Life among the Bottom Feeders?

[dawn_felagund]

Bobby sent me a really interesting article that breaks down how one's college major translates into various measures of intelligence and academic aptitude. The hard sciences come out on top in every single measure and no surprises there. And on the bottom?

Education majors.

Comments

[pandemonium_213]

First, I must state there are some wicked smart teachers out there. I count you and Bobby among them, as well as some truly outstanding teachers I had in grammar and high school and...my late sister. In her case (and now I'm gonna say something rather controversial), she wanted to be an engineering major (she had a strong aptitude for mathematics and definitely a natural affinity for metal and wheels :^), but this was in the late 50s. My parents discouraged her from pursuing the major;they later expressed deep regret over this, and said guilt may have been in a factor in encouraging me to pursue biology and chemistry. At any rate, like a lot of very smart women of that time, she opted for teaching, a more acceptable career choice for those women with scientific and mathematical aptitude. I also wonder if the rigor might have been stronger then, too? She wound up teaching 7th grade math and also got her masters in counseling. If she had to do it over again? She said she would have been an engineer

[heartofoshun]

My mother, a Latin and French major, is the only non-STEM person in the family.

Laura and I are freaking out about how to give Alex what he needs because it might as well be written in Urdu for as much as we understand about science, math, or the other mechanical/engineering kind of things that fascinate him. On the other hand, he totally grasps the shit that interests us--makes me feel like half a person. (Laura like me is fascinated with history of science and results but no aptitude at all for the hands-on side of it.)

[pandemonium_213]

Speaking as a STEM kid, my non-STEM mother did a LOT of the same things with me that you're already doing with Alex...taking him to museums, reading, reading, and more reading. It's more of a brain stimulation thing. The best thing you can do is to encourage his interests, which you and Laura are doing so well. My mother definitely encouraged my interests in natural history. The formal stuff will come later and from others. No need to worry that you can't teach him differential equations. :^)

[heartofoshun]

No need to worry that you can't teach him differential equations. :^)

Believe it or not, that is a huge relief! He does explain a lot of things to me nowadays--he gets a huge kick out of explaining Fictitious Science of Dr Who and movies to me--he loves to play those head games in addition to real science. I can tell he can tell the difference by the gleam in his eye and the little half-suppressed grin he has when explaining such things. He loves the mad-quasi-logic of fake science also.

[dawn_felagund]

First, I must state there are some wicked smart teachers out there.

I wholly agree. In fact, I think some of the data in the article are missing these people: those who go for degrees in their content areas (most undergrad middle/high school teachers and at least 10% of those doing Master's degrees). At no point would Bobby or I have identified as an "education major"; hence, we would be missing entirely from that dataset. My mentor, too, did both of her degrees in English, never education: another brilliant person and gifted teacher!

In fact, I'd say most teachers that make it are pretty smart. This is a profession with a pretty high turnover rate for a reason, and a dumb bunny isn't going to cut it for long!

(and now I'm gonna say something rather controversial)I agree that it would be controversial but don't particularly find it so! :) I think there are a lot of compelling points made about how the view of teaching as a "woman's profession" affects how it is seen by people and the expectations compared to similar professions. I'