Last month a research paper hit the education wires with a vengeance. Apparently girls can learn to be anxious about math from their teachers. Holy crow!
Considering that the vast majority of teachers in elementary schools are women, can we pin the dearth of women in science & engineering on Mrs. Hart (my second grade teacher’s real name!)? Ashley doesn’t think so:
But could the girls’ math anxiety be passed on from their male teachers as well? We won’t know from this article, because no male teachers were part of the study. I also believe that this study does show us some interesting data about female teachers and their female students. But I also believe we cannot blame female teachers for this whole problem, and in order to figure out what really changes girls’ attitudes toward math and science, we need to conduct a study that is fair to the teachers and the students, and that requires a study that includes teachers and students of all genders.
She has some good points, but after reading the study, I have to disagree. The lack of men teachers in the study is the lack of men teachers period. I also believe that at this moment, we need to focus on why girls learn to be anxious about math. Because despite girls being well represented in higher math classes in high school, they still don’t believe they have what it takes to go into science & engineering. Women who drop out of science and engineering have the same GPA to women who stay [PDF]. And women who leave science & engineering do so with higher grades than the men who stay [PDF]. Anxiety is a real issue with women and girls and we must address it. I also think we need to reexamine how we teach “success” to girls and women.
Tracy Ormsbee confesses that as a mom she has said math anxious things to her daughter, but studies have shown that parents and teachers are two of the top influences in how children choose career paths. If Mom is always avoiding math and Mrs. Gerry (hey to my 1st grade teacher!) is too, what message does that send to a young girl? A girl in the midst of puberty trying to figure out if it’s true that boys don’t like smart girls?
Mrs. Gerry & Mrs. Hart never sent a whiff of math anxiety my way. In fact they never let me slack when it came to math. They set a standard that other teachers carried on until I was in high school.
While I don’t blame women teachers for their math anxiety or for the lack of women going into science & engineering, I do think it is something to examine and address.
I just had the honor to listen to President Shirley Ann Jackson and one of her points about increasing our production of American-born scientists & engineers (men and women) is to increase the scientific literacy of every teacher out there. How can they steer a girl with mad math skills towards computer science if they don’t know what computer scientists do?
Instead let’s take this study and look at how much math and science our elementary teachers do need to know. Let’s look at what their continuing education is teaching them about science & engineering (another point from Pres. Jackson). There isn’t time for blame. There’s only time for action. Let’s get to it.
Comments 4
Kew — February 10, 2010
I believe some amount if the trouble also is with the mathematics curriculum. I have a BS in Mathematics and a PhD in Computer Science. My husband also has a PhD in Computer Science. Both of our children despise math and generally science. I attribute this partly to the horrendous drill and kill curriculum from which they were taught. Particularly problematic is the "gate keeping" role mathematics plays for everything from Gifted and Talented programs to college admission, etc. Mathematics "weeds" out those less "qualified." What it does is provide an easy and lazy way to put up a barrier to entry. Since I have one boy and one girl, I see these issues operating across the genders. However I know first hand how difficult it is to be a girl who must "compete" to be "qualified," but mostly gets "weeded" out. It is not in her nature. I was in my nature which is why I went as far as I did, but I assure you, I have many emotional scars for being able to be "just like the boys."
Although this competitive landscape and differential treatment exists in other subjects (recently I heard a woman speak about gender and prestigious literature prizes -- skewed they are!), it starts early and never lets up in mathematics and science. Might need to not only rethink mathematics for elementary and middle school teachers, but the entire curriculum...
Female Teachers and Female Students’ Math Anxiety, Part 2 | Small Strokes — February 10, 2010
[...] anxiety toward math to their female students, and my thoughts were met with some dispute, both by Veronica at Girl w/Pen! and in the comments of my post. Both makomk in the comments of my post and Veronica both point [...]
gwp_admin — February 11, 2010
Wowza - this is TOTALLY interesting.
And while I'm here, a hearty CONGRATS to SCIENCE GRRL Veronica Arreola for being honored with an Impact Award by the Chicago Foundation for Women!!! WE ARE SO VERY PROUD OF YOU!!!!
Kristen Norton — February 11, 2010
An interesting and important discussion. I would recommend a book which I read recently which speaks of these issues as well as many others related to gender and schooling, and that is David and Myra Sadker's 2009 book, "Still Failing at Fairness-How Gender Bias Cheats Girls and Boys in School and What We Can Do about It." It is detailed and well-researched and packed with notes and references and practical ideas and suggestions for making change happen.