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Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.

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THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION SHOWS HARVARD THE WAY…......

Remember that LAWRENCE SUMMERS, the President of Harvard University, got into trouble for suggesting, in some INFORMAL REMARKS at an academic conference, that there might be factors other than discrimination that explained why there are so many more men than women in Math and Engineering professorships. SOME FOLKS thought that this kind of “stirring the pot” was healthy at an academic institution…..that vigorous debate on the subject might bring us all a little closer to the truth about the situation.

OTHERS, of course, just wanted him to shut up, so they wouldn’t have to deal with ideas so uncongenial to their current opinions…...

Now, the CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION has stepped up to demonstrate to the academics in Boston how scientific questions can be debated, and perhaps even solved, by a free exchange of views among secure individuals who seek out the data and actually incorporate it into their arguments.

The article resists “sound-biting”, so you’re going to have to read it yourself if you are interested. But, it’s not overly long, and VERY interesting—I recognized a number of things from my own childhood, and from watching my kids…...

The long and the short of it is that we don’t know the answer to the questions addressed by Lawrence Summers—what we DO know is that he’s correct that there is something more going on than simple discrimination against girls. In today’s world, that dog won’t hunt!

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/07 at 01:06 PM

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