From: robblack@ix.netcom.com
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 12:30:41 +0000
To: Pinhole Listserv <pinhole@exploratorium.edu>
Subject: Re: Pinhole Daily Digest
I marvel at the complexity of humanity! Don't we, as scientists, get so
frustrated with the fact that we can't isolate the one variable, set up
the simple controlled experiment, and pinpoint the cause!
I tend to be ecclectic in my beliefs, to a fault. And life is not
narrowing my point of view. Having both a male and a female child, I
have been awestruck by what I can only attribute to genetic
differences. Not all of them are stereotypical, but if I didn't know
better, I would swear these children got their genes from different
sources. My daughter is by far the more outgoing, confident, and strong
willed child. But she is also has more developed fine motor skills, and
she, too, plays with the dolls I bought, in vain, for my son.
As a believer in democracy, education and the magnificance of human
potential, I wish that all our actions could be the result of nurture.
But as I experience the suicide of friends who counsel others against it
and try to deal with the mentality of those who blow up daycare centers,
I have to believe that things go on in some people's brains that are
beyond any control.
So, I try to learn from, and act on my observations, as unscientific
as the collection of them may have been.
The students in my physics classes tend to do equally well until we get
to electricity-then the girls start to stand back (I begin the year with
waves) I attribute this to boys playing with electric toys and motors.
My daughter will have electric toys-she may not choose to play with
them-but she will have the opportunity and the encouragement. Male
physics teachers at the physics olympics ask me how I was able to get so
many girls to attend. The fact that they ask this question leaves me
dumbfounded. And this fact makes me sad that we can't attract more
female and persons of color to science teaching. And I can't tell you
what I feel when a father tells me his daughter doesn't need to well in
science to be a mom.
Perhaps the most important change is not in our minds, but in the
minds of the youngsters taking our places. You are wrong, Neil.
Everything has changed. When I was making a career choice there had
never been a female astronaut. Neither of my parents had attended
college. The world my daughter grows up in is quite different from the
world that shaped me, although very similar. The changes are subtle and
catastrophic. Like the earthquakes that may be large or small to us,
over the years the accumulated results are significant.
Though it's an overly used cliche-it does take a village, and a lot of
time. But I believe none of our efforts and attempts at awareness are
in vain.
OK, I'll stop all ready.
Heidi Black
The physics teacher the male biology teachers wouldn't believe when she
told them the Coriolus effect was not responsible for the spiralling of
tree growth.