Comments on: From Dance Captain to Coding Genius

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:33:18 +0000

I have not just started developing problem solving skills at the age of 22 and you know this. This was an opportunity for me to try something new and get out of my box. This was achieved. I do not understand these gender differences expressed as I never have felt that my intelligence or motivationon was in question by teachers growing up.

I am glad you had the opportunity to teach me some programming, although I believe I am not a textbook example for Gen Ys. I do not believe this experience was written about correctly.

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:50:33 +0000

@Christie @Christine — Despite the title, I hadn’t even thought about this in terms of gender differences. I agree that the problem is probably more wide-spread in girls, but a large part of guys are also affected. The reason I think girls are more susceptible is that girls are more likely to be praised for things they didn’t earn, like looks. This leads to a tendency to think that merit is innate and out of our control. In other words, a fixed mindset.

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:26:06 +0000

I feel this lack of true problem solving skills is one of the most frustrating and prevalent problems in our education system. It is especially frustrating to see how with even just one decent time investment so much progress can be made, yet no one had ever even tried before.

Also, I don’t know if it is simply because of gender prejudices among teachers, as Christie suggests, but for some reason this does seem to be a much larger problem among intelligent females than intelligent males. I wonder if it has anything to do with what parents expect from their children as well. For instance, I think there can be more pressure for females to get good grades than males since boys are often excused by the “boys will be boys” phenomenon, making it perfectly acceptable for them to excel in sports instead of in school. While this might seem to have the opposite effect, I think this can make girls more results-driven and more likely to focus on completing assignments (which most would agree are not problem-solving oriented) instead of learning the material/exploring the world around them. I also think fathers may be less likely to joke around with daughters/use sarcasm when speaking with them; both of which I believe help to develop a more critical mindset, where you not only must listen to authoritative figures but process and analyze what they said and decide for yourself if it makes sense based on your past experiences with them. Whatever the cause of the general problem, and the intensity of it among females, I think nothing is being done to correct the problem by our education standards.

By: Christie

Christie — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:47:54 +0000

HEAD stuck in the clouds, not heads.
I should proof-read comments before hitting submit!

By: Christie

Christie — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:46:11 +0000

See, this is why I’ve never coded before. I understand the concepts, and I *know* that I understand the concepts… I cannot imagine sitting through the mind-numbingly boring intro to programing class, while everyone around me gets really good at memorizing the functions. Maybe coding is eventually taught correctly- maybe coding is even eventually taught correctly to girls, but I can tell you I certainly never got that far. I got so sick of every teacher TREATING me like a blond moron, that I never actually made it to the classes that would’ve challenged me and kept my interest. The same thing is true to a degree for every science and math I took except physics (thank you Mr. Holloway).
Gender stereotyping in my early education is to some degree an issue too, I think. Jennifer figured it out because you trusted her intellect enough to let her figure it out in the same way you had- but when teachers don’t give you the benefit of the doubt on the first day of school and assume you aren’t an inherently logical and math/science-y type (which they don’t, if you’re a blond girl with her heads stuck in the clouds), they will always stunt your growth and assume you need to be taught the dumb-downed version.
The dumb-downed version of anything will never give anyone a real foundation. I always zoned off in class by accident and then got stressed… by the time I asked for help the teacher always assumed I was a moron and gave me the shortcut version.
But after all, we have our whole education system setup around the concept of passing a test… can we really be shocked that it’s bad? Life isn’t a test, it’s one giant problem.
Why in college should there be any penalty for repeating classes? Why do we care how long it takes our students to learn, as long as they learn? I just don’t understand… why is the system setup this way when it clearly doesn’t make any sense?

By: Ian

Ian — Sat, 02 May 2009 02:08:59 +0000

excellent job tony. i think just as hard as it is to finally grasp the skill of problem solving is the skill of learning patience and how to teach, which it seems you did quite effectively. I must say I think you’ve come a long way from high school when you thought you were smarter and better than everyone and thus no one deserved to be graced with your presence, to now, you’ve developed patience with us peons. Thanks for the laugh on top of it for the night.

Cheers

By: Kunjan

Kunjan — Sat, 02 May 2009 00:22:25 +0000

the thing is she got it herself, for someone with NO coding background
thats amazing… This is how they should teach programming, and thats how I learned it. Unfortunately the first programming course is “Intro to C or C++ or (gasp) Basic” and not “Introduction to Programming”. There is a subtle difference between the two.