Judging the political climate in my state by walking around lefty Ann Arbor is like a polar bear judging global warming by staring at the ice cube beneath its feet.

Eileen Pollack

Categorized in : Walking Feet Political Global Warming

If it's your professor or employer, I guess you want to be smart, but not if there is a guy in the room. In America, nobody's boyfriend wants them to be smarter than he is, and no one wants to admit it.

Parents don't want their kids to be nerdy, for women, even if she's nerdy enough to be Steve Jobs, she's undateable.

Knowing how to tactfully criticize someone's work is a mentor's j... by Eileen Pollack

Knowing how to tactfully criticize someone's work is a mentor's job.

someone job mentor work

When I was in 7th grade, we were all given an exam. It was science and math, and the boys who did well were skipped ahead so that when they got to be juniors or seniors in high school they would be able to go to the local community college and take calculus and physics there. And I wasn't skipped ahead.

high-school community science school

My brother had been given a chemistry set for his bar mitzvah, but he wasn't interested in it. It was upstairs in the attic, and I would sneak up there and use it at great peril because I was afraid if he found out, he would get very angry at me, but he didn't seem to care.

great me angry brother

I was nearly as far behind in calculus as I was in physics. But I wasn't the only woman in the class, so I felt more comfortable asking questions.

behind woman questions physics

For the individual and for society, the more diversity you have in a field means more ways of solving a problem as well as more creativity and originality.

you diversity creativity society

I don't usually feel threatened by the militias. Most members are just indulging their fantasies of being warriors without having to sign up for the Army. They want to be heroes and save their neighbors from disaster.

feel disaster army want

Figuring out why people who choose not to do something don't in fact do it is like attempting to interview the elves who live inside your refrigerator but come out only when the light is off.

choose live light people

Given that many girls are indoctrinated to believe that they should be feminine and modest about their abilities, as well as brought up to assume that girls are not innately gifted at science or math, it is not surprising that so few can see themselves as successful computer scientists.

see successful science believe

To make computer science more attractive to women, we might help young women change how they think about themselves and what's expected of them. But we might also diversify the images of scientists they see in the media, along with the decor in the classrooms and offices in which they might want to study or work.

women change work science

We forget how recently astronomers figured out what the stars are made of, what makes them shine, how distant they are, how they are born, and whether they remain immutable or evolve and die.

shine die stars forget

If a female student wants to drop a physics course, no one questions her, but if a male student tries to drop it, he will get pushback and encouraged to stay in, since he will need it later in life.

student will physics life

When you have different kinds of scientific and mathematical minds approaching problems, you will get more solutions. This leads to more innovation and more creative design.

problems you innovation design

Success in math and the hard sciences, far from being a matter of gender, is almost entirely dependent on culture - a culture that teaches girls math isn't cool and no one will date them if they excel in physics.

cool gender success culture

When I was in seventh grade, I was bored out of my mind. We seemed to be learning the same things over and over in science and math, and two of the boys in my class were allowed to move ahead into these advanced classes, but I wasn't allowed because I was a girl.

learning girl mind science

Combating any kind of obstacle is much easier if you know that it's real and not your fault, and it's something you can fight against.

your fight know you

Science and math are hard for everybody, and it's usually not a matter or being born gifted at it or not. It's hard work, but it can be a lot of fun!

hard-work work fun science

The most powerful determinant of whether a woman goes on in science might be whether anyone encourages her to go on.

woman go powerful science

I think women need to hear more encouragement in any field, because I see it - I teach creative writing. And even though it's mostly women in the room, they're not often - or they didn't used to be the ones who went on to publish books. I know this sounds like a tautology, but encouragement is the key.

think know women encouragement