Sunday, May 2, 2010

Girls warm to science and technology

I came across an article today that talked about girls and technology. The article speaks on the fact that in 2002 women only make up 19% of computer science undergraduate degrees at Canadian and American institutions. This 19% has since declined to 12% in 2007. So to increase the number of girls interested in computers a woman by the name of Michelle Craig of the University of Toronto started a workshop program for girls in 8th grade. I think this is an excellent idea and that Virginia schools should start a program like this for girls here. Craig started this program because she realized that gender balance of her students hadn’t changed in the past two decades. I can relate to this notion because when I graduated high school my parents wanted me to go to school for nursing, but now that my younger brother is graduating from high school my parents want him to student Information Systems or IT. Many people believe girls wouldn’t be interested in computers because they don’t find video games appealing and the idea of the solitary programming lifestyle would bore high social girls. Since these stats range from three to eight years ago I believe that girls are more interested in video games and if introduced to computer programming they would probably like it. I watch my younger brother play Call of Duty and I notice that just as many girls play as boys. In my opinion, if girls are introduced and even that extra push they would definitely find the computer science industry interesting.

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