Today and tomorrow are Botball educator training days for this region, and my mom and I are attending (not because we're educators, but because we thought it would be interesting to sit in). The training is really well done, I think. It's a lot of presentation, but with breaks to try out bits of code, or build robots from kits. David Miller is the one presenting. I think he'll do well at Olin.
Sitting behind us were a teacher and two (male) students from a small, private, Christian high school. This teacher was the only science teacher for 86 students from 7th to 12th grade, which must be... challenging. She was talking about how there are 18 kids on their Botball team: "Oh, you know, some kids work on the website, some work on the robot, and the girls just like to hang out with the boys, and they make our t-shirts." (???) Later, the two boys with her were talking about the competition last year, when their robot completed its tasks but then ran out of battery before making it to the end. The teacher said, "Well, this year we're going to have a girl assigned to each of you, so that doesn't happen again." Again, what? So, the girls are, to put it politely, personal assistants, or to put it more bluntly, walking battery meters?
I realize that there might be more to this story than I know. Maybe this is the only way she could get girls to be involved. I'm still having a hard time with it, though. It just doesn't seem right.
Sitting behind us were a teacher and two (male) students from a small, private, Christian high school. This teacher was the only science teacher for 86 students from 7th to 12th grade, which must be... challenging. She was talking about how there are 18 kids on their Botball team: "Oh, you know, some kids work on the website, some work on the robot, and the girls just like to hang out with the boys, and they make our t-shirts." (???) Later, the two boys with her were talking about the competition last year, when their robot completed its tasks but then ran out of battery before making it to the end. The teacher said, "Well, this year we're going to have a girl assigned to each of you, so that doesn't happen again." Again, what? So, the girls are, to put it politely, personal assistants, or to put it more bluntly, walking battery meters?
I realize that there might be more to this story than I know. Maybe this is the only way she could get girls to be involved. I'm still having a hard time with it, though. It just doesn't seem right.
Comments
This same senario happened here in Mexico, I asked some women if they produced vanilla. They said no, the men are the producers, women just help. So when we were in the orchards, I asked about specific work, such as fertilization. They said that women do help with that...Fertilization requires long hours of watching the plants for blooms, choosing the best flowers to pollinate. Flowers bloom for only one day from March to May. I'd say quite a bit of work. Women tend to do it because their hands are more nimble, also, men migrate more often. This has led me to ask more questions about the value of work. What is work and what is help and how does gender frame these ideas about work and value.
On the other hand, I've been told that women make the best vanilla producers because they are more responsible...or perhaps that is the same hand, now that I think of it...
We are sad you're not coming but hope we see you at another time.
Back to help,
JP