The "chilly" climate of higher STEM education

[rRico]

Then you didn't understand what she wrote.

I'm open to read you explanation.

 

[rRico]

No. Women are expected to....appear "manly" to succeed. People of color have to act "white" to succeed.

How do you act white? What is manly, in your view?

 

[Finn]

It's beyond your comprehension. I'd explain while citing texts. But I don't think you'd be able to understand them if your OP is any indication.

 

[rRico]

There are always those who feel so superior in their knowledge and understanding that they have to denigrate those whose understanding they view as less or non-existent. These are the kinds of people that will always, without fail, call those who do not share their views unintelligent and stupid. They are the people who expect total agreement with their point of view before even entertaining the notion of discussing any topic.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

How do you act white? What is manly, in your view?

You know, being "articulate" and "well-spoken" enough to satisfy white people in positions of power. And these "articulate" black people better not mention racism, because that would make them troublemakers.

 

[publiusr]

You know, being "articulate" and "well-spoken" enough to satisfy white people in positions of power..

Unless they are running backs, who get loved--but forgotten by the NFL, etc.

In terms of being manly--that would be not responding to any slight. We;re ready to assume the worst of each other nowadays.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

According to this discourse analysis women and minorities are incapable to understand and process scientific facts as taught in university and college-level education.
The author asserts that the teaching practices in STEM education are male-biased and therefore discriminatory towards women and minorities (page 12). The authors seems to be unaware that minorities would also include men. She further asserts that knowledge changes in different contexts (page 6), and critiques the view "of knowledge as one that students acquire" (page 12).

This is a view that is rather sexist towards women and bigoted towards minorities ("the bigotry of lowered expectations").

Course syllabi are adapted and improved upon to accommodate new educational priorities and techniques, societal and demographic changes, and changing understanding of the subjects taught within all the time. Saying that they can be improved upon further and be made more inclusive by eliminating systemic bias in language and presentation is not saying that women and minorities are incapable of understanding the subject matter itself.

I think you knew that, but instead chose a more provocative and disingenuous approach that made any chance of a productive discussion of the subject matter difficult, and made others not want to bother wasting their time explaining it to you, because you obviously weren't interested in an honest discussion of the topic to begin with. This is consistent with your handling of discussions elsewhere on the board as well and something you should change if you wish to have better engagement with your fellow posters in the future.

As far as men being a minority, while that is (barely) true in a purely numerical sense, the difference between men and women in the US, where this study originates, is statistically insignificant (6 million fewer men than women, or less than 2% of the total population of over 324 million). Furthermore, the gap only starts to significantly widen once men and women become elderly and women's longer life expectancy creates a noticeable difference in numbers. At the ages men and women are entering college and the workforce the population difference is minimal.

Beyond that, from a sociological standpoint, minority groups are not just numerically based in terms of population, but also constitute groups which hold a minority of positions of power in a society. By that metric, straight white men are far and away still the dominant power group in this country, and to claim men are some sort of minority, oppressed or otherwise, is a ridiculous tactic that further contributes to the idea that you do not intend to take this subject seriously. Women have made significant gains in terms of college education (and have more undergraduate degrees) and workplace representation, but we still have a long ways to go before we have true equality or men as a group represent a minority in the sociological sense.

Since no one seems interested in indulging your disingenuous premise, and since you seem more concerned with pushing buttons and misrepresenting things than having a reasonable discussion (as evidenced not just here but in the accompanying TNZ discussion), this thread is closed. Please reconsider how you present your threads and make your arguments in the future.