Who Gets to Be a Science Nerd?
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Who Gets to Be a Science Nerd?
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Re: Who Gets to Be a Science Nerd?
#2People of color didn't become scientists because somebody made a chemistry kit in 1937 featuring an Egyptian slave. Girls didn't become scientists because some companies science competition described them as caring and nurturing during WWII.
I've also heard different versions of the clock story.
Not saying everybody has an equal start - for sure not everybody is or was encouraged to become a scientist to the same degree. But it is not really an external force (or patriarchy and white supremacy) that is the culprit...
Pity, it would actually be interesting to discuss how to encourage kids into science, without the leading victim narrative.
Re: Who Gets to Be a Science Nerd?
#3People of color didn't become scientists because somebody made a chemistry kit in 1937 featuring an Egyptian slave. Girls didn't become scientists because some companies science competition described them as caring and nurturing during WWII. I've also heard different versions of the clock story. Not saying everybody has an equal start - for sure not everybody is or was encouraged to become a scientist to the same deg…
[deleted]
Re: Who Gets to Be a Science Nerd?
#4People of color didn't become scientists because somebody made a chemistry kit in 1937 featuring an Egyptian slave. Girls didn't become scientists because some companies science competition described them as caring and nurturing during WWII. I've also heard different versions of the clock story. Not saying everybody has an equal start - for sure not everybody is or was encouraged to become a scientist to the same deg…
I think you are strawmanning the article. The point about the Ethiopian (not Egyptian) slave is that it is indicative of the fact that no black would be in a position to purchase that chemistry set. It is a historical fact that blacks were discriminated against and chemistry sets not being marketed to them is just one consequence of it. Don't know why you are so bent on denying history in favor of pushing your victimhood narrative.
Re: Who Gets to Be a Science Nerd?
#5> In September of 2015, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed showed up to his high school with a clock he’d made himself
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CEmSwJTqpgY
More like he took apart a walmart alarm clock and glued the parts to a mini suitcase (Described by the media as a "pencil case")
Re: Who Gets to Be a Science Nerd?
#6People of color didn't become scientists because somebody made a chemistry kit in 1937 featuring an Egyptian slave. Girls didn't become scientists because some companies science competition described them as caring and nurturing during WWII. I've also heard different versions of the clock story. Not saying everybody has an equal start - for sure not everybody is or was encouraged to become a scientist to the same deg…
This is a painfully restrictive way to view the world. What's the harm in looking at this problem as a complex system that we can work on until we reach a solution? There are without a doubt societal pressure on women and people of color not to pursue careers in STEM. All you have to do is open your eyes a little bit and it's obvious.
Re: Who Gets to Be a Science Nerd?
#7> In September of 2015, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed showed up to his high school with a clock he’d made himself https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CEmSwJTqpgY More like he took apart a walmart alarm clock and glued the parts to a mini suitcase (Described by the media as a "pencil case")
Since this gets discussed to death, I think it's worth pointing out that it's relevance to the article is not what he did but the public reaction that young science/engineering/math interests ought to be encouraged in anyone with the interest. Whether his clock was worthy of that attention is independent of that, and it's kinda a shame the article starts with a highly distracting controversial example.
Re: Who Gets to Be a Science Nerd?
#8> In September of 2015, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed showed up to his high school with a clock he’d made himself https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CEmSwJTqpgY More like he took apart a walmart alarm clock and glued the parts to a mini suitcase (Described by the media as a "pencil case")
It was a political statement not a scientific one. Ironically, and most likely lost on that family, is how important politics and marketing is to modern science.
Re: Who Gets to Be a Science Nerd?
#9> In September of 2015, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed showed up to his high school with a clock he’d made himself https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CEmSwJTqpgY More like he took apart a walmart alarm clock and glued the parts to a mini suitcase (Described by the media as a "pencil case")
That's a lot of saltiness over a kid who took apart a clock and re-assembled it without breaking it, following in the steps of Richard Feynman.
Re: Who Gets to Be a Science Nerd?
#10Girls didn't want to pursue science because it has had a severe social stigma attached to it. This created a self-fulfilling prophesy that ensured only social outcasts with no social standing to lose would consider being interested in it. Boys have much greater range of higher ceilings and lower floors than girls did in the past (and still today, just less so), so the people at the bottom are overwhelmingly male.
The door has been just as open to women as in any other field - the difference with science/tech is that (according to perception) only social outcasts are on the other side.
Even in 2015 GE was running those ads that make engineers looks like effeminate men who can't work with "real" tools, and that was from a someone trying to make their tech look good!