… we do need more women going into math and science studies and careers. That should be a national economic priority. What goes unsaid, because it would create controversy, is that one reason this is such an important priority is the dominance of women in higher education. Women earn nearly 58 percent of the bachelor’s degree but they continue to shun the fields Ride talks about (roughly a quarter, at most, of those degrees go to women). Sure, there are plenty of men still earning PhDs in computer science, etc., but how many are from the United States? And how many will continue to stay in this country to fuel our economic competitiveness?

By all measures, high school girls are being well prepared in math and science. We can’t continue to use that as an excuse. The places to focus are the first few years of college when so many of these talented women opt instead for sociology or clinical psychology.