Why Stacy didn’t become a scientist
I made up my mind in high school that I was going to become a genetic engineer. I’d work on important world problems like hunger and disease and innovating life. I wanted to invent inch-long grass that never needed mowing, stuff like that.
I often think back on how easily attainable that goal could’ve been… and why I didn’t do it.
1. Step One: Decide to become a bio-engineer. Pore through books that tell you that there are only two universities in the entire West that have bio-engineering programs: University of California at Berkeley, and Arizona State University. ASU? Wow, that’s in your back yard, and you can go there for free because your grades are high enough!
2. Step Two: Keep being told over and over by trusted adults that if you want to be a scientist, you’re going to need to take a lot of math. You hate math because your trig teacher believes that students should “teach themselves” and reads a novel at her desk while the other students sit on the tops of their desks, throw things at each other and loudly goof off. You are Serious, though. You have taken four years of math — more than necessary — because you hold on to this dream. You are getting an A despite having no real teacher. But so are a lot of people, because the district decided that math is Hard, so they dropped the minimum level for an A to 85%. Good thing you weren’t planning to leave the state, right?
3. Step Three: Go to a summer program before your senior year in high school. You have decided to study bio-engineering at ASU. Be told by a very well-meaning program counselor that bio-engineers design prosthetic limbs for people who have lost arms and legs. Ask the counselor what you should study if you want to do genetic engineering. The counselor will shrug and say “I don’t know, zoology?”
4. Step Four: Be told by well-meaning adults that genetic engineering is a very competitive and low-paying field, one in which you will never feel satisfaction in your work.
5. Step Five: Give up. Major in journalism. Work in marketing. See how you went from wanting to work in a traditionally-male field to actually working in a traditionally-female field? Join a wonderful nonprofit that supports an *amazing* biodesign center and chafe at not sticking to your guns.
I’m far from distraught at how my life turned out — I work hard, put my heart into everything that I do, and invest myself in every organization that I work for. I’ve been rewarded for that, richly. But there are still nagging thoughts that I could’ve become a scientist, my childhood dream, if people hadn’t kept tacitly steering me away from it.
How to encourage more girls to become scientists:
1. Don’t tell them they’ll be paid badly. Few men stay away from math or science because of paychecks — they want to be the next Einstein — but I’d be willing to bet that most aren’t told they’ll end up poor.
2. Stop using The Threat of Endless Math Classes as a scary disincentive. Yes, you’ll probably end up using math at your sciencey job. Know what? I use it in my marketing job all the time, a lot. Math is life. It’s nothing you won’t be able to handle.
3. Don’t be all super-enthusiastic for girls who want to pursure math and science, then sit back and do nothing. We got a lot of cheerleading in high school to boost our self-esteem, but no real nuts-and-bolts tactics for becoming actual scientists. Take a girl to a lab and show her real live women working in science. I can’t think of anything more motivating than that.
April 4th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
I try not to discourage people about their childhood dreams so much as inform them about them. I think too often people accuse others of trying to be just like another person, when they really just want to learn how to be more like another person, and once they know, decide whether to actually do it. I think it’s better to encourage people to explore their dreams, without taking too much risk, than to encourage them to stop pursuing individual dreams outright.
April 4th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
I think schools used to do a pathetic job of teaching math. That also put me off of math-related stuff (I can also tell you that it sucks having two parents with no clue about higher education). But I’ve seen some signs of hope regarding science, and it could be good for both genders.
I think the rise of charter schools can change the game. It seems like there are many to cater to interests and styles of learning that many public schools couldn’t accomodate. And even some regular schools are bringing up their game and realizing that not all kids learn the same way. In a lot of ways, I’d love to be a kid in school right now – except for parents and teachers having each other’s cell numbers and e-mail addresses. I wouldn’t like my worlds colliding!
Of course, don’t get me started on AZ public school and unlocking what they seem to think is the giant unknown mystery of the human reproductive system …
April 6th, 2010 at 10:43 am
Preach it, girl!
April 6th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Great stuff. As the father to two bright daughters, you certainly gave me reason to think. I will say many of us are the richer for you being a journalist/blogger/writer. I’ve long enjoyed your stuff.
April 28th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
I was discouraged from being a veterinarian because I was told “I didn’t like animals”. Me. Not liking animals. Ok.
I was discouraged from being an artist of any type because I would forever be “starving”.
I was discouraged from becoming a hairdresser because that is apparently not high-class enough.
So I also majored in Journalism *sigh* and now I audit student records for a living. Again. I think I owe you $20.
July 7th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
I’m betting that none of the replies so far are from scientists. Otherwise, you would have criticized this blog. The fact is that there is a huge glut of scientists in almost every field. There are way too many for the market to support. Most of the money for groundbreaking science comes from the government, and it is extremely difficult to get for any long period of time. Most scientists will have a career that lasts for only a few years before leaving the field altogether because they were not able to get a major grant at a university or because the start-up company they worked for went bankrupt, and they do not have any marketable skills outside research.
We do not need more scientists, any more than we need more opera singers. Otherwise, the salaries would be substantially higher for them. The fact that scientists are paid poorly shows that they are not needed in the capacity people (especially naive high school and college students) think they are. Most girls wise up to this fact during college and major in health professions, law, or business where they can enjoy a stable career with a decent salary.
As far as math goes, yes, math is hard. However, much of it is unnecessary. Most people only need to know the four basic operations of math: addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. They do not need calculus, and probably will only occasionally use algebra, if ever. Only scientists and engineers (of which we do not need more) need to know much beyond the basics.
Sincerely,
Scientist and mathematician
July 21st, 2010 at 8:11 pm
I wanted to be a vet but was told I had to be strong to handle the animals and girls weren’t strong enough. Uh, small animal practice, anyone?
I then wanted to be an airline pilot but was told I couldn’t, because I wore glasses.
My solution was to go into engineering and later on, when my son graduated high school, learned to fly a single engine plane and to always have lots of dogs around.
August 13th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Great thoughts Stace,
I believe the key to growth is taking risk. Without risk, we cannot learn new things, or meet new people. Why are we afraid of taking risk when it is so beneficial to us? Why are we so afraid of what we don’t know?
Children, in some way, are taught to fear by example. If an adult tells them over and over that they should be afraid of their own goals and ambitions, eventually they will learn to fear their own thoughts. Once this happens, how can they really trust what they are thinking?
When adults “tacitly steer” children away from a unique interest or career choice, I believe they are actually showing their own insecurities and/or fear of the unknown rather than just their simple disapproval of the child’s thoughts. Adults end up teaching their kids how to question their dreams, goals and ambitions.