where female thinking is different. And as they say in French, "Viva la
differance"