View Single Post
  #55   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 04-07-2015, 17:31
VioletElizabeth's Avatar
VioletElizabeth VioletElizabeth is offline
Registered User
AKA: ECD
FRC #1868 (Space Cookies)
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Rookie Year: 2012
Location: Palo Alto
Posts: 58
VioletElizabeth is just really niceVioletElizabeth is just really niceVioletElizabeth is just really niceVioletElizabeth is just really niceVioletElizabeth is just really nice
Re: Sign this petition to allow girls in robotics! (at Timmins Public library)!

Quote:
Originally Posted by artK View Post
I've read through this thread and related articles, and I don't see a justification for the demonization of the librarian and the Timmins event simply because it was exclusive to boys. The librarian seemed to do the best she could given the constraints she was given: namely, that the event was exclusive to boys, and a girl wanted to attend said event, so she proposed a waitlist, and with enough demand would bring it up the hierarchy to make it happen. She probably didn't have the authority to admit or deny the girl to the event.

Secondly, with regards to all-boys programs, I don't see a problem with them existing. In fact, I was part of the all boys FRC team 254, and have seen work done by teams that are all-male, all-female, and coed (The three Ames teams actually have one of each). They all ran with different ways of doing things at different levels, from the division of labor to what we had for dinner (one of the most important cultural lessons I learned on 254 was that you never say no to good barbecue ).

The students on the teams were also very different beyond the obvious gender differences. 254 students were typically people who might not be super worried about having perfect grades or stellar SAT scores (when I joined, I wasn't), whereas 1868 students sent at least multiple girls to MIT or Caltech or other cream of the crop engineering colleges each year (actual stats from 1868 are welcome). 254 taught me and my peers the value in putting in the effort in what we did, or why to fight the "cognitive decay" that could have happened (Even though classes got harder each term, my grades went up as did my involvement on the team). And from my experiences in all boys programs (high school, robotics, summer camps, etc.), that is generally what they are after. It would come to no surprise to me if this was the program's original intent, however poorly executed it may have been.
1868 alumnae, going to MIT :

Let me find my Chairman's binder We don't keep stats by year (except by memory), but we've sent 13 girls to MIT. We also send girls to a wide variety of other colleges, but that is by far the single biggest destination. The other colleges with more than one alumna are UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Cal Poly, Case Western, and Stanford. We actually only have one alumna at Caltech that I know of.

I wouldn't say that we all are as academically focused as portrayed, but it's not an unfair generalization to make if you are making generalizations. I would say that it's not necessarily a gender thing--I know a fair number of guys with similar attitudes towards academics.

(This post doesn't actually have much to do with the discussion, but Art asked.)
Reply With Quote