But the researchers warn that girls don't like our computer culture. They think that computer games are violent and tedious, although we've done a good job at sucking $15 a month in various MMORPGs.
Still, the number of girls taking "computer classes" amount to classes in word processing and other productivity skills. Hardly programming.
So the researchers have asked us to help them get more girls in the pipeline, and then try to broaden our "computer culture" to be more welcoming to girls. And by doing this, we can also help educate other minorities and other under-represented children.
Additional Notes
1 Janet Ward Schofield, Computers and Classroom Culture (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), and AAUW Educational Foundation, Tech-Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age (Washington, DC: 2000), page ix. http://www.aauw.org/research/upload/TechSavvy.pdf
2 Ibid, page x.
3 Participants explained that many programs for girls... have benefited all students, including boys. [Susan McGee] Bailey recalls that mathematics and science programs initially developed to boost girls’ interest and achievement revealed solutions that “were very helpful for boys as well. By looking at the girls, we saw a need for a program ... for many boys” struggling with mathematics and science as well. Beyond the "Gender Wars": A Conversation about Girls, Boys, and Education, AAUW Educational Foundation, Feb 2001 (www.aauw.org) http://www.aauw.org/research/upload/BeyondGenderWar.pdf