It is the reverse in English. Generally, girls score higher than boys in English and Reading. Yet many of the great people in literature are men. And as a teacher I have known many women math teachers teaching the advance placeement courses in high school.
You are abolutely right, each of us should be evaluated on our own merits and not what the average is for all other people in any subgroup that someone might come up with. And the list of subgroups is endless: Students from large towns; stuedents from small towns; ethnic groups; parent's income; and so on. Those standardized tests have some many subgroups it that is unbelievable. But what do they mean when a teacher is looking at Johnny's score. Nothing absolutely nothing. Only Johnny's score matters at that time.
I spent my career as a male in a profession dominated by women. I have great empathy with how women feel. We once had a a person come in and talk to us. We were told that the only way teachers would ever be paid what they deserve in comparison to other professions was too: ..... become a profession with at least 51 percent of the people being male. Elementary school teachers are expected to put up with a lot of stuff because they are .....women.
It was rough my first year. I went in to go to the restroom one day and the faculty restroom had a sign on it that said ladies only. I was the first male to break into a that 100 percent women's faculty. But I won them over. And now some over 30 years later, I played the organ at the funeral for the woman who put that sign on the door. I have played for nearly every one of them who have died. Once I won them over, I became another "son". For one reason, I rasied hell about the way we were being treated on some things. Yes, I was a rebel. And the women liked it. They all became special. I fought the men supervisors sucessfully. Over half of those ladies that I taught with have died. Everyone of them became family. I just played the organ at the funeral for another one of those ladies. Her family said it was in her written instructions that Freddie was to play the organ at her funeral.
I am remebering fondly some great ladies. It is no wonder how they felt. When they found a man that believed in equality they accepted me not as friend but family. I have been blessed. And this last death has been recent. I came to love all those ladies. They were second mamas and their passing has been emotional for me. I must add that all the ladies weren't my mother's age, but most of those youinger taught one year and then were gone and the vast majority of the teachers had taught as a group together a long time before I arrived on the scene.
Besides my own mother, there are three left. All in their eighties now and all showing serious decline in health.
So do understand that this remembrance has been both wonderful, but an emotional one for me.
Originally posted by madame_zora+Mar 31 2005, 08:27 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(madame_zora @ Mar 31 2005, 08:27 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-Shelby@Mar 30 2005, 10:49 PM
MZ - as always, your words reveal high intelligence along with a deep empathy and understanding of the human condition.
I get it that certain stereotypes, concepts and/or buzzwords can cause some people emotional trauma. And I know that some level of discretion is necessary. But I hate it when past injustices make the mere mention of a   Â
controversial subject taboo.
 ps - I don't pretend to know where the proper balance should be struck.
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I wouldn't pretend to know either, but I am wondering at this moment if I should be feeling a little slammed by the article you chose to use as your example. I won't get into the details of how I feel about that particular subject unless you tell me it was your intention to begin that discussion, but generally I try to decide where the balance is by trying to discern what purpose is served either way. FWIW, I hold the concept of "the people's right to know" to be complete hogwash!
Using your example, what general purpose is there of conducting a survey on why women score lower than men in math? If it is not for the purpose of discrimination, or justifying the forementioned, then what could it be? I won't deny that the evidence holds to the issue, but the reasons for that are varied. The problem I have is not so much that women be seen as the same as men (which is clearly NOT true!
, but that the ones who can and do perform at the same level as men be afforded that opportunity. Sadly, there is still pervasive mysogyny throughout our society, and "facts" such as this serve to enforce a stereotype that is damaging to some. I have actually had male subordinates who were surprised that I didn't need their help doing simple math equasions in my head! It's disheartening to know that about half the population truly believes I am inferior to them based on my gender. Boy, do I ever love taking their money!
One of the great things about men seeing women as inferior is that they aren't afraid of me, and as a salesman, I use that to my advantage- they never see me coming even when I'm sticking my hand in their wallet.
Okay, so I couldn't keep my mouth shut (when do I ever?). I am completely against ANY standards being lowered to accomodate women, but once again, I believe strongly that women who can and do perform at the same level as men be afforded the same oportunity and pay. Like racism, many simply do not believe tha extent to which this affects a woman's life. I know a lot of white people who aren't racists personally, their friends aren't racists, and they simply can't get their minds around the idea that this is still a big deal, because they personally don't come into contact with it much (thank God for that type of ignorance!
. Likewise, there are plenty of men on the workforce who treat women as equals in the important areas and they just can't imagine that it's all that tough out there for women, but I hope you'll believe me when I say I've done more fighting for my rights than just enjoying my happy day.
The implications of subtle "findings" are dangerous when taken out of context. I know that women score a bit lower than men in math on standardized tests, but when you take girls and boys with similar IQs, the math portions are not too dissimilar. There is no way to take societal impact out of the equasion and have the results remain meaningful. Studies have been done that reveal teachers tend to call on boys more in school, guidance counsellors tend to encourage boys more than girls to pursue math related fields, at the very least, these things would affect confidence, and how much impact could that have? Think about how that relates to sex- it can be a deal-breaker.
Stereotypes usually serve no useful purpose, IMHO. Stereotypes about beauty have women feeling we need to be 120 lbs with 36DD boobs and an ass like a 12 year old boy. Great job guys, now we're anorexic/bulemic, running to plastic surgeons for boob jobs and neither men or women even care if we have any intellectual value at all. Stereotypes against blacks ONLY serve to harm blacks, did you ever notice that these studies that go to show how white men are superior to everyone are ALWAYS conducted by.....um....White Men!! Woo-hoo, we have a winner! It has long been my personal contention, based on absolutely nothing but my personal opinion, that the world has paid dearly enough for white' guys' inferiority complexes.
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