Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!agate!clambert%hector@Sun.COM
From: clambert%hector@Sun.COM (Caroline Lambert [summer intern])
Newsgroups: comp.society.women
Subject: Re: Countering discrimination your children will face
Message-ID: <12780@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 28 Jul 88 20:22:57 GMT
References: <12003@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <12502@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <12654@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
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In article <12654@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> rha@bunker (Robert H. Averack) writes:
>>...*encouraging* 
>>girl children  towards the sciences (up to a point) is a minor measure 
>>to help counteract the discouragement they may well be getting outside 
>>the home.
>     Here though, Lea, I think we need to be careful.  At some point in a
>child's development, the child will show a natural tendency/capability
>towards a particular area of study.  I believe that this natural tendency
>needs to be encouraged and built upon, irrespective of whether it falls
>under the Sciences, the Humanities or the Arts.



I disagree. What if you had a girl who did well in math and science,
but did exceptionally well in, say, languages? Wouldn't it be better for
her to become a scientist/engineer with an interest in languages than
a linguist who knows Stokes' theorem? Besides, how do you know that her
performance in math/science isn't affected by the very fact that she
is a girl? - how can you tell if that is a natural tendency or not?

Caroline Lambert
caroline@polya.stanford.edu		clambert@sun.com