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I spent a year as a high school computer science teacher back when the AP exam was in C++ and I had one young woman in my classroom. The OP's comments are reaso

I spent a year as a high school computer science teacher back when the AP exam was in C++ and I had one young woman in my classroom. The OP's comments are reasonable as a parent, but like many she doesn't properly comprehend the difficulties encountered by a modern day teacher. When I was teaching class, I had to contend with numerous learning obstacles and then had to leave after class for my other full-time programming job. The idea that I could preempt kids from saying a comment is something only a parent could believe. In the minds of high school students, policies were made to be tested. The OP further wants to make young women into white elephants by reminding them how rare they are on the first day of class. I had a far more interesting and engaging introduction to algorithms on the first day of my class using paper airplane folding instructions as an example of how literally computers interpreted your instructions. The students loved it. The one salient point of the piece was the fact the teacher did not respond properly after the harassment occurred. We can all agree on that.

mathattack 13y ago
The one salient point of the piece was the fact the teacher did not respond properly after the harassment occurred. We can all agree on that. This is the key. People don't expect teachers to control what comes out of the mouths of their students. They can't stop the initial bullying from happening. What teachers can do is react once it happens. Edited to remove: "It sounds like the OP went out of her way to help the teacher turn this into a "teaching moment". The teacher refused to go along." as this was based on my misreading the OP's "I consulted with friends — female developers — and talked to my daughter about how to handle the situation in class. I suggested that she talk to you. I offered to talk to you. I offered to come talk to the class. I offered to send one of my male friends, perhaps a well-known local programmer, to go talk to the class."
- Wizecoder 13y ago
  Wait, how did she help the teacher turn it into a 'teaching moment'? What I got from it is that neither of them contacted the teacher at all about any of this, and then expected him to be able to spot the issue and understand that it was a problem with his class rather than an issue of burnout or other normal teenager problems (I doubt the boys in the class harassed her in front of him). My guess is that he was actually less worried about her because she was actually doing well in the class and I imagine many of the students weren't. Sure, it is a real bummer that she was turned off of the programming industry because of her classmates, but if he had devoted most of his non-teaching time to just her, imagine the struggling students in the class who might have wanted to learn but couldn't get any of the teacher's time or help? Odds are they would be demoralized and unlikely to continue programming as well. It most likely could have been handled better, and it would have been great if the teacher had noticed the problem, but I don't think it is fair to place all the blame on him and suggest that they were helping him do the right thing.
  - mathattack 13y ago
    I'm sorry - I misread the following quote as the OP offering suggestions to the teacher to turn it into a teaching moment. Upon a second reading I realize that your interpretation is correct, they didn't raise it to the teacher. I'll correct my prior note. I consulted with friends — female developers — and talked to my daughter about how to handle the situation in class. I suggested that she talk to you. I offered to talk to you. I offered to come talk to the class. I offered to send one of my male friends, perhaps a well-known local programmer, to go talk to the class.
jeltz 13y ago
> The one salient point of the piece was the fact the teacher did not respond properly after the harassment occurred. We can all agree on that. I agree with that if it is true, but the email is so sparse in details about the events so we have no idea if the teacher even was present when this happened.
- mncolinlee 13y ago
  I think that's a fair point. Maybe I read into the OP's e-mail that she informed the teacher about it soon after it happened. I certainly dealt with having a student whose father had died that semester and his mother expected me to simply already know about the death and what he was dealing with and to warn her before his grades slipped. Sometimes parents expect teachers to have ESP. I don't blame parents for a reasonable emotional state.

mathattack 13y ago

The one salient point of the piece was the fact the teacher did not respond properly after the harassment occurred. We can all agree on that. This is the key. People don't expect teachers to control what comes out of the mouths of their students. They can't stop the initial bullying from happening. What teachers can do is react once it happens. Edited to remove: "It sounds like the OP went out of her way to help the teacher turn this into a "teaching moment". The teacher refused to go along." as this was based on my misreading the OP's "I consulted with friends — female developers — and talked to my daughter about how to handle the situation in class. I suggested that she talk to you. I offered to talk to you. I offered to come talk to the class. I offered to send one of my male friends, perhaps a well-known local programmer, to go talk to the class."

Wizecoder 13y ago
Wait, how did she help the teacher turn it into a 'teaching moment'? What I got from it is that neither of them contacted the teacher at all about any of this, and then expected him to be able to spot the issue and understand that it was a problem with his class rather than an issue of burnout or other normal teenager problems (I doubt the boys in the class harassed her in front of him). My guess is that he was actually less worried about her because she was actually doing well in the class and I imagine many of the students weren't. Sure, it is a real bummer that she was turned off of the programming industry because of her classmates, but if he had devoted most of his non-teaching time to just her, imagine the struggling students in the class who might have wanted to learn but couldn't get any of the teacher's time or help? Odds are they would be demoralized and unlikely to continue programming as well. It most likely could have been handled better, and it would have been great if the teacher had noticed the problem, but I don't think it is fair to place all the blame on him and suggest that they were helping him do the right thing.
- mathattack 13y ago
  I'm sorry - I misread the following quote as the OP offering suggestions to the teacher to turn it into a teaching moment. Upon a second reading I realize that your interpretation is correct, they didn't raise it to the teacher. I'll correct my prior note. I consulted with friends — female developers — and talked to my daughter about how to handle the situation in class. I suggested that she talk to you. I offered to talk to you. I offered to come talk to the class. I offered to send one of my male friends, perhaps a well-known local programmer, to go talk to the class.

jeltz 13y ago

> The one salient point of the piece was the fact the teacher did not respond properly after the harassment occurred. We can all agree on that. I agree with that if it is true, but the email is so sparse in details about the events so we have no idea if the teacher even was present when this happened.

mncolinlee 13y ago
I think that's a fair point. Maybe I read into the OP's e-mail that she informed the teacher about it soon after it happened. I certainly dealt with having a student whose father had died that semester and his mother expected me to simply already know about the death and what he was dealing with and to warn her before his grades slipped. Sometimes parents expect teachers to have ESP. I don't blame parents for a reasonable emotional state.