As someone who has worked as a computer programmer for
20 years and took several Calculus classes, I would like to vouch for the fact that in
order to have a successful career in computer programming, it is necessary to have at
least 4 years of math education - in elementary school.
I find it strange that biology, which is actually a fairly math intensive field, requires
virtually no mathematics in college, while computer science requires absurd levels of math
that have no relevance to the field. And yet classes that are extremely relevant, like How
to Use UNIX, are optional. I think it has far more to do with the academic computer
science culture than what is actually useful to teach people.
On a related note, I noticed recently that the English Wikipedia only has 2 paragraphs
about women in mathematics:
. Compare with
(which was recently expanded).
Ryan Kaldari
On 4/3/12 7:31 AM, Sarah Stierch wrote:
Nice article, thanks for sharing Lennart!
“She was consistently told by teachers in adolescence, then later by colleagues, that the
things she was interested in were things women didn’t do, and that there were no good
female mathematicians,” Dr. Pippenger said.
It's reasoning like this, and the one that you quoted below about stereotypes, kept
me from pursuing a degree in computer science. I remember looking into the school when I
was a young undergrad and I felt so intimidated, and then was told that I'd have to
take certain math classes. Which frustrated me, as I could do basic language coding and
write html off the top of my head. I flunked the math classes I had to take, and 10 years
later found out I had a math disability. (And it wasn't my parents who were telling me
not to do it, it was professors, etc. Regardless of my poor math skills, almost
every single person I know who codes jokes that "you don't need to know
math." Someday I'll take some classes in something (just for fun, I
suppose)..or perhaps there will be a "N00bs super simple MediaWiki fun day that even
your grandma could learn to code at!" event.
I'm not disappointed with how my path curved and turned thus far, but, after reading
Unlocking the Clubhouse[1] and every time I read an article like this, it just reminds me
more and more of the experiences I had as a young person that kept me out of the lab. The
odd thing, is that I ended up entering into a field that is upwards of 80% dominated by
women. I wonder of computer science can take any cues from museum studies.
On that note, I'm sure I'm not the only person on this mailing list that took a
different path than the one they wanted due to popular and personal pressure.
Sarah
[
1]http://www.amazon.com/Unlocking-Clubhouse-Computing-Jane-Margolis/dp/0262…
On 4/3/12 3:36 AM, Lennart Guldbrandsson wrote:
Hello,
Via Mike Godwin:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/giving-women-the-access-code.html…
<snip>
“Most of the female students were unwilling to go on in computer science because of the
stereotypes they had grown up with,” said Zachary Dodds, a computer scientist at Mudd. “We
realized we were helping perpetuate that by teaching such a standard course.”
To reduce the intimidation factor, the course was divided into two sections — “gold,” for
those with no prior experience, and “black” for everyone else. Java, a notoriously opaque
programming language, was replaced by a more accessible language called Python. And the
focus of the course changed to computational approaches to solving problems across
science.
“We realized that we needed to show students computer science is not all about
programming,” said Ran Libeskind-Hadas, chairman of the department. “It has intellectual
depth and connections to other disciplines.”
</snip>
Most of the article is about Dr Maria Klawe, who seems to be a very inspiring person.
Best wishes,
Lennart
Lennart Guldbrandsson,
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