Smart Bombs: Math bias doesn’t add up

Last Friday, I attended the Math Is Cool competition for seventh- and eighth-graders at Mt. Spokane High School. Once again, I was humbled by the difficulty of the questions and the intelligence of the students.

At the awards assembly, it looked like as many girls as boys were picking up prizes. That’s quite a rebuke to the notion that math is the province of male minds. Or, as former Harvard President Lawrence Summers wished he’d never said in 2005, boys have an “intrinsic aptitude” for math.

It’s a good thing, female minds didn’t accept the stereotype, because once girls are enrolled in equal numbers in advanced math classes, they score just as well, according to a National Science Foundation study published last year. This fact is opening up careers in chemistry, physics and engineering.

Sadly, girls will find this gender bias is still working against them.

University of Wisconsin professor Jennifer Hyde, who led the study, told the New York Times: “The stereotype that boys do better at math is still held widely by teachers and parents. And teachers and parents guide girls, giving them advice about what courses to take, what careers to pursue. I still hear anecdotes about guidance counselors steering girls away from engineering, telling them they won’t be able to do the math.”

Fortunately, many teachers reject this idea. In fact, all three of my son’s Math Is Cool coaches have been women. That’s good news for everyone’s daughters.

Divine comedy. Before the petitions were circulated to put the “everything but marriage” law to a vote of the people, the politically savvy Rev. Joe Fuiten of Bothell, Wash., warned proponents that the voters may tell them what they didn’t want to hear about granting equal rights to same-sex couples.

In the aftermath of the election defeat, Fuiten wrote an e-mail (posted on his Web site) that is highly critical of the No on Referendum 71 campaign. He reserved this zinger for Faith and Freedom President Gary Randall:

“With respect to the referendum itself, Randall said, ‘It is a miracle. And it is clear how God performed it. With God’s help the referendum made the ballot. God helped us.’ Please pardon me for asking the obvious, did God change his mind or was the claim of divine blessing a bit overstated?”

Life support. As the Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives debated the health care bill late Saturday morning, the potential deal-breakers were financing, insurance company practices, cost-cutting measures and a public option, right?

Nope. It was abortion, which is now the hot issue on the Senate side.

Unreal.

Running in place. House Republicans did run an amendment for an alternative health care plan that would cover 3 million more people in 10 years, but it was voted down. The Congressional Budget Office factored in population gains and calculated that the GOP plan would mean 83 percent of Americans would be covered.

The current percentage is … 83 percent.

Thanks for playing.