Girls don’t do math so as to not look nerdy

By William Atkins
Sunday, 09 November 2008 20:17

Science - Biology

A University of Wisconsin study has concluded that children, especially girls, do not go into mathematics, even though they have the ability and the interest, because of peer pressures and other negative reasons. What a needless waste of human potential!


The researchers state in their research paper that the result will be “a far greater cost to the future of the USA economy and our standard of living if we fail to nurture and develop the talents of the vast majority of our mathematically gifted children, boys as well as girls.”

(What a degradation [humiliation] to the United States (and to any country of the world) when basic education of its citizens is ignored and the interests and abilities of all of its children are not stimulated, whether it be in math, art, music, electronics, the sciences, the trades, business, and all other facets of education.)

Their paper “Cross-Cultural Analysis of Students with Exceptional Talent in Mathematical Problem Solving” (pdf file) appears in the journal Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

Its authors are Titu Andreescu, Joseph A. Gallian, Jonathan M. Kane, and Janet E. Mertz.

They further state, “There exist many girls with profound intrinsic aptitude for mathematics; however, they are rarely identified due to socio-cultural, educational, or other environmental factors.”

Within their paper they comment, “Many USA-born white and historically underrepresented
minorities who are gifted in mathematics do not participate in MATHCOUNTS®, AMC examinations, or, even, school mathematics clubs and teams. When asked why, a typical response is, ‘Only Asians and nerds do math (extracurricularly).’”

They continue, “In other words, it is deemed uncool within the social context of USA middle and high schools to do mathematics for fun; doing so can lead to social ostracism. Consequently, gifted girls, even more so than boys, usually camouflage their mathematical talent to fit in well with their peers.”

Page two continues the Mertz team research.