Don't bite my head off

[nickjong]

I just read a New York Times article on the scarcity of girls in computer science. The article didn't contain any substantially new information for me, but it somehow led me to question the assumptions I've always held about this issue. As people continue to theorize why computer science doesn't seem to appeal as much to females, for me the

Comments

[laurabee]

[nickjong]

The more I think about it, the more I agree with you. It seems to make so much more sense just to encourage people to be open minded about those who break from tradition instead of trying to change the tradition outright. Instead of artificially changing the demographics of a field, why not focus on removing those factors (such as discrimination) that artificially limit the demographics?

I guess all that I'm trying to say is that we should no more pressure girls into traditionally male-dominated careers than we should pressure them into traditionally female-dominated careers. The emphasis ought to be simply on removing the pressures altogether.