[Edu-sig] My Opinion

[kathrine smith]

                                     5/3/2000
    Hi everyone!  My name is Katherine.  I am one of
Mr. Jeffrey Elkner's many great students. :) (Sorry,
Mr. Elkner, but I had to let the cat out of the bag.) 
I recently read with interest an article called "Why
Women Aren't Hackers" well written by Dorothea Salo. 
One of her many points was that there was a low
percentage of females in the computer science field. 
I am curious as to why.  I believe one reason is
because females are brought up with a different
atmosphere compared to males.  Another reason is that
computers don't spark many girls' interests.  Maybe it
is because girls (and women) do not want to risk being
called a computer geek.  I believe that much of the
female gender cares a lot about their image . . . and
to be called a geek would be horrible.  A possible
solution for this problem could be to run more fun
computer camps.  A camp for kids from ages 8-12 is
great!  The younger the kids the more fascination. (I
recently helped many girls learn to use fun programs
like Microsoft Power Point. You won't believe how awed
they were!)  I started going to these great camps
three years ago.  Last year I went to an awesome
robotics day camp.  I was the only girl there out of
10 students.  A couple weeks before that I went to
another awesome computer camp with 7 girls out of 25
students.  I am a little baffled as to why computers
do spark the female interest but many don't pursue the
interest.  Maybe, as my friend Robert said, some girls
are afraid to "tinker" around with machines.  I hope
that soon changes if it is true.  Please let me know
what your opinion is.  I would enjoy reading your
response(s).
                   ~Katherine

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