Zuska is the kick-ass alter-ego of Suzanne E Franks. When not dispensing Zuska's wisdom, Suzanne can often be found gardening, reading, or having one of her thrice-weekly migraines.
You all may be aware of the moronically stupid column by John Tierney that ran in the NY Times recently, an opinion piece disguised as reporting. I haven't had a chance yet to give my own response to this piece of tripe, or to show you how it is but one more piece in Christina Hoff Sommers's American Enterprise Institute-funded propaganda campaign against women in science.
The Association for Women in Science wrote a letter in response to Tierney's trash. Naturally, the NY Times refused to run it. However, you can read it here. In addition,
[AWIS] constructed an in-depth op-ed, also in collaboration with SWE. With support from the National Women's Editorial Forum, a group dedicated to increasing the supply of commentary by women and their participation in the media, our piece has been distributed to every weekly and daily newspaper in the country.The op-ed focuses on the importance of Title IX compliance and seeks to debunk some of the misconceptions associated with the law including that it is only applicable to sports. Some claim Title IX compliance reviews are a "new" way to apply the law to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), but this law has been applicable to all educational programs receiving federal funds for 36 years.
Look for the op-ed in your local newspaper over the coming week. If you don't see it published soon, contact your local paper and request they print a copy.
Good stuff! You heard 'em, folks. Watch for this in your local paper and if you don't see it over the next week, call or write and ask them to print it.
Education & Careers
Comments
From the article - "While girls make up nearly half of high school physics students, they’re less likely than boys to take Advanced Placement courses or go on to a college degree in physics." Well, I can explain that - at least at my high school. You see, at the beginning of the semester, my high school physics teacher asked who would be interested in doing the extra work to take the AP exam (since we didn't have a separate course). About 10 of us indicated we were interested, but when we weren't contacted, we assumed he wasn't going to bother. Turns out he did teach the extra classes - for the boys who signed up, but never contacted the girls.
I'm finishing my PhD in physics, and still bitter about this, nearly 10 years later. One of those guys ended up getting the spot I wanted at a top university - I always wonder what might have happened if I hadn't had to spend a year on intro physics in college.
Posted by: Adria | July 29, 2008 11:04 PM
"You all may be aware of the moronically stupid column by John Tierney that ran in the NY Times recently, an opinion piece disguised as reporting"
You're gonna have to narrow it down a bit.
Posted by: Dan S. | July 29, 2008 11:36 PM
Um... this comment box is too small for me to think in.
http://www.triopticon.com/Members/kewball/posts/this-feels-like-mothra-versus-godzilla where I target Tierney's Twisted Tale and take a swipe at the Right Wing Professor.
Posted by: Matt Hussein Platte | July 30, 2008 12:30 AM
Z, I fisked this motherfucker when I was guest-blogging at Feministe:
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/07/15/teh-laydeez-jus-don-liek-teh-scienz/
Posted by: PhysioProf | July 30, 2008 7:25 AM
I wrote about it, too:
http://im-geiste.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-take-on-mr-tierneys-article.html
http://im-geiste.blogspot.com/2008/07/thanks-becca.html
Posted by: Samia | July 30, 2008 1:23 PM