Apr 5 2013: Hi Rose, I have heard many times that, in the past, women were discriminated against, but keep in mind that men were also discriminated against, a different kind of discrimination, but discrimination never-the-less.
As you said, men and women are different, almost different species. I think equality should be restricted to opportunities and equal treatment under the law, with no favoritism is either case. The rest of it can sort itself out.
Apr 5 2013: Hanna bases her entire premise on two facts, that more women are going to college and that women are getting higher position jobs. She doesn't present any reason for this greater influx of women going to college which is I believe to be important in understanding this change in our social environment. Besides the loss of manufacturing jobs (high pay without a degree), which I think she mentions, there has been a multitude of other factors that are more important and have acted as a catalyst in promoting this change. Her presentation is superficial in explaining this phenomenon. As for more women filling higher position jobs, it stands to reason since more women are getting degrees and it would be silly to discount this and claim that there is some sort of preference towards hiring women. It's all about numbers...
The rest of her dissertation is supposition which may be true in some instances and not others. For instance, she claims that women are better managers. I have worked for men and women and there were good male managers and good female managers, the opposite was also true. Neither sex had a monopoly.
As for her using ads like the Marlboro man as examples that men have lost their manliness, she has to realize that that is not real life, they're ads created by advertising firms and do not necessarily reflect reality. On the other hand, it would be true that many women have lost their feministic traits and have become more like men. To be fair, I think she is partly right, but for me to say that women act more manly would also be true. I have noticed that many TV shows where women are taking the roles which used to be predominantly a male role are having them act so much like men that these women almost completely lose their femininity. In any case, I think Hanna using this to slam men weakens her case and shows her motivations to be sexist.
Mar 11 2011: It started off interesting, but then she lost focus and never returned to the initial train of thought. I have no idea what the tirade about women had to do with this subject. In the end, it just seemed like just a bunch of opinions and lacked any substance related to science.
I do have to agree with one thing, women like to talk, but as she showed, they lack focus. It's extremely hard to keep a woman on subject, but that's just my personal experience. I don't know if this is caused by differences in the brain of learned socially. Either way, it's unproductive. Keep in mind that is is generally speaking as there are exceptions.
As for what causes love, I don't think she is delving deep enough into the mind and considering what drives those emotions.
Oh well, she seems to mean well. I hope in the future she gets rid of that chip on her shoulder about being a woman.
My opinion is that we trust the medical profession much more than they deserve. While doctors can do some incredible things, the medical field is still in it's infancy. During the Civil War, (just 85 years before I was born), a medical bag on the war front consisted of a knife, a saw, alcohol, and opiates. Harvard didn't get its first stethoscope until 1870.
When it comes to the brain, we know even less.
As for ADD or ADHD, we can assume that it can be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, or the abnormal structure of the neurons and synapses, or have a social causality. In any case, treating the symptom without knowing the cause can have deleterious effects. I don't know if tests exists to determine the cause of the symptoms, but I do know that it can't be determined by simple consultation with a physician. Except perhaps in extreme cases, medication should be avoided until we know more about the human brain.
For all I know, most ADD or ADHD cases can be caused from boredom or from not letting children expend energy on the play grounds during recess. From what I understand, boys are now forced to "tune it down" during recess. I do remember how relaxed I felt after gym class during junior high and high school. Even in later years, during our breaks at work, we would go outside and play Frisbee or something else and after break, we would be more relaxed and more focused. Ironically, the business was afraid that we might get hurt at work so they stopped our afternoon romps. This resulted in people sitting in the break room and drinking coffee and smoking. Stupid, huh?
Mar 2 2011: Many of the things you mentioned are true, no... change that to, everything you said is true.
Typing tutor programs are an example of what you are talking about, but mostly without the elaborate game play. What's good about these typing programs is that the user gets instant feed back and scoring. In addition, they can repeat the lessons numerous times to improve their scores in a fraction of the time typing courses used to take in the classroom. Another benefit is that there is no peer pressure or pressure from the teacher which increases their anxiety level.
Another example of using computers to learn... Years ago, I had to learn a subject. I took several online example tests and only got about half the answers correct. I repeated the tests over and over until I scored 100%. When I took the real test, I got 100%. Apparently, I learned the subject from the practice tests. This entire process only took about 1 hour. This type of learning would be excellent for subjects that require memorization, such as vocabulary. The instant feedback was instrumental in the rapid learning. Also knowing that I knew the subject was invaluable to me during the real test.
Also, in a classroom setting, showing the aggregate scores of the class sets goals for the students.
I realize that this is a type of flash card system, but I think improved with the addition of multiple choice.
Good luck on your project.
In college, algebra was a required course. For me, algebra was a very simple subject and I was bored to death. I would sit in class trying to appear to pay attention while at the same time, trying to do other things. After a couple of weeks, I spoke to the instructor and he agreed to let me come to class only on days when there was a test. I made up some excuse about my schedule to justify my absence. I would open the book about 1 hour prior to each test and I finished the course with an "A".
To sit there for an hour was pure torture and had I done so in todays world, they would have diagnosed me with ADD or ADHD. In other subjects that were more demanding, such as statics, dynamics, physics, and calculus, I was totally engrossed. I couldn't wait to get to class and didn't want it to end so soon.
What's to be learned, or at least considered, is that ADD and ADHD is diagnosed for many students that are bored with either the subject or the level at which it is being taught. This is truly a travesty. For a doctor or a parent to put their children on drugs without considering the cause of the child's restlessness is nothing more than incompetence.
The educational system needs to change. Our world is getting more complex and specialization, even at the high school level, needs to be addressed. A "general" education is no longer a viable solution.
Mar 1 2011: I suppose that making games more educational would help, but I don't think that is the real problem with education. People excel in what they are interested in and tend to get bored with anything else. There seems to be a huge gap with what interests girl versus what interests boys and the educational subjects favors girls interests.
As an example of how interest or lack of interest effects the learning process, I will use one of my favorite subjects, audio. Audio is a very complex subject. Most people, men and women, are not interested in audio and when I talk about it, their eyes glaze over and they only listen, for a while, to be polite. If I bring the subject up again, they will avoid it. Well, the same thing applies to the subjects taught in schools. Using myself in high school as an example, we would read classic books in english class and report on them. I would be bored to death and my grade would reflect it. Once we had to read a science fiction story which was my favorite type of story. I didn't read the book, I absorbed it. When we reported on it in class, it seemed, to me, that no one had read it. Our roles were reversed. That day, I was the "A" student, everyone else were "B" or "C" students.
The point is that grades are not necessarily a reflection of intelligence, rather a reflection of interest. If the educational process was limited to what interest me personally, I would shine above all the rest. I would also go so far as to say that girls would be less interested than boys in this example and hence the boys, on average, would out score the girls.
This considered, It is easy to understand the disparity between boys and girls. It's the educational process that is failing the boys. Want them to sit still? Then teach them something they are interested in.
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A reply on Talk: Hanna Rosin: New data on the rise of women
As you said, men and women are different, almost different species. I think equality should be restricted to opportunities and equal treatment under the law, with no favoritism is either case. The rest of it can sort itself out.
A comment on Talk: Hanna Rosin: New data on the rise of women
The rest of her dissertation is supposition which may be true in some instances and not others. For instance, she claims that women are better managers. I have worked for men and women and there were good male managers and good female managers, the opposite was also true. Neither sex had a monopoly.
As for her using ads like the Marlboro man as examples that men have lost their manliness, she has to realize that that is not real life, they're ads created by advertising firms and do not necessarily reflect reality. On the other hand, it would be true that many women have lost their feministic traits and have become more like men. To be fair, I think she is partly right, but for me to say that women act more manly would also be true. I have noticed that many TV shows where women are taking the roles which used to be predominantly a male role are having them act so much like men that these women almost completely lose their femininity. In any case, I think Hanna using this to slam men weakens her case and shows her motivations to be sexist.
A reply on Talk: Helen Fisher: Why we love, why we cheat
I do have to agree with one thing, women like to talk, but as she showed, they lack focus. It's extremely hard to keep a woman on subject, but that's just my personal experience. I don't know if this is caused by differences in the brain of learned socially. Either way, it's unproductive. Keep in mind that is is generally speaking as there are exceptions.
As for what causes love, I don't think she is delving deep enough into the mind and considering what drives those emotions.
Oh well, she seems to mean well. I hope in the future she gets rid of that chip on her shoulder about being a woman.
A reply on Conversation: Can we make public elementary schools more boy friendly? Does gaming offer a creative way to do that?
My opinion is that we trust the medical profession much more than they deserve. While doctors can do some incredible things, the medical field is still in it's infancy. During the Civil War, (just 85 years before I was born), a medical bag on the war front consisted of a knife, a saw, alcohol, and opiates. Harvard didn't get its first stethoscope until 1870.
When it comes to the brain, we know even less.
As for ADD or ADHD, we can assume that it can be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, or the abnormal structure of the neurons and synapses, or have a social causality. In any case, treating the symptom without knowing the cause can have deleterious effects. I don't know if tests exists to determine the cause of the symptoms, but I do know that it can't be determined by simple consultation with a physician. Except perhaps in extreme cases, medication should be avoided until we know more about the human brain.
For all I know, most ADD or ADHD cases can be caused from boredom or from not letting children expend energy on the play grounds during recess. From what I understand, boys are now forced to "tune it down" during recess. I do remember how relaxed I felt after gym class during junior high and high school. Even in later years, during our breaks at work, we would go outside and play Frisbee or something else and after break, we would be more relaxed and more focused. Ironically, the business was afraid that we might get hurt at work so they stopped our afternoon romps. This resulted in people sitting in the break room and drinking coffee and smoking. Stupid, huh?
Anyway, thanks for your response.
A reply on Conversation: Can we make public elementary schools more boy friendly? Does gaming offer a creative way to do that?
Typing tutor programs are an example of what you are talking about, but mostly without the elaborate game play. What's good about these typing programs is that the user gets instant feed back and scoring. In addition, they can repeat the lessons numerous times to improve their scores in a fraction of the time typing courses used to take in the classroom. Another benefit is that there is no peer pressure or pressure from the teacher which increases their anxiety level.
Another example of using computers to learn... Years ago, I had to learn a subject. I took several online example tests and only got about half the answers correct. I repeated the tests over and over until I scored 100%. When I took the real test, I got 100%. Apparently, I learned the subject from the practice tests. This entire process only took about 1 hour. This type of learning would be excellent for subjects that require memorization, such as vocabulary. The instant feedback was instrumental in the rapid learning. Also knowing that I knew the subject was invaluable to me during the real test.
Also, in a classroom setting, showing the aggregate scores of the class sets goals for the students.
I realize that this is a type of flash card system, but I think improved with the addition of multiple choice.
Good luck on your project.
A comment on Conversation: Can we make public elementary schools more boy friendly? Does gaming offer a creative way to do that?
In college, algebra was a required course. For me, algebra was a very simple subject and I was bored to death. I would sit in class trying to appear to pay attention while at the same time, trying to do other things. After a couple of weeks, I spoke to the instructor and he agreed to let me come to class only on days when there was a test. I made up some excuse about my schedule to justify my absence. I would open the book about 1 hour prior to each test and I finished the course with an "A".
To sit there for an hour was pure torture and had I done so in todays world, they would have diagnosed me with ADD or ADHD. In other subjects that were more demanding, such as statics, dynamics, physics, and calculus, I was totally engrossed. I couldn't wait to get to class and didn't want it to end so soon.
What's to be learned, or at least considered, is that ADD and ADHD is diagnosed for many students that are bored with either the subject or the level at which it is being taught. This is truly a travesty. For a doctor or a parent to put their children on drugs without considering the cause of the child's restlessness is nothing more than incompetence.
The educational system needs to change. Our world is getting more complex and specialization, even at the high school level, needs to be addressed. A "general" education is no longer a viable solution.
Well, that's my two cents!
A comment on Conversation: Can we make public elementary schools more boy friendly? Does gaming offer a creative way to do that?
As an example of how interest or lack of interest effects the learning process, I will use one of my favorite subjects, audio. Audio is a very complex subject. Most people, men and women, are not interested in audio and when I talk about it, their eyes glaze over and they only listen, for a while, to be polite. If I bring the subject up again, they will avoid it. Well, the same thing applies to the subjects taught in schools. Using myself in high school as an example, we would read classic books in english class and report on them. I would be bored to death and my grade would reflect it. Once we had to read a science fiction story which was my favorite type of story. I didn't read the book, I absorbed it. When we reported on it in class, it seemed, to me, that no one had read it. Our roles were reversed. That day, I was the "A" student, everyone else were "B" or "C" students.
The point is that grades are not necessarily a reflection of intelligence, rather a reflection of interest. If the educational process was limited to what interest me personally, I would shine above all the rest. I would also go so far as to say that girls would be less interested than boys in this example and hence the boys, on average, would out score the girls.
This considered, It is easy to understand the disparity between boys and girls. It's the educational process that is failing the boys. Want them to sit still? Then teach them something they are interested in.