[Edu-sig] negative connotation of "object orientation"

[kirby urner]

Appended: from a Physics teaching list I frequent.

Note the negative connotations associated with "object orientation" (=
asocial = lack of social affect).

I take up this ethnographic thread in my blogs and this discussion
list from time to time, as I think it's apropos to many subtopics
(Diversity in particular).

Here's my take on it from awhile back:

http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2009/02/regarding-objectifying.html

Kirby

PS:  on a related topic, there's also a negative connotation
associated with "imperative programming".  The word "imperative" gets
translated to mean "bullying".  The functional programmers exploit
that connotation, and imply that functional programming is kinder to
children.

===

Well, it is at least reminiscent of Sheila Tobias.

On a possibly related note, Simon Baron-Cohen studied personalities of
scientists and engineers across many subfields. Among his results was
(sorry to bring bad news) that the closer one comes to physics,
mathematics, or similar engineering disciplines, the more closely the
median practitioner resembles high functioning autism (which, of
course, affects males over females by a ratio of 4.2 to 1). That in
turns brings with it all manner of asocial phenomena -- object
orientation, lack of social affect and the like.
- Show quoted text -
-- 
Dr. Paul J. Camp
Physics Department
Spelman College
Atlanta, GA   30314
            404-270-5864

"The beauty of the cosmos derives not only from unity in variety
     but also from variety in unity"
               -- Umberto Eco
                   The Name of the Rose

in response to:

Inside Higher Ed
Why Female Engineering Students Are Discouraged
October 26, 2011 - 3:00am

       Women perform as well as men in engineering courses, but are
less likely to stay in the field because of a confidence gap,
according to research published in the new issue of
<http://www.asanet.org/press/engineering_and_women.cfm>American
Sociological Review. Women are less likely to feel "professional role
confidence," the study found, which has to do both with their view of
their own talent and also of their sense that they are in the correct
field. "Often, competence in engineering is associated in people's
minds with men and masculinity more than it is with women and
femininity. So, there are these micro-biases that happen, and when
they add up, they result in women being less confident in their
expertise and their career fit," said the lead author of the study,
Erin Cech, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University's Clayman
Institute for Gender Research.

<http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2011/10/26/why-female-engineering-students-are-discouraged#ixzz1btymrPZs>http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2011/10/26/why-female-engineering-students-are-discouraged#ixzz1btymrPZs