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Re: Gender Blocks in Math
Posted:
Apr 13, 2004 8:40 PM
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I don't believe in "girls aren't good in Math, but boys understand it"
but unfortunately since this sentence is being used over and over
again in our society, our female students have believed it. I have
tutored mathematics for the past 7 years and noticed that females who
went to school in US are doing poorly compared to those females from
other countries. If doing poorly was a matter of Gender, it should
have been true for females from other countries as well.
As a female who finished high school outside U.S., I had never heard
about the gender differences in mathematics before I entered U.S.
Going for my bachelor in mathematics, I faced a lot of discouragement
from American Society, although on the surface it seems there are a
lot of help to improve women in mathematics. I heard it from a lot of
People what does a woman do in high level math classes. Many of my
professors would assume I will drop the courses eventually, before
evaluating my knowledge and skills. This society is discouraging women
not encouraging them.
When I went for my Master's in Financial Engineering (mathematics of
finance), I heard "WOW, YOU ARE THE SMARTEST WOMAN I EVER MET", that
sentence might sound very compelling but it you think about it, it is
not. THAT SENTENCE means women are so dumb and it is so surprising to
see a woman in such fields which require high level of mathematics.
I think what we need to change is our society's image of women, in
general. BEING GOOD IN MATHEMATICS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH GENDER.
Tutoring many guys who had a hard time understanding mathematics I
didn't jump in conclusion that guys are not good in math. ALL THIS
PROBLEMS HAS TO DO WITH PSYCHOLOGY NOT GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MATH.
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