4 ms·

It's a bit presumptive to call men the reference case and to ask what's wrong with {universities, women} that has caused a drop in female enrollment. Maybe a be

by iigs 18y ago

It's a bit presumptive to call men the reference case and to ask what's wrong with {universities, women} that has caused a drop in female enrollment. Maybe a better question is: Why are there so many men in computer science. The article's author doesn't seem to really make an effort to figure out what happened, other than to reference one individual who went into health care. I think exploring this question to its fullest would require dropping some politically correct guards and questioning quite a few gender assumptions, something that neither web forums nor national newspapers are particularly good forums for.

ken 18y ago
Yep. You'd need somebody with absolutely no shame ... like Phil Greenspun! http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/acm-women-in-computing http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/acm-women-in-computing http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-science http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-science "[A]nyone smart enough to make it as a computer scientist can make it with less work and risk as an MD, MBA, or JD." "A lot of men are irrational, romantic, stubborn, and unwilling to admit that they've made a big mistake. With Occam's Razor, we should not need to bring in the FBI to solve the mystery of why there are more men than women who have chosen to stick with the choice that they made at age 18"
- nandemo 18y ago
  "[A]nyone smart enough to make it as a computer scientist can make it with less work and risk as an MD, MBA, or JD." This is odd for at least 2 reasons: 1) It's really hard to believe that getting a MD is "less work and risk" than getting a degree in CS. 2) At least in my country, most people who are interested in CS or engineering wouldn't even consider becoming doctors. It's not about money.
- hugh 18y ago
  "[A]nyone smart enough to make it as a computer scientist can make it with less work and risk as an MD, MBA, or JD." Oh, come now. I see a lot of over-the-top programmer glorification on this site, but this takes the cake. I know plenty of complete dolts who managed to get degrees in CS, and who went on to have reasonably rewarding careers. At no point were their grades (nor their general levels of ability) high enough to get them anywhere near law school, let alone medical school. Now maybe you, dear reader, could have easily got into medical or law school, but the vast majority of your classmates couldn't.
rbanffy 18y ago
Let me rephrase your question: "What's wrong with, say, Psychology, that makes so few men enroll?" or "Why there are so few men graduating from fashion schools?" I agree that looking at the whole picture explains it better than looking at a very small part of it and wondering, "if 50% of this picture is mostly green, why all I see is blue?". The answer could be simple: maybe you are looking at the sky. When I graduated in a, say, 50 people class, 4 of them were women. Apart from the fact that we went to separate toilets, there was not much of a difference.
known 18y ago
Men and Women have distinct and different priorities in life.

by iigs 18y ago

ken 18y ago

Yep. You'd need somebody with absolutely no shame ... like Phil Greenspun! http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/acm-women-in-computing http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/acm-women-in-computing http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-science http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-science "[A]nyone smart enough to make it as a computer scientist can make it with less work and risk as an MD, MBA, or JD." "A lot of men are irrational, romantic, stubborn, and unwilling to admit that they've made a big mistake. With Occam's Razor, we should not need to bring in the FBI to solve the mystery of why there are more men than women who have chosen to stick with the choice that they made at age 18"

nandemo 18y ago
"[A]nyone smart enough to make it as a computer scientist can make it with less work and risk as an MD, MBA, or JD." This is odd for at least 2 reasons: 1) It's really hard to believe that getting a MD is "less work and risk" than getting a degree in CS. 2) At least in my country, most people who are interested in CS or engineering wouldn't even consider becoming doctors. It's not about money.
hugh 18y ago
"[A]nyone smart enough to make it as a computer scientist can make it with less work and risk as an MD, MBA, or JD." Oh, come now. I see a lot of over-the-top programmer glorification on this site, but this takes the cake. I know plenty of complete dolts who managed to get degrees in CS, and who went on to have reasonably rewarding careers. At no point were their grades (nor their general levels of ability) high enough to get them anywhere near law school, let alone medical school. Now maybe you, dear reader, could have easily got into medical or law school, but the vast majority of your classmates couldn't.

rbanffy 18y ago

Let me rephrase your question: "What's wrong with, say, Psychology, that makes so few men enroll?" or "Why there are so few men graduating from fashion schools?" I agree that looking at the whole picture explains it better than looking at a very small part of it and wondering, "if 50% of this picture is mostly green, why all I see is blue?". The answer could be simple: maybe you are looking at the sky. When I graduated in a, say, 50 people class, 4 of them were women. Apart from the fact that we went to separate toilets, there was not much of a difference.

known 18y ago

Men and Women have distinct and different priorities in life.