ceide@bbn.com (03/01/89)
I've recently read many things which prompt me to ask: How many succesful women software engineers, mathematicians, and so on were encouraged as children by their *fathers* in maths and sciences? It seems like a lot. I know my father, although a literary type, expressed a lot of admiration when I could do any math or physics, and that encouraged me. Chantal Eide ceide@bbn.com
sbp@research.att.com (03/16/89)
> How many succesful women software engineers, mathematicians, > and so on were encouraged as children by their *fathers* in > maths and sciences? It seems like a lot. I know my father, > although a literary type, expressed a lot of admiration when > I could do any math or physics, and that encouraged me. > Chantal Eide I was definitely encouraged by my father, just because he was so enthusiastic about math. Admiration isn't the right word, although I know that my doing well in school was very important to him. It's just that he was so into math that he took it for granted that I would be good too, and he took it for granted that I would like math too, because it is such neat stuff. My mother was important too. She too considers schooling very important -- she's a teacher, in fact. I'm sure that she had as much of an influence as my father did, and I just happened to go into the same field as my dad rather than my mom. -- Sue Price
ian@mva.cs.liv.ac.uk (The Best is Yet to Come) (03/16/89)
In article <6647@ecsvax.UUCP>, ceide@bbn.com writes: > I've recently read many things which prompt me to ask: > How many succesful women software engineers, mathematicians, > and so on were encouraged as children by their *fathers* in > maths and sciences? I think that parental encouragement can easily be outweighed by other factors. My sister and I were both encouraged by my father to take an interest in maths, and we were both about as good as each other, given our ages (she's two years younger than me). However, when my sister went to secondary school (age 11), she went to a single sex school where arts were encouraged in preference to sciences (the school said maths was a science, I don't agree with that, but ...). Thus, my father's encouragement was overshadowed by the school's academic preferences, and my sister is currently trying to get a place at a drama school. This is of course only one possible reading of the cause and effect, my sister could have simply lost interest in maths or she could have subconciously rebelled against my parents. Obviously, my father wasn't going to force her into a subject she didn't seem to want to do, and he let her continue following more arts-based subjects. Maybe the maths teacher at my sister's school wasn't very good (I know I was put off history by the teacher). I'm just saying what happened, you can draw the conclusions! Ian Finch Janet: ian@uk.ac.liv.cs.mva --------- Internet: ian%mva.cs.liv.ac.uk@cunyvm.cuny.edu UUCP: ...!mcvax!ukc!mupsy!liv-cs!ian ================================================================================ I see it all before me, The days of love and torment, The nights of rock 'n' roll, I see it all before me. - Patti Smith ================================================================================
Mary.Ann.Pike@PROOF.ERGO.CS.CMU.EDU (03/26/89)
In article <6647@ecsvax.UUCP> ceide@bbn.com writes: >I've recently read many things which prompt me to ask: >How many succesful women software engineers, mathematicians, >and so on were encouraged as children by their *fathers* in >maths and sciences? It seems like a lot. I know my father, >although a literary type, expressed a lot of admiration when >I could do any math or physics, and that encouraged me. The driving force in my family was my mother. Her parents were immigrants, and she never had the opportunity to attend college, so she made sure that my brother and sister and I did well in school and went to college. Not having any professional people in our family, we didn't have any role models to direct us into any particular professions. I would have to say that my choice of engineering as a major was influenced by my high school teachers (male and female). We had a great high school, where the teachers really took an interest in their students. I can remember my physics teacher asking me what I was going to major in at college, and when I told him I really didn't know, he suggested electrical engineering, because of the aptitude I had shown in my physics and math classes. That ended up being the degree that I received. Looking back at my college record, I think that I did not do as well academically as I did in high school because most of the professors in college either don't have the time or just aren't interested in the students (particularly undergraduates). Having *someone* (regardless of gender) to appreciate and encourage your school work (be it parents, teachers, or whomever) can make a big difference in your attitude towards learning. My mother was the one who encouraged me to do well in school, but it was my high school teachers that directed me towards engineering as a profession. Mary Ann Pike mapike@cs.cmu.edu
joanne@hpccc.hp.com (Joanne Petersen) (04/12/89)
My parents both encouraged me in math and sciences, though neither one of them excelled in these subjects (one never got past grade school; the other ended after high school). Education was very important to them, regardless of the specific subject I studied. I ended up as a studio art major, with a math minor (!). They were happy that I graduated from college! The people who got me interested in mathematics were a teacher in grade school (who arranged some special tutoring for me at the local university) and a teacher in high school who made math FUN. (One of the reasons I did not become a math major in college was that theory was not as much fun as applications! I hated proving stuff when I'd rather use the formulas!) I'm not a practicing artist (i.e., don't do it for a living) but neither do I use my math background these days. I got an MBA and that's been the most "practical" of my educational degrees. :-)