Hovland, Steinar "Newspaper Stocks Stock Pen" 12/11/2015 via Pixabay Public Domain Distribution License
For my evaluations, I looked at Newsweek and TIME
The Maths Behind the Simpsons' Women
What is the debate, disagreement or argument in the story about?
The article uses the Simpson's character Lisa Simpson as the example role model for inspiring female students in the fields of mathematics and sciences. Recently, a mathematician by the name of Maryam Mirzakhami was the first female in history to receive the Fields Award, the highest award given to mathematicians, for her work in researching symmetry in nature. The Fields Award has been around for nearly a century, so why is Mirzakhami the first female to win such an honor after such a large gap in time. The article goes into detail on how studies have shown that between the beginning of college until their third-year, the percentage of women who are interested in pursuing a career in research drops from 70% to 39%. So, why are these numbers so low, and why are women struggling to close the gender gap in the fields of science? Most studies say its the gender stereotype of a research in the field of science is a man. In fact, a Columbia University studied showed that companies were twice as likely to hire a man over a woman in the sciences field.
Who is the most sympathetic character in the story?
This is an easy choice: the women trying to overcome the gender gap in the fields of science and mathematics. The sheer fact that they, statistically, have to work harder a create a better application for a company than a male just to get equal standing in a job is absolute horrible. In a society whose pride is based off of equality, I find it hypocritical to break such ethics because of stereotypes. The article uses Lisa Simpson as a representation of women scholars and how important she is to the community as a whole (the comparison of the Simpson's character is really quite striking in all truth). The article states that we don't know Lisa's opinion on the gender gap, but I think that everyone can imply what the girl thinks about such a concept.
Who is the least sympathetic character in the story?
The article mostly focuses on how women are struggling to both maintain dedication to their field of study and their employment, but I think that the thing that holds these people behind isn't really a specific character. I think that big business as a whole is grouping women researchers as inferior to male ones; I think that's wrong on so many levels. I understand that businesses don't like to take chances and they may see women as potential for a lower gross output of progress and discovery, but the fact that they group human beings in such a way is what makes them despicable. Don't judge a book by its cover, especially when you automatically rule out the lower half of a bookshelf because it looks inferior to the books towering over the lower shelves. Big businesses are being unreasonable.
The New Math Strikes Back
What is the debate, disagreement or argument in the story about?
The teaching concept known as "new math" has been the common core curriculum for schools in the United States for over half a century. "New math" is, as the article states: "a commitment to connecting different areas of mathematics under a unifying set of principles, an emphasis on conceptual understanding and foundational laws, and a focus on problem-solving ability". Basically, it teaches students more about how to calculate something instead of teaching them the conceptual idea of mathematics. Over the years, many people have argued between whether these components of mathematical understanding are the core of the most efficient way of teaching the subject to students, yet no one else has come up with an alternative to new math, so the principles stay alive to this day. Furthermore, the textbooks and resources used for teaching this new math are become antiques, and people are starting to believe that new math is becoming too old-fashioned for a society becoming so reliant and advanced in respect to technology.
Who is the most sympathetic character in the story?
The most sympathetic character in this argument are the people who believe that new math is still a viable way to teach high school students the subjects. I feel the most sympathy with this party since they tried their best in creating a system that will work universally for all students in the country. It may not be the most impressive system considering a decline in test scores, but overall the mathematics community is still alive and kicking even after the 50 years that this system has been running.
Who is the least sympathetic character in the story?
Those who opposed the policies seem a little bit hypocritical in respect to the subject as a whole. These people oppose new math to its core, but have yet to find an alternative to this style of teaching. I believe that these people aren't really being any help to the community until they find an alternative to new math, so that their arguments may actually have some backbone to them rather than just being heckling.
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