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With common core, math is mostly now word problems, which makes them as much reading comprehension as abstract mathematical problems. This is going to be espec

With common core, math is mostly now word problems, which makes them as much reading comprehension as abstract mathematical problems. This is going to be especially brutal for boys, who typically trail girls in reading skills early on. I expect in a decade the current 2-1 female-male ratio in higher education is going to reach such crisis levels that even our media will be unable to ignore it, as they do currently.

HeavenBanned 10y ago
It's not just that: introductory Calculus at even community colleges is designed to weed students out instead of emphasizing on teaching and comprehension. With tactics like curves, rushed test-taking, unrelated material on exams, poor lectures, and a "learn it yourself or die" attitude it's clear that many types of different learners are not given a fair shake. That is to say, many bright students who may be good at Math someday (like Hadamard) are unceremoniously kicked out of Math fields because of the sink or swim nature of teaching today either through lack of confidence or simple inability to muster the proper grades. This makes you wonder: how many potential geniuses in Mathematics or other STEM fields are we losing due to darwinian teaching tactics? I suspect many more than we're willing to admit.
jessaustin 10y ago
It will be shocking if there's a 2:1 female:male ratio at the bleeding edge of math anytime in the next century, even if word problems are required at lower levels. As for the rest of the fields, I suspect the media as currently constituted to celebrate rather than lament, when they can no longer ignore the situation entirely. [EDIT:] 'HeavenBanned's sibling comment should be restored; it's a good point that is seldom made about math.
- jimhefferon 10y ago
  At the (not-BE) college college where I teach, the math majors who are female significantly outnumber those who are male. We don't have any program or special selection. We just find that the students who succeed at math are female, in the great majority.

HeavenBanned 10y ago

It's not just that: introductory Calculus at even community colleges is designed to weed students out instead of emphasizing on teaching and comprehension. With tactics like curves, rushed test-taking, unrelated material on exams, poor lectures, and a "learn it yourself or die" attitude it's clear that many types of different learners are not given a fair shake. That is to say, many bright students who may be good at Math someday (like Hadamard) are unceremoniously kicked out of Math fields because of the sink or swim nature of teaching today either through lack of confidence or simple inability to muster the proper grades. This makes you wonder: how many potential geniuses in Mathematics or other STEM fields are we losing due to darwinian teaching tactics? I suspect many more than we're willing to admit.

jessaustin 10y ago

It will be shocking if there's a 2:1 female:male ratio at the bleeding edge of math anytime in the next century, even if word problems are required at lower levels. As for the rest of the fields, I suspect the media as currently constituted to celebrate rather than lament, when they can no longer ignore the situation entirely. [EDIT:] 'HeavenBanned's sibling comment should be restored; it's a good point that is seldom made about math.

jimhefferon 10y ago
At the (not-BE) college college where I teach, the math majors who are female significantly outnumber those who are male. We don't have any program or special selection. We just find that the students who succeed at math are female, in the great majority.