http://www.whyboysfail.com/2009/12/30/sally-ride-is-absolutely-right/ Just another WordPress weblog Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:18:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://www.whyboysfail.com/2009/12/30/sally-ride-is-absolutely-right/#comment-13434 Anonymous Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:19:33 +0000 http://www.whyboysfail.com/?p=1289#comment-13434 Dr. Ride didn't mention a few things. In the New York Times article, there is a link to the breakdown by gender and major for Stanford, for both graduate and undergraduate students. The numbers she mentions for some of the technical subjects are there, but if you look at the overall numbers for Stanford, they are (surprisingly?) heavily male. At the graduate level it is approaching 2 to 1 male. At the undergraduate level, it is majority male. Considering the inquiry currently being done by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Stanford's admissions policies could be an interesting area to study. In addition, a significant number of Stanford's undergraduates are undeclared. That would seem to be the perfect time to try to push the women into eventually becoming STEM majors. I wonder if they try to do that. And, finally, one of Stanford's more famous graduates is Chelsea Clinton. According to Wikipedia, at Stanford she declared a major in Chemistry with an interest in medicine but switched to history after two years. She eventually got a job as a hedge fund manager! Also according to Wikipedia, "At December 2009, Clinton is studying health policy and management at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health." If she didn't become a STEM graduate, I think Dr. Ride truly has an uphill battle. Dr. Ride didn’t mention a few things. In the New York Times article, there is a link to the breakdown by gender and major for Stanford, for both graduate and undergraduate students. The numbers she mentions for some of the technical subjects are there, but if you look at the overall numbers for Stanford, they are (surprisingly?) heavily male. At the graduate level it is approaching 2 to 1 male. At the undergraduate level, it is majority male. Considering the inquiry currently being done by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Stanford’s admissions policies could be an interesting area to study. In addition, a significant number of Stanford’s undergraduates are undeclared. That would seem to be the perfect time to try to push the women into eventually becoming STEM majors. I wonder if they try to do that. And, finally, one of Stanford’s more famous graduates is Chelsea Clinton. According to Wikipedia, at Stanford she declared a major in Chemistry with an interest in medicine but switched to history after two years. She eventually got a job as a hedge fund manager! Also according to Wikipedia, “At December 2009, Clinton is studying health policy and management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.” If she didn’t become a STEM graduate, I think Dr. Ride truly has an uphill battle.

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