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Oct. 23rd, 2006 09:29 amThis snippet is stolen whole-hog from Salon's Broadsheet blog. (More hyperlinks are in the original text.)
Math gap mythologies
"Math class is tough!" The Teen Talk Barbie doll uttered these words in 1992, and women's groups forced Mattel to rethink its little protégé's lack of numerical confidence. Who knew that it would take a real scientific study to prove that negative stereotypes affect women's mathematical abilities?
But of course, since the airhead-embracing Mattel executives got an education in the math gap, it's not like there weren't still pockets of ignorance out there. Earlier this year Harvard University President Lawrence Summers resigned after controversy stemming from his comments about women's and men's innate differences in mathematical and scientific aptitude.
Now, a did-it-really-take-a-study news wire from the New Scientist reports that a University of British Columbia, Canada, study found that women told that their mathematic abilities are socially determined do better than those who are told that their skills (or lack thereof) spring from their genes.
( continued... )
Math gap mythologies
"Math class is tough!" The Teen Talk Barbie doll uttered these words in 1992, and women's groups forced Mattel to rethink its little protégé's lack of numerical confidence. Who knew that it would take a real scientific study to prove that negative stereotypes affect women's mathematical abilities?
But of course, since the airhead-embracing Mattel executives got an education in the math gap, it's not like there weren't still pockets of ignorance out there. Earlier this year Harvard University President Lawrence Summers resigned after controversy stemming from his comments about women's and men's innate differences in mathematical and scientific aptitude.
Now, a did-it-really-take-a-study news wire from the New Scientist reports that a University of British Columbia, Canada, study found that women told that their mathematic abilities are socially determined do better than those who are told that their skills (or lack thereof) spring from their genes.
( continued... )
