This is a sad state of affairs

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Check out: Where Did All the Girl Geeks Go?

Apparently the current generation of girl geeks needs to reach out to the next generation before it's much too late. And apparently schools need to get girls more interested in computers at earlier ages. I guess it's a good thing that I'm in a position to try to do just that in my capacity as an adviser on a local school's Technology Committee...

[ProfStokes]

MB, have you read David Anderegg's Nerds: Who they are and why we need more of them?  Coincidentally I just finished that book today, and he addresses a very similar problem, although his focus is on boys. Anderegg foresees that the U.S. will be unable to compete with other countries in science and technology because of the lack of students pursuing those majors, and he identifies the primary obstacle as the stigmatization of mathletes and techies as "geeks" and "nerds" in early adolescence--the age when they need to begin taking the classes if they're going to pursue a career in these fields.  It's a very interesting analysis, if anyone else is curious about the issue.

ProfStokes

[MagnusTrask]

I thought kids ate slept and breathed computers these days, and that the geek image hadn't been associated with computer use since the 80s.

[Lydia]

I'm in IT.  I'm used to being one of very few women in my group.  Periodically I get an IM from somebody or other saying, "You'll tell me if you mind my language, right?"

Back when I was in school, I took a look at programming a couple of times, but never actually took a course.  I remember going to the first class of a programming course.  The lecturer told us where we could find the game "Hunt the Wumpus."  (This would have been in the mid 1970s.)  I wasn't interested in playing Hunt the Wumpus.  If they had gotten straight to the hardcore programming grammar, I might have stuck around.

Julia would have Hunted the Wumpus, so that when she tracked it down she could play Hypnotize the Wumpus.

[MagnusTrask]

The lecturer told us where we could find the game "Hunt the Wumpus."  (This would have been in the mid 1970s.)  I wasn't interested in playing Hunt the Wumpus.  If they had gotten straight to the hardcore programming grammar, I might have stuck around.

Julia would have Hunted the Wumpus, so that when she tracked it down she could play Hypnotize the Wumpus.

Yes, that would have been the wrong carrot to dangle in front of me as well, since I've never played a computer/video game to this day.    I'm a real nutjob, in that I don't successfully learn things unless I see some purpose, something at least semi-important.    They never told me what calculus was for, and it wasn't clear it had a purpose from what they were teaching us, so I couldn't retain it.    Hunting down a poor Wumpus who never did me any harm wouldn't have counted as a purpose.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

MB, have you read David Anderegg's Nerds: Who they are and why we need more of them?

I haven't - but I was just checking it out on Amazon. If I can't find it in a store, I may pick it up from them. Thanks for the heads up. 

Back when I was in school, I took a look at programming a couple of times, but never actually took a course.

I've taught Computer Programming for over 20 years. Back when I was just starting out with it in '85, I taught it as a Post Secondary level - meaning a student had to have graduated from high school but they didn't necessarily have to have attended college. The vast majority of my students were women wanting to improve their skills or looking to get into the field. (Though nowadays that curriculum would be a joke because the three languages I taught were Basic, Cobol and RPG II/III, and they aren't even used anymore. ) I've long since moved to the college level - and today one really needs a college degree just to get an interview, much less a job. For quite a while it was pretty evenly split, but nowadays it's true that there must be 1 woman for every 6-8 men. Not as bad as the statistics in the linked article. But not nearly as balanced as it should be.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Sort of a related article: Why Are There So Few Women Tech Entrepreneurs?

[Lydia]

I remembered this thread a couple of weeks ago, when a male co-worker said that a problem with working for our company was that although the men far outnumber the women, the men's rooms and ladies rooms are exactly the same in size and number, so there is often a line in the men's room.  Naturally I cheered enthusiastically.

I'm imagining Julia in med school, occasionally late to class because the nearest ladies room was three blocks down the street.