Summary Of Elizabeth Spelke

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high school girls and math are incorrect due to the sexism that takes place in her essay, the amount of inaccurate and outdated information, and her argument that math and science is highly important.

Women in the Math World Works Cited Not Included Math is commonly known as the man’s major. Many college math professors are men and the same goes for their students. "One study revealed that women accounted for 15% of students in computer science, 16% in electrical engineering,. . . Gender splits in the faculty were similar" (Cukier).

In the present century, women are thought to be smarter than men. They are seen as better students and harder workers. According to David Brooks, author of “Mind over Muscle,” this idea of women is made because of the gap in passing classes and reading between females and males (576).

In “Identity, Authority, and learning to Write in New Workplaces,” Elizabeth Wardle attempts to explain how identity and authority issues affect the process of enculturation for workers in new environments. Wardle argues that the issues of identity and authority can affect one’s assimilation in a new working environment and that miscommunication with the two can lead to one being viewed as a “tool” and stress.

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.

A common stereotype is that men are predominately better at math than women. In this

In her scientific work Sex Differences in the Brain Kimura analysis several key differences that cause men and women to excel in various tasks and jobs due to naturally occurring phenomenon in the body and

Most of this gender disparity starts early. As early as in grade school. Young girls are rarely motivated to take Math and Science. This can be problematic because studies show that a lack in intellectual belief can in turn inhibit intellectual growth. There is also that persistent unconscious bias that Science and Math are male fields while females tend to do well

When it comes to visual-spatial abilities, it is thought that males are better than girls. They can rotate objects better in their minds, are better at things like engineering and mathematics. Females are good at empathizing and listening, more likely to choose professions in the arts rather than sciences. It was thought that these differences were due to the fact that our brains are wired differently, that our hormones controlled more than we thought. However, that is not the case it seems. There seems to be no significant results that gender differences in visual-spatial abilities are innate but rather socialized through practice and training and gender schemas.

Glass begins with a prearranged true-false quiz which shows how many of our preconceived biases about differences between the sexes and how they communicate are actually false (Glass, 1994). Glass (1994) states that women are not statistically shown to be more intuitive than men. However, they have been discovered to be more detail oriented in both their

Researchers and testing has proven over time, that some cognitive abilities between males and females change throughout infancy and adolescents. Girls generally perform and use their verbal skills much earlier than boys. Women do much better on exams such as SAT’s in the verbal areas where men excel in the mathematical arena. This finding in itself may seem to solidify the fact of biological makeup. If that is the case, then why do girls perform equally as proficient in the area of math until they reach their “tween” and teenage years, which is generally between 6th and 7th grade? At this point, there seems to be a decline in the female’s performance in the area of math.

Why do these gender gaps exist? Researchers believe that cultural and social factors, as well as educational, and attitudinal factors contribute to this gap. Cultural beliefs that boys excel in math and science and that girls excel in the arts can be passed down through generations and adults who may not even realize it are acting on these beliefs (Sanders, 1997). “Subtle and unintended messages can create the idea among girls and boys that there are fields

Gender differences occur in many aspects of a person’s life whether it is culture, politics, occupation, family and relationships, or the economy (just to name a few). One major difference in gender occurs in learning and education in the elementary and secondary levels. Research has found that males and females learn differently in many aspects of education. First of all, female and male brains are constructed differently affecting the way they learn; this leads to basic differences in learning and also gives an introduction into why the way one learns differs according to gender and how males and females learn subjects and tasks differently. Second, males and females are treated differently, sometimes unconsciously, in educational

Gender equity issues in mathematics and science have been the focus of many educators and researchers for years. Women have often been denied an equal education in math and science for many reasons. Parents and teachers must realize this fact and change their habits wherever necessary. Girls must be given the same opportunity as boys from the beginning, particularly in math and science where girls tend to lag behind.

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