I began my freshman year of High School 20 years ago. My Science and Math teachers for the following four years were all women with one exception (and the best math teacher was an 80 year old nun). The classes were split between boys and girls by approximately fifty-percent. It seemed as though boys and girl were pretty evenly represented in the grade distribution bell curve. Had a boy or girl requested extra help or showed a genuine interest in these fields the teacher would happily have offered their help and guidance.

Four years later I got to college where you can chose your course of study. Both boys and girls were able to choose what classes they took. More boys than girls took Science and Math and ended up with those degrees. Even if girls don’t choose to pursue Science or Math they are certainly given the same opportunity to do so.

A friend of mine works at a STEM type of college… I mention to her the current “crisis” of women not taking Engineering classes and she doesn’t know what I’m talking about! Her school has plenty of female students… only not American female students. Indian female students!

So, why not American girls?

http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/opinion/item/16661-why-girls-and-science-don-t-mix

The Equality Police are unhappy. It seems that despite their best efforts women still aren’t entering the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as men are. You may not care about this — but you should. Because when the Equality Police become unhappy, we get bad policy such as the leftist desire to apply Title IX dictates to STEM, which would effectively eliminate opportunities for men in those fields.

Yet why are women in less egalitarian nations nonetheless more likely to pursue STEM? Lippa explained what’s obvious, saying, “In the gender-egalitarian countries like Norway, you really are free to follow your inclinations.... In a poor country, you’re probably worried about just getting a job. And if computers are going to get you that job — in India, for example — you’ll go for it.” For sure, there aren’t many opportunities for “gender” researchers in the land of sati and saris. But activists abound. And with China producing 10 times as many scientists as the United States, we don’t need Title IX-like policies hobbling us further. Yet that may result due to Equality Dogma and one other factor: the notion that science would actually be better if only we’d grease the skids for feminine genius.

This was reflected by writer Samantha Bonar, who recently treated the STEM matter and wrote, “'Girls in the U.S. have been out-performing boys in math and science classes for some time,' said Lisa Wade, associate professor and chairwoman of the sociology department at Occidental College in Los Angeles.” Ah, if only the patriarchy didn’t hold women back, by now we’d have a perpetual motion machine. Actually, though, understanding another sex difference is necessary to place grades in perspective.

In the rigorous specialty high school I attended, I can’t tell you how many highly intelligent young guys I knew who got terrible grades. The reason? They just didn’t try.

Girls are inside-the-box thinkers; boys are outside-the-box thinkers. Girls are more likely to follow society’s prescribed path, right or wrong; boys are more likely to stray from it, right or wrong. What this means for schooling is that girls are wont to apply themselves simply because that’s what you’re supposed to do; they also care more about pleasing parents and teachers. Boys are more apt to say “To hell with this — it’s boring.” This is one reason why virtually all of history’s revolutionaries, both good and bad, have been men. And the education problem is exacerbated today by permissiveness. For the weaker the box’s boundaries, the more boys will stray from it.

Yet there’s something else that happens. While a boy won’t be as inclined as a girl to apply himself to what he finds uninteresting, he’ll pour himself into his passions in a way a girl rarely will. Parents have seen this in sons who spend countless hours working on a computer or practicing a sport. It’s another example of how men are the sex of extremes (which can be good or bad).

Feminists are responding to this by wanting to alter the push toward STEM into the “more inclusive” and “less intimidating” STEAM model. STEAM is STEM with an added element of the arts.

I would have thought that adding “the arts” into the STEM mix would just be called “going to school,” but Feminists feel altering, and ultimately diluting, STEM will grant greater access to Science fields for girls.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2014/09/05/stem-is-incredibly-valuable-but-if-we-want-the-best-innovators-we-must-teach-the-arts/

But STEM leaves out a big part of the picture. “It misses the fact that having multiple perspectives are an invaluable aspect of how we learn to become agile, curious human beings,” Maeda said. “The STEM ‘bundle’ is suitable for building a Vulcan civilization, but misses wonderful irrationalities inherent to living life as a human being and in relation to other human beings."

A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, she led the STEM to STEAM club at RISD. Leaders like Sarah aren’t suggesting we completely do away with STEM, instead they are suggesting only that we add a letter to the acronym. Adding an “A” spells STEAM and includes the element that has gone unnoticed in this education reform discussion.

Pease’s efforts among many others are apparently working. The STEM to STEAM movement has legs and is getting some much deserved attention. Pease informed me there is already a bipartisan Congressional caucus with about 20 House members, with the sole purpose of integrating the arts into STEM. Texas Instruments recently committed five million dollars to launch a STEAM academy in Plano, Texas and other companies have seen the light as well. “Industry leaders such as Boeing, Nike, Apple, Intel, 3M, and many more cite design and/or creativity to be a priority for their companies when seeking innovative solutions,” said Pease. She even has the numbers to back it up broken down by region.

[x-post to /r/TheCultureWar]