Math Benefit Females: Article Summary

In the essay “When Brights Girls Decide that Math is a Waste of Time” by Susan Jacoby, Jacoby claims that girls develop deficiencies during their adolescent years by not taking math or science in their high school years. It can be argued that Jacoby’s thoughts on high school girls and math are incorrect due to the sexism that takes place in her essay, the amount of inaccurate and outdated information, and her argument that math and science is highly important.

The introductory sentence of Anna Hulbert’s article, “Boy Problems”, led to my reminiscence of my childhood days as a girl scout. My time spent as a girl scout was filled with cookie sales and father-daughter dances, not adults persuading me to pursue a career in either science, technology, or math. The “Girls Go Tech” campaigns warn that “by sixth grade, an alarming number of girls lose interest in math, science, and technology. Which means they won't qualify for most future jobs." However, this idea falls under the booby trap of a small sample. Concluding that young woman will not be qualified for a job based on a statistics that only represents the woman's primary schooling is absurd.

Women have always been viewed as the weaker sex, and society will continue to view them that way unless they do something about it. In the essay “When Bright Girls Decide that Math is a Waste of time”, the author Susan Jacoby discusses the problems women steering clear of math and science subjects because of the traditional view of a woman. She focused on what causes high school girls to focus on arts courses instead of STEM courses and what are the effects of it on themselves. The underlying discrimination amongst boys and girls, stereotypical thinking of parents and teachers that girls are not good at math eventually decreases the self-confidence among girls to solve science and math problems.

51 percent of the United States is female but only 34.4 percent of doctors are women. While 90.4 percent of nurses are female (“Women in Medicine”; “Male Nurses Becoming”), the women who do become doctors earn an astounding 25 percent less than their male counterparts (Groves). These staggering figures are only a single piece in the larger overall lack of women in STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which has remained prevalent since the beginning of these fields. Although women are underrepresented in these STEM fields, this is not due to ineptitude, but instead it is a result of the force of societal stereotypes coupled with their wider range of abilities. The recent increase in women’s association with STEM seems

In "When Bright Girls Decide That Math is "a Waste of Time", the main claims that are argued, are that adolescent girls are more susceptible to be pressured into an old stereotype that conveys women should not indulge themselves into mathematics and the sciences. This is a stereotype that has gradually weakened over the years. In paragraph 9 she constitutes an assessment ran in 1981 on female achievements. By doing this it created a sense of logos. Tests were run on girls between 9th and 12th grade to determine the difference in studies. Girls were as equal to or better that boys in problem solving and spatial abilities, this changed four years later and the boys were on top in these areas. The author provides counterevidence when she describes

This report navigates the current state of STEM demographic in the country. It examines the reasons why there are less females undertaking STEM majors and gives recommendations on the problems. A brief history on STEM is outlined and the discussion follows with in depth analysis on the subject. STEM is a very critical education discipline with an importance in the economy of the country. Much as it is important, few students choose a career path in STEM. Although, there are more than 50% female students in Colleges and Universities, 12% take STEM related course. Why is this? This report is a compilation of empirical data collected in journals on the same subject explaining

The discovery of interests in school begins at a young age, “career aspirations based on individual aptitudes, interests, and values are formulated during adolescence and shape the academic choices that lead to the STEM career pipeline” (Wang 771). Girls may discover that they are interested in science or mathematics at an early age, but they are generally compared to their male counterparts, who are given more attention at a younger age to pursue careers in this field. This time frame is critical, if attention is not given and more concentration is placed, girls may lose interest or consideration in the subject, seeing that it has nothing to offer for them. Jill Bystydzienski asserts, “little attention is paid, however to girls’ engagements with engineering during early stages of decision making” (1-2). If young females were given personal interactions with a field, they can then decide if they have a further interest in the subject. With no introduction to the field in middle school or even high school, the girls do not really understand what they can do with the profession. Some may explore options on their own, and others may just bypass the opportunities that could await them, “young girls cannot possibly consider opportunities they do not know exist” (“Why STEM”). Even when interest is expressed by girls at a young age they still do not have as many resources to opportunities to learn more about the

According to Overcoming Math Anxiety, girls have more language fluency than boys, and it can be useful for encoding and decoding of mathematical symbols (p. 83). If they are trained to use their own schema to understand mathematical terminologies or concepts, they may have less fear in math then they are, which is called elaboration that connecting existing knowledge with new knowledge (p. 312 textbook). For example, since girls tend to have more competence in language, they may be able to process complex mathematical information with better elaboration if the teacher let them to answering questions or explaining how they come up with their answer verbally (p. 337 textbook).

women are not active in mathematics (Nolan 3). IN 1973 Julia Sherman and Elizabeth Fennema, both mathematical educators, studied girls in mathematics courses in both elementary and high school settings. They found that the crucial years of a woman’s mathematical future is in her 3rd or 4th year of high school, when she is often counciled out of mathematics by parents and teachers because they felt that the girl has no future in the field (Nolan 3). These results were supported by the Wise, Steel, and MacDonald analysis which found that "sex differences in average math achievement increased most sharply after the tenth grade, when

Indeed, math considers as an important skill that we often use it during our life even if that are directly or indirectly. That means this skill should be shared between men and women in order on or using daily when we buy or cook. However, stereotype play a significant role to reducing the role of self-confidence and self- esteem among women. For example, because this stereotype that show societies women are unintelligent or less efficient than men, that reflects negatively on self -confident of women. I think that return to several reasons, but the important one is the efficiency of teachers. According to Woollacott (2010) “more than 90 percent of elementary school teachers in the country are women - and they can get their teaching certificates with very little mathematics preparation, according to the National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education” (Woollacott, 2010). I think when most of elementary schools are women who have limited preparation in math and their students see that, the students (especially girls) will think that women always have problems with math because their teachers (women teachers) do not do well in classrooms.

I am able to determine if the independent variable is statistically significant. The main result of the one-way ANCOVA is determined in the test between-subject effects table. Looking at the data, overall, I want to know if there are statistically significant differences in the intervention once the means were adjusted between groups. I want to know whether gender and math comfortability are statistically significant when controlling for different teaching styles.

Interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is thinning for women as they progress into higher levels. Women in grades 7-12 were surveyed to see if their interest in STEM fields were diminishing. According to Van Leuvan, this survey showed that there was a decline in interest as these girls progress through high school. Throughout middle school and junior high a love for mathematics can be developed. However, a loss of interest is present as soon as girls hit more demanding classes like calculus. Grades will highly diminished and a fear for comprehension of mathematics in the future will develope. According to the article “Women and Minorities in Engineering” a major outlook on success from students is their ability to understand calculus.

Parents also have a vital role in influencing the career path their children choose. Children look to their parents as role models and for approval, and parents attitudes and actions will influence their children. They also take into account what job their mother has as compared to their father. In many cases, children start to associate gender with particular jobs when they are very young due to their family life(Stitt, 1988). Stereotypes, like those, are brought forth to girls everyday, ranging from the traditional female jobs to males being more intelligent than females. One example is the fact that there aren’t as many women as men in jobs such as scientists and doctors. Girls often don’t question this idea because it is reinforced by so many people. These stereotypes sometimes get adopted by girls because of this constant reinforcement. Parents have the opportunity either to invalidate these stereotypes or confirm them by their actions and words. They must reassure their children that girls can participate in anything they want, including math and science activities or courses.

Mathematics is a type of reasoning. Thinking mathematically includes thinking in a rational way, developing and checking conjectures, understanding things, and forming and validating judgments, reasoning, and conclusions. We show mathematical habits when we acknowledge and explain patterns, build physical and theoretical models of sensations, develop sign systems to assist us stand for, control, and review concepts, and create treatments to address issues (Battista, 1999).

Gender equity in terms of education is about the socialization of men and women and the results of this process on the life outcomes of the two genders (Husen & Postlethwaite, 1994). In the United States, the education system is required to treat males and females equally. There has been much research done to compare the genders in all areas. In the past, research has found that women fall far behind men in many areas such as math, and science, but men lag behind women in certain areas as well. Over the years, many provisions have been made with the goal of equalizing the treatment of girls and boys in public education. These improvements are proven successful as women, as well as men, are advancing in areas where they tend to lag