What Is It To Be A Man Or A Woman?

[sinmantyx]

  BrassFusion said:

Men and women don't learn in different ways. Everyone learns in different ways. I'm a kinesthetic/visual, myself.

I feel it would be a disservice to students to assume that they'll learn in a particular way because of their gender. It's best for teachers to use a variety of methods and try to learn which ones best fit each individual student... I say this as a teacher.

You could certainly say that MOST men and women learn in ways more similiar to others of their sex than not. In that, you do not deny all the interesting neuroscience out there.

I totally agree though, to only use gender as a means to identify a person's learning style is pretty....well...lazy. However, I also dont' think it's a good idea to ignore the general gender-based trends when developing curriculum (for example) or when considering general social norms in group work, etc.

[BrassFusion]

  sinmantyx said:

You could certainly say that MOST men and women learn in ways more similiar to others of their sex than not. In that, you do not deny all the interesting neuroscience out there.

I totally agree though, to only use gender as a means to identify a person's learning style is pretty....well...lazy. However, I also dont' think it's a good idea to ignore the general gender-based trends when developing curriculum (for example) or when considering general social norms in group work, etc.

It's true, and I'll admit that most of the time when I have girls in my classes, it's harder to get them to actively participate. I don't assume right off the bat that every new girl will behave like a "typical" one. That would get me nowhere fast.

[sinmantyx]

  BrassFusion said:

It's true, and I'll admit that most of the time when I have girls in my classes, it's harder to get them to actively participate. I don't assume right off the bat that every new girl will behave like a "typical" one. That would get me nowhere fast.

I totally agree...but I tell you...in secret corners of some of my bad days I miss teaching classes of mostly men. The challenges are simply different and I had become accustomed to the "boys".

[BrassFusion]

  sinmantyx said:

I totally agree...but I tell you...in secret corners of some of my bad days I miss teaching classes of mostly men. The challenges are simply different and I had become accustomed to the "boys".

It's generally easier for me to teach extroverts like myself... most of 'em are boys.

[Steven]

  BrassFusion said:

Speak for yourself, uh... Lemmy.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Your reading far to much into what I am saying. i am talking in general... that does not mean I think we are all exactly alike. We each have a variance of the "norm". Some of us go sar far out it's hard to put us anywhere near the "norm".

a good example... on average...

Men tend to be better at enginerring. Women tend to be better at design. It takes both those skills to build a good building.

My only point really is... we should embrace our differances and use them to the betterment. If that means, as a general rule, that grade schools be boys or girls only.. then so be it. It has been shown over and over in studys that girls do not do as well as they should in a classical classroom. Boys do, but not grils. Girls work better small groups learning together. So lets teach that way.. with some testing to put the variance with in the schools they should be.

bah. I'm not a good enough writer to explain this in this way. i would have to speak with you to fullt express what I mean.

[sinmantyx]

  Gaf The Horse With Tears said:

Men tend to be better at enginerring.

wow.

Well, I guess I should tell the female candidate for the Engineering position not to bother showing up. I better quit my job too and maybe become a librarian or something.

I know, I know...I'm reading too much into it. You can't however, expect someone whose life has been as inconvenience as mine due to that view to take it lying down.

It's true that studies have shown that women tend to have more problems with 3-D spatial reasoning than men. The fact that there tend to be more men in physics and engineering doesn't bother me. The fact that the culture within physics and engineering makes it VERY difficult at times to be a woman in the field is REALLY annoying.

I talked about this to some of my fellow female faculty members (who teach in other fields) and explained to them that I didn't need to discredit the recent study about 3-D spatial reasoning or even bring to light a culture that they wished to claim was *the* cause for the skewed demographic.

Instead, I simply said...that study doesn't really apply to me or anyone. There is SO much variance in the students that I see, as far as problem solving and reasoning ability, that such a study doesn't matter. I have met both male and female students who couldn't do simple algebra to SAVE THEIR LIVES. I also tend to find more incompetent MALE students who wish to go into physics and engineering than female students simply because the male students are more likely to be encouraged to go into the fields despite (instead of because-of) their skill.

The number of women in the physics and engineering fields is steadily increasing. If the demographics of the physics classes are any indication and the demographics within National Laboratories continue to change; I don't think that generalization will hold up in the publics mind for too much longer.

I mean, there are plenty of fields that actually DO make a preference toward one gender....such as being a fighter pilot. It makes MUCH more sense for women to be fighter pilots as far as their inclinations and physical attributes (lighter weight, wider-hipped skeletal structure and lower center of mass makes "taking g's" easier). However, the majority of fighter pilots are NOT female.

Women's hearing is by nature, better than men's hearing. Why aren't most sound engineers women? Simple...the job is much more than being able to hear and there is so much variance within the population that the general physical trend simply doesn't apply to the individual.

Currently in our colleges we are having the "male problem" as female students are out-performing male students in almost every criteria. I guess we could always use those studies to assert that "boys just aren't good at college". I mean, girls are good at college and boys are good at trades. We need both in our society, so girls can be professionals and boys can fill the blue-collar jobs. Everyone wins!