More Girls in STEM?

I am a woman who has loved science for as long as I can remember.  I wanted to be, at various times, an astronaut, a vet, a pharmacist, a science textbook writer, and a physical therapist.  I am a middle and high school science teacher.  I want you to understand that I am a person who cares about the future of science before I say what will most surely be inflammatory.

As a woman in STEM, I am tired of hearing how we "need more girls in STEM."  Keep reading because I'm going to make an important point that you are likely to miss if you make an assumption that I'm a sexist, self-hating, pig from that one sentence.

When we want to make a point, we tend to cite statistics.  "After all, numbers don't lie," we tell ourselves, even though we know that numbers can be interpreted in a variety of ways to confirm our biases. (I learned that in a math class, by the way.)  So, on days like International Women's Day, we read how horrible it is that only 28% of the jobs in STEM fields are held by women or that only 20% of engineering students are girls.  I was one of three girls in my graduating class in the department of physics and engineering, so we've come a long way since 1998. 

We use these numbers to represent that girls are being discriminated against, but we are inconsistent.  No one seems to mind how we treat boys who want to go into fields traditionally held by women.  Only 9% of nurses are men, and no one bats an eye over it.  Only 23% of teachers are men, and if you narrow the scope to elementary school, that number drops to 11%.  I've seen men discouraged from pursuing those fields, even treated like they were unsavory for doing so.  When I worked in child care, there was exactly one male who worked there, and he didn't stay long because the parents looked at him like a pervert.  We don't bemoan their discrimination.  We don't care.  (I can tell that there are a lot of boys who would benefit from having a great male teacher in the fourth grade.) 

I'm not against helping a girl who wants a STEM career.  I'm against the idea that we have to push that because of the statistics. We have to be for a different criteria than filling a certain number of positions being filled by a certain kind of person. 

I'm for everyone being encouraged to follow their curiosity and pursue their interests.  EVERYONE.  If you are a girl who is into science, I will encourage you to go for it and help you find resources to aid that exploration.  But guess what?  I'll do the same thing for you if you are a boy.  If you are a boy who expresses interest in education, I'm going to connect you with role models and recommend programs that will help you, but I would also do that if you were a girl.  Here's the thing.  What you do as a career should be entirely about your aptitude and your interest and should have nothing to do with your gender.  God has gifted you and prepared you for what He wants you to do

When we push gender-related programs, like those that push "more girls in STEM," we automatically set up an attitude of discrimination.  We should be fostering the passions of EVERY student by knowing who they are and what they care about.  It is our job as teachers to help them find and develop the gifts God gave them, not fill some slot we think they should have.  Listen to your students.  If you have students who love art, help them connect with the best art colleges and careers.   If you have students who love math, help them connect with the best math colleges and careers.   If you have students who show an interest in cosmetology, connect them with the best school you can find. 

If you have a girl with a passion for STEM, of course, you should encourage her, but it should be about her passion, not her gender.  If we make it about their passions and their skills, we will get the right people in the right jobs, which will benefit society.  If we make it about reaching some gender-based quota, we will have miserable people in jobs they don't care about.  If you push a girl into STEM when what she wants to go into something else, you haven't helped her; you've pushed your agenda.

More Girls in STEM?  No.  The Right Girls in STEM.