Nine Shift

Not much train support yet

Pro-train Americans are so far disappointed by the lack of support for high speed trains, trains and light rail from the Obama Administration. Here's an interesting Canadian view on the situation from NineShifter Michael Arbow:

"I was starting to doubt Mr. Obama’s support of train travel.  The link below renews my faith (although it could stand to be more money) http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/01/governor-mike-d.html

Interestingly, in Canada, the federal government has just allocated money for the

Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal triangle to upgrade services/track. Nice, but still not high speed. Oh well. Let's all wait for California to lead the way (again) and perhaps here in Canada we will eventually join the train rush."

Female engineering students: should there be more? Part III

Here's a third view (Draves) on female engineering students:  That the natural proportion of either sex with one or more of the abilities of the other sex is 20% (Michael Gurian). If you want more women engineers, you have to figure out how first.

Every woman who wants to be an engineer should become an engineer. But so should every man.

Doreen Kimura has demonstrated why males have higher spatial skills (needed for engineering). Males get three surges of testosterone early in life, and their spatial skills go up relative to girls right after.

Women's higher communication and language abilities explain why 75% of female engineering graduates drop out of engineering and go into teaching (Chronicle of HIgher Education).

Susan Pinker explains why women value meaning, relationships, people and mission more than men: women get a hormonal 'high' and also live longer.  That's why women drop out of high paying law firms begging them to stay with $800,000 salaries, child care, flex time (whatever they want).

This view says that unless academics figure out how to keep women in engineering, that more female graduates means fewer engineers, and a crisis in the work place, where engineering firms are already pleading for more engineers.  By artificially increasing the percentage of female engineering students above 20%, colleges will worsen the current shortage of engineers by excluding qualified males, graduating lower performing females, and society pays the price when 75% of women drop out of engineering after college.  Find the answer first before you try to change Mother Nature.

Female engineering students: should there be more? Part II

Here's another view. From Julie Coates, my amazing co-author. 

Coates' view has two basic points:
1. A major problem is that women do not WANT to become practicing engineers.
2. The brain is flexible, and by intervention, young women can overcome any learning abilities (such as spatial skills). 

WANT.
There's plenty of evidence women do not want to become practicing engineers, even though they graduate in engineering with no problem.  Coates says that in developing or communist countries, women have been 50% of engineers (e.g. Bulgaria).  But when East Germany (28% of engineers female) united with West Germany (8% engineers female) the percentage of eastern German female engineers fell dramatically (freedom, etc.)  Susan Pinker agrees. She says that in better-off economies more women do not want to go into engineering.  There's no society, she says, where 50% of engineers are women. 

NEED.
Coates points to studies where women's spatial skills have been improved by intervention (teaching methods).  She says a critical factor is probably math in middle school, where middle school math teachers are woefully inadequate, especially in terms of teaching math to girls. 

Your turn: Can intervention (different teaching) help? 

Female engineering students: should there be more? Part I

"I believe females should be 51% of engineering students (the same proportion as females in the state)" a dean of engineering told us recently.
  He reflects the thinking of most people in education. And there is now a national movement to boost female engineering enrollments to half. But what does the evidence indicate?
  Some problems with this position:
1. It is based on "belief" and not evidence and science.
2. Most people with this position do not believe there is anything different neurologically and hormonally between women and men that affects their learning.
3. If wrong, it will lead to even greater shortages of skilled workers, a shortage that will jeopardize our safety, lower our standard of living, and make your retirement plan worth less.
   The basis for the "belief" is that women, though now successful in other previously-male-dominated professions, have some how been raised wrongly.  It's been 30 years since parents of girls have been almost universally feminist, since teachers have been almost universally feminist, and yet somehow these feminist parents and teachers have been chauvinists with girls. Go figure.
   Can women be half of all engineering students?  Yes, it's easy. Cheat.  Raise GPA requirements, lower test score requirements, and grade only on female friendly assessments like essays and oral reports.  Coming up: two other views.  But go ahead and comment now!

Four ways to help women learn more

Last week Julie Coates and I introduced some innovative new ways to help women learn more in school and college. We were presenting a seminar on gender and learning for the School of Engineering at the University of Kansas.

Like elsewhere, the female engineering students at KU get better grades than the men, and have higher retention rate.  The problem is not getting good grades. The problems are 1) women could be learning more; and 2) women have some bad learning habits that hinder them in the work world. Photo: women attending the Coates-Draves seminar at KU this month.

For example, women study more than they need to on a given module, probably 30% more than a male student would spend to learn the same amount of material and get the same score on a test.  Here's our four ways to help women learn more:

1. Revise homework and coursework to pass/fail to devalue the perfection of an 'A.'
2. Challenge female students to spend less time per module, and to tackle more challenging modules. Reward passing harder tests more than getting 'A's on easier work.
3. Do not reward behavior (turning work in on time, for example).
4. Reward failure. Especially on new challenges.

The result: women will learn more and do better in the workplace (where it counts).

How female engineering students learn

Julie Coates, my amazing co-author, has come up with more great info on one of the most critical issues of our time: can/should we increase female engineering students.

In a seminar for the School of Engineering at the University of Kansas last week, she noted that female engineering students learn BOTH like male engineering students, and like women in general.
   According to the literature, female engineering students have the same high capabilities in areas where male engineering students have high capabilities.
   At the same time, however, female engineering students have higher capabilities in areas where male engineering students have low capabilities, such as traditional female skills in communication and language.
   The info is critical in understanding this central issue in society, which will decide the fate and future of our skilled work force in the SET occupations (Science, Engineering and Technology) where we currently have a huge shortage.   Photo: Julie and KU female grad student Juan Mao.

Analyzing President Obama's Inaugural Address

One plus, one minus.  That's a NineShift analysis of President Obama's inaugural address today.

PLUS.  "Our schools fail too many" was a brilliant way to put it.  He didn't say our kids are failing. He said our schools fail.  As UK educator Diana Laurillard noted, "and I mean fail in both senses of the term."  President Obama's comment certainly implies agreement on that.

MINUS.  President Obama mentioned roads, and cars. But nothing on trains. And last week, actions spoke louder than words as funds for trains were hacked, creating despair for our nation's infrastructure for this century.  Also today, Chrysler gave away 35% of the company to Fiat- - that's how bad the auto industry is. Gen Y understands Obama can't lessen global warming without fewer cars, more trains.  A big disappointment for the future of our country. 

What's your analysis of the Inaugural Address?

Gen Y and President Obama

The two guests on Larry King could not have been more different.
Quincy Jones, baby boomer, saying like all of us boomers that we could not imagine a black president, and we are so happy to have Obama as President, a history making event.
And then the Gen Y musician, whose parents met courtesy of VP Biden, and he has a picture of himself at age 4 with Biden.

The Gen Y musician said (true) that his generation put Obama in office.
If only people age 40 and over had voted, McCain would be president.
And then he said that Gen Y would support Obama as long as he moved the country forward, paid attention to the needs of the 21st century, responded to Gen Y's interests. 

That could turn out to be THE question of 2009: will Pres Obama and America move forward into the 21st century, or remain behind?  What do you think?  Til then, congratulations President Obama!

Trains get woeful support so far

Barack Obama rode a train to his inauguration this weekend.
But his administration apparently does not want to fund high speed rail.

Rick Harnish, head of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, is in Spain during this critical time. Why? Because Spain is spending fully HALF of its infrastructure spending on trains. 

Out of $700 billion, only about $100 million in the U.S. is targeted to high speed rail. The California train alone will require the federal government to spend $15 billion.  Rep. James Oberstar's proposed funding of passenger rail was cut back considerably.

Time to email or write or call your congressperson! Ask her or him to put more money into trains and high speed rail.  Here's more info.  And here's how to email congress.

Nine Shift named favorite biz book by Downtown Women's Club

Nine Shift has been named to the All Time Favorite Biz Book for Your Bookshelf list by Diane K. Danielson, founder of the Downtown Women's Club,  a multi-city network for women in business.

In fact, Nine Shift comes in at Number 3!   Many thanks to Ms. Danielson for noticing Nine Shift, and suggesting it to her readers.  You can check out her great blog here at the TheWomensDISH.