Kids Tell All: Girls Are Just as Good at Science as Boys (VIDEO)
In our schools, more than half of all female students don't even consider a career in science, yet several of the fasting growing jobs in America are in STEM fields.
Ten-year-old Awo has a few things to say about girls being underrepresented in these jobs. She loves science and math and asks the question, "Why does science have to only be for boys?"
Awo shares her thoughts on this topic in I Am Education: Kids Tell All, a five-part video series about the state of public education in America. In the videos, we hear from the actual kids whose futures are at stake.
So what is it that keeps girls out of science careers?
"Girls aren't at a disadvantage in terms of skills or competence," Linda Kekelis, the founder of Techbridge, a program in Oakland, California, that expands academic and career options for girls in science, technology, and engineering, says. "But a lack of confidence affects their willingness to pursue science and take additional courses." She often hears from girls when they begin the program that to be a scientist, "you have to be a braniac" and can't have a life outside of work.
Erica Wong, a program coordinator at Techbridge, says she sees this lack of confidence in girls. She was a fifth-grade teacher for three years and says, "I really saw how even my brightest students, sometimes my girls, leaned back when it comes to science and math."
When girls are young, Kekelis says, the problem can be a lack of opportunities. "We hear from our girls that their brothers get the legos and that the computer is in their brother’s bedroom." Boys are the ones to go to the robotics camps too.
Wong adds, "There’s also no media portrayal of scientists or engineers who are women, or who are minorities."
To help girls see themselves in these positions, Techbridge brings in female role models who are exceling in STEM careers. This has made a big difference for Awo and the other girls.
Awo, for example, was impacted during a field trip to meet some female scientists. She told the role models, according to Wong, that because of them, she can really see herself becoming a scientist or engineer.
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