At the beginning of the year, we discussed gender bias in the classroom. In connection with that discussion, I found an article on The New York Times website that discusses the absence of women in computer science programs. In the article, “Computer Science Takes Steps to Bring Women to the Fold” by Cornelia Dean, the topic of the lack of women in computer science programs is illuminated. As Dean points out, “[f]or decades, undergraduate women have been moving in ever greater numbers into science and engineering departments at American universities. Yet even as they approach or exceed enrollment parity in mathematics, biology and other fields, there is one area in which their presence relative to men is static or even shrinking: computer science.”
In 1985, 38% of women received a degree in Computer Science. Then in 2003, 28 of women pursued a degree in computer Science. And the amount of women has decreased to only 17 %of women studying to be Computer Science majors in the 2003-2004 school year.
This is a major problem because it seems as though women are not aware of the possiblities computer science can bring. Furthermore, as Friedman discussed in his book, our students must pursue careers that will allow them to function in the flat world. The article points out that “The Advanced Placement high school course in computer science may be part of the problem, according to Dr. Cuny. “The AP computer course is a disaster,” she said. “It teaches Java programming, which is very appealing to a lot of people, but not to others. It doesn’t teach what you can do with computers.”
Could the lack of women in computer related majors be something that educators are doing wrong?
Check out the article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/science/17comp.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
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2 comments:
Interesting...I guess like many people I perceive computer science as a "guy's" activity...maybe the image of video gaming perpetuates in my mind. Another possibility is that women have tried so hard to get jobs that allow them the freedom to move about and not sit behind a desk, so computer science is not as appealing. Just a thought!
Interesting. I can recall (this is going to slightly reveal my age here) about 10 to 11 years ago when I graduated with an Office Tech degree from Morrisville College (Norwich Branch), one of my courses that I took was called Systems Analysis. I remember finding the course to be interesting, yet intimidating at the same time. I also remember the teacher wanting to hire me to help design computer systems for his small company in Syracuse. I declined.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is I'm not overly surprised that less and less women are signing up for computer science. When I think back to my experience with that class I know that I can do some of that stuff, yet I had found it very intimidating and overwhelming. If I felt that way then, I really don't want to know what I would feel about it now. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps of the not so good kind.
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