The following paragraph struck a serious nerve with me:

"The AAUW believes violent video games and programming classes that focus
too narrowly on hardware and the mechanics of information technology are
leading girls to turn away from pursuing careers in computers."

I can understand being put off by violent video games as a man _or_ a woman,
but I can't imagine a whole lot of class assignments _requiring_
use or programing of them (but I'm not uni trained - anyone else
have an experience that contradicts my assumption?).  If this is the case,
why would violent video games be deterring women from computer careers?

The hardware and mechanics part just floors me.  To me, this is like saying
women should be allowed to become physicians without having to learn too
much anatomy, and that medical training should be modified accordingly.
This analogy is siginificant to me because I had a serious biology
background in highschool. I competed in anatomy and bio-process competitions
state-wide.  What I found when I started working with computers was that the
skills  involved in understanding these organic structures and processes
transferred very well to understanding computer technology on a micro and
macro level.

To carry the medical comparison over the the mention of violent video games
above, that is also a bit like saying the horrors of the emergency room are
off-putting to women who might otherwise be interested in becoming doctors.
I don't buy it with regard to women in medicine nor women in computers.
Nicole took the words out of my mouth: "I think the AAUW is poking fingers
at the wrong thing, at least from
personal experience".

~~~Nicoya...




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