How did she get in? More on the female enrollment in STEM

[bluebayou]

<p>

The introductory course is now broken into three sections—one for those with some background in programming, another for beginners, and a third with a slant toward biology.

</p>

<p>Sounds like dumbing-down the curriculum to me. </p>

<p>Xiggi: you mentioned Caltech earlier, as a SoCal competitor. Does Caltech or MIT offer CS for ‘beginners’, i.e., non-majors? (How can that even be possible in a tech-focused school? I get that such a class might be of interest to students at CMC, Scripps, or Pitzer.) Does Stanford engineering offer beginner’s courses? Does Cal, or other top tech programs?</p>

[texaspg]

<p>I think everyone does but I know Stanford does for sure. CS106A is the most popular class on campus and completed by more than 80% of even English majors.</p>

<p>[Stanford</a> Daily | CS106A enrollment reaches record high](<a href=“http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/10/04/cs106a-enrollment-reaches-record-high/]Stanford”>CS106A enrollment reaches record high)</p>

<p>Zuckerberg guest lectures this class once an year.</p>

[RacinReaver]

<p>CMU offers a programming for non-majors course. Of course, that’s because their for-majors course is pretty brutal. I believe every student on campus (fine arts included) needs to complete at least the Intro to CS class.</p>

[scansmom]

<p>^^And Stanford’s CS 106A is for tech fields, CS 105 is for non-technical majors.</p>

[texaspg]

<p>Not sure who takes CS 105. Based on the numbers from last year, 1600 students took CS106A and it is expected to be lot more this year.</p>

[ucbalumnus]

<p>

@bluebayou

Does Caltech or MIT offer CS for ‘beginners’, i.e., non-majors?

</p>

<p>6.00 appears to be MIT’s introductory CS course for beginners (the Course 6 / EECS major at MIT starts with 6.01 and does not require 6.00).
[Fall</a> 2013 Course 6: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science](<a href=“http://student.mit.edu/catalog/m6a.html]Fall”>IAP/Spring 2024 Course 6: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)</p>

<p>Caltech’s CS 1 is its beginner’s course, whether or not one is majoring in CS:
[COMPUTER_SCIENCE[/url</a>]</p>

<p>

@bluebayou

Does Cal, or other top tech programs?

</p>

<p>Berkeley has had CS courses for non-majors and beginners for ages. The current version of this course is CS 10 (the CS and EECS majors start with CS 61A).
[url=<a href=“http://general-catalog.berkeley.edu/catalog/gcc_list_crse_req?p_dept_name=Computer+Science&p_dept_cd=COMPSCI&p_path=l]General”>http://general-catalog.berkeley.edu/catalog/gcc_list_crse_req?p_dept_name=Computer+Science&p_dept_cd=COMPSCI&p_path=l]General</a> Catalog - Computer Science Courses](<a href=“http://catalog.caltech.edu/courses/listing/cs.html]COMPUTER_SCIENCE[/url”>http://catalog.caltech.edu/courses/listing/cs.html)</p>

[atomom]

<p>Haven’t read every post, but did hear a radio interview of Maria Klawe yesterday.
I can’t help thinking how sexist this all seems.
Can you imagine a story on getting more males to major in, for example, Early Childhood Education–“because half the population so grossly underrepresented in this all-important field?”</p>

<p>We know there are a lot of males out there who have an interest in Early Childhood Education, and could excel in this field. But they are intimidated by walking into a class and trying to participate in discussions dominated by females–who grew up babysitting and playing with dolls, and therefore are coming in with more practical experience in the field. We tell these know-it-alls to cool it. We realize that cultural stereotypes have kept men from their rightful representation in this profession, so it is necessary to work toward 50-50 equality of men and women in Early Childhood Education.
In order to attract more men into this major, we’re taking steps toward making it more “male friendly.”
We are now offering a sports and video-game themed lesson planning course. We’ve also reduced the focus on arts and crafts and creative writing because we’ve found that most males tend to avoid courses with these elements. Were hiring more male education professors who can serve as role models and we offer conferences for “Men in ECE” with special opportunities for men to network with other men in the profession. etc. etc. ;)</p>

<p>btw, after hearing the radio program, I asked S, (one of those “antisocial nerds” who cluster in CS-- which uses their talents and requires few of the skills they lack) if it was true that only 18% of CS majors are female. He said, “Seems kinda high,” and guessed less than 1/2 that at his school.</p>

[mathmom]

<p>Another approach to changing the culture: [Blazing</a> The Trail For Female Programmers - WNYC](<a href=“http://www.wnyc.org/npr_articles/2013/apr/29/blazing-the-trail-for-female-programmers/]Blazing”>http://www.wnyc.org/npr_articles/2013/apr/29/blazing-the-trail-for-female-programmers/)</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon has now changed their beginning comp sci offerings - it was in the works in 2010 and they issued a pretty detailed explanation of their think if anyone is interested. Here’s the reasoning behind the changes: <a href=“http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bryant/pubdir/cmu-cs-10-140.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bryant/pubdir/cmu-cs-10-140.pdf&lt;/a&gt; The gist is that there’s still a course for students with no backgrounds and a huge portion of the school does take some sort of intro comp sci course while there. :)</p>

[stressedouttt]

<p>I wish people would stop trying to get women into STEM fields. Just like any other field, entering into it or enjoying it should really be gender neutral. In my experience, more girls prefer humanities and that’s perfectly okay. I don’t see why anyone should be pushed into a field. There are some humanities fields where men are underrepresented. Why don’t we try to equal those out?
No value should be taken to an extreme, including gender equality. People should study what they love, regardless of the percentage of men and women already in the field.</p>

[Hanna]

<p>“Can you imagine a story on getting more males to major in, for example, Early Childhood Education–“because half the population so grossly underrepresented in this all-important field?””</p>

<p>I really wish that our society valued early childhood education and gave its practitioners salaries, status, and power that matched the importance of this work. But we don’t. We treat people in the field a lot like waitresses. On the other hand, excelling in computer science comes with all sorts of lifelong benefits that young women miss out on when they assume that the field has no place for them. In other words, there’s nothing inherently special about STEM vs. other disciplines; it’s about the role STEM majors play in society and wanting a variety of people to have a shot at that role.</p>

[scansmom]

<p>

Can you imagine a story on getting more males to major in, for example, Early Childhood Education–“because half the population so grossly underrepresented in this all-important field?”

</p>

<p>I could - if ECE jobs were higher paying.</p>

[QuantMech]

<p>Um, around here people <em>are</em> trying to get more males into Early Childhood Education–at least in terms of attracting more men to teach fourth grade and younger classes.</p>

[Niquii77]

<p>I think there should be more women in STEM fields. An increase in women would be beneficial. However, dumbing down courses or making things easier for women is no way to get them in these fields. No woman wants to enter a job knowing that the reason that they got hired is because they were a woman.</p>

[sax]

<p>I agree with you stressed out.</p>

<p>If women decide thay want to study CS then they will. If they are behind other students then they can take intro courses. It might take them longer to graduate but they will be seen just as capable as everyone else.</p>

<p>We do women a disservice by giving them special considerations. They are not looked at as equal.</p>

<p>Corporations have beeen doing this for the last few decades. I still cannot see a woman in advanced positions without wondering if they were just moved on over more capable people to meet a quota or if they actually earned their way there.</p>

<p>Allow women to get ahead by hard work and learned knowledge.</p>

[Niquii77]

<p>

I still cannot see a woman in advanced positions without wondering if they were just moved on over more capable people to meet a quota or if they actually earned their way there

This statement in particular irks me. Just a little.</p>

<p>You really can’t look at a woman and not question her position?</p>

[raneck]

<p>The issue is not that we “need more women in CS.” The issue is that, given that the science/ math aptitude necessary is spread pretty evenly over the population, having less than 50% participation from females means that we might be losing some possible researchers/scientists/etc. However, the focus should not be on “what do we need to do to get more females” but on “what do we think is currently keeping females from participating at the correct rate.” We need to be looking at math and science education in K-12, not college. </p>

<p>Also, discouraging interested students from participating in class is just about the most asinine thing a professor can do. When that student stops answering questions, you don’t get a sudden outpouring of participation from the others. What you get is the dead silence of a professor staring at the class, willing someone to answer.</p>

[Vladenschlutte]

<p>

This statement in particular irks me. Just a little.</p>

<p>You really can’t look at a woman and not question her position?

</p>

<p>Not about women, but I met a guy who told me the only reason he got his job at Goldman was because he was Hispanic, and that if he were White or Asian he probably wouldn’t have gotten it. I don’t know the extent to which these “quota” things happen, but I’m sure they do happen. Though obviously, you shouldn’t assume that happened upon meeting someone.</p>

[Beliavsky]

<p>

@raneck

The issue is that, given that the science/ math aptitude necessary is spread pretty evenly over the population, having less than 50% participation from females means that we might be losing some possible researchers/scientists/etc.

</p>

<p>This may not be true. Substantially more males than females score 700+ on the math section of the SAT.</p>

[texaspg]

<p>The English skills are actually lot more relevant to programming than Math.</p>

[Beliavsky]

<p>

2. If a female is doing well in CS, the professor will let her know that she did so well in that class, and seemed to enjoy it, that she might really like the next class in the sequence. That gives her some self-confidence to try the next class. Encouraging the woman students plays a huge role in increasing their numbers.

</p>

<p>Shouldn’t a male who has done equally well be equally encouraged?</p>

<p>

3. If the female is pre-med, and doing well in CS, she is told how few students actually make it into med schools. She is also told how few jobs there are in biology if she doesn’t make it into med school. She is then told how many CS jobs are available. (This one seems very harsh to me.)

</p>

<p>If the job market in biology is equally bad and med schools admissions equally tough for males and females, shouldn’t they be given the same advice?</p>

<p>

4. Females are invited to attend a computer conference during the summer (I don’t remember if this is before their freshman year or after). The goal is to get them to see that there are woman in CS fields and a lot of them connect with the working women and they become their mentors or at the very least contacts for the future.

</p>

<p>Sure, you can correct any “disparity” between groups A and B if you tip the scales heavily enough. That doesn’t mean you should do so.</p>