Female college students need encouragement to consider predominantly male STEM careers. However, feminizing science careers is a turn-off for middle school girls, a study finds.
Fewer women study STEM
March 23, 2012 by
Despite high demand for workers with technical skills, fewer women are earning certificates and associate degrees in science, technology, engineering and math at community colleges, concludes a new report. Less than 2 percent of engineers with four-year degrees are out of work.
Are community colleges doomed to be the Wal-Marts of higher education?
Stereotypes don’t explain the gender gap in math
January 19, 2012 by
“Stereotype threat” doesn’t explain why fewer females excel in math, conclude University of Missouri Professor David Geary and University of Leeds Professor Gijsbert Stoet.
Since 1999, numerous studies have claimed that women’s math performance is undermined by lack of confidence, which is caused by the belief that men are better at math. “The stereotype theory really was adopted by psychologists and policy makers around the world as the final word, with the idea that eliminating the stereotype could eliminate the gender gap,” says Geary. “However, even with many programs established to address the issue, the problem continued. We now believe the wrong problem is being addressed.”
Many studies of stereotype threat were poorly designed and used statistical techniques improperly, Geary and Stoet argue.
“We were surprised the researchers did not subject males to the same experimental manipulations as female participants,” Geary said. “It is reasonable to think that men also would not do well if told ‘men normally do worse on this test’ right before they take the test. When we adjusted the findings based on this and other statistical factors, we found little to no significant stereotype theory effect.”
Focusing on reducing stereotypes will not produce more female mathematicians and scientists, Geary says.
“Can stereotype threat explain the sex gap in mathematics performance and achievement?” will be published in the journal Review of General Psychology.
Women leave workforce for college
January 2, 2012 by
While men tend to take whatever work they can find, more women are choosing college over a bad job. Will the ex-Starbucks barista be able to pay back $200,000 in student loans with a masters in strategic communications?
California’s Dream Act promises undocumented students college aid but no path to citizenship.
Graduation + transfer = new success rate
November 30, 2011 by
Community college success rates will rise, under a new definition that includes transfer students who go on to a four-year institution before earning an associate degree.
Nearly 80 percent of male black and Latino college students in California enroll in community college. Six years later, 80 percent have failed to complete a certificate or degree or transfer to a university. Women do somewhat better.
A cheaper, faster, online degree
September 5, 2011 by
After a shaky start, Western Governors University — an accredited, low-cost, nonprofit online university — is helping working adults earn degrees quickly and cheaply. WGU degrees are based on mastery, not on “seat time,” enabling the average bachelor’s graduate to finish a degree in 30 months for about $15,000.
Also on Community College Spotlight: Women make up nearly half the community college faculty in science, math and technology fields.
Pew: Women value college more than men
August 22, 2011 by
College-educated women value higher education, while men have doubts according to a Pew Research Center survey.
In 2010, 36 percent of women ages 25-29 had earned a bachelor’s degree, compared to only 28 percent of their male counterparts. The education gap keeps growing.
Also on Community College Spotlight: High-achieving, low-income students are likely to attend community colleges or unselective four-year universities. While low-income students are taking harder classes and earning higher test scores, affluent students have improved their academic preparation even more.
Soldier earns valedictorian honors
May 30, 2011 by
After working 12 hours a day as a hazardous materials specialist at Bagram air base in Afghanistan, Army Staff Sgt. Dysha Huggins-Hodge studied in the computer lab, determined to complete an associate degree at Anne Arundel Community College on schedule — and to earn A’s. Now stationed in Maryland, the 4.0 student gave the valedictorian speech at her graduation last week.
Also on Community College Spotlight: Women earned 62 percent of associate degrees and 57 percent of bachelor’s degrees in 2008-09.
Women top men in bachelor’s degrees
February 13, 2011 by
Twenty-three percent of women, but only 14 percent of men, complete a bachelor’s degree by age 23, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report that uses the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.
“We’ve seen this great transformation in the workforce away from manufacturing toward more of a service economy,” (BLS economist Jay) Meisenheimer said. “Now that there are more opportunities for women to work, we’re seeing a growing number completing high school and college and going on to graduate and professional programs.”
At the age of 22, 10 percent of respondents had completed a bachelor’s degree and another 27 percent were enrolled in college.
Study: Women scientists don’t face bias
February 10, 2011 by
Women’s choices — not male bias — explain why so few women advance in science careers, concludes a study by Cornell researchers Stephen Ceci and Wendy Williams, which is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The focus on “sex discrimination in reviewing, interviewing, and hiring represents costly, misplaced effort,” they argue. “Society is engaged in the present in solving problems of the past, rather than in addressing meaningful limitations deterring women’s participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers today.”
Looking at two decades of data, the researchers found that women scientists are more likely than men to step off the career track.
This situation is caused mainly by women’s choices, both freely made and constrained by biology and society, such as choices to defer careers to raise children, follow spouses’ career moves, care for elderly parents, limit job searches geographically, and enhance work-home balance.
Family-friendly policies, such as the option to work part-time and delay the tenure clock, could help women advance in science careers, they write.
Ceci and Williams are married to each other and have three daughters, notes Lisa Belkin in the New York Times.
She links to an interview with Dr. Janet Davison Rowley, now 85, “the matriarch of modern cancer genetics.” The mother of four, Dr. Rowley worked part-time until her youngest child was 12.
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