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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Racer on October 18, 2006, at 18:00:21
Yesterday, my maths instructor made a comment to me about my learning style: she said that my learning style isn't like the "girls." Instead, she said, my learning style was "more formalized, like the boys." That only slightly bothers me, because of course I am NOT a "boy."
But it also made me feel chuffed! THAT'S the part that bothered me. I'm uncomfortable that that was such a strong and automatic response: "Oh, I learn The Better Way."
Now, I am sure my learning style is partly formal and partly intuitive, like anyone else's, and that it's just a bit more formalized than is average for women in her experience. And I really like her, her teaching style works well for my learning style, so there's no criticism at all on that. Truth to tell, I also know that some of the need for formalization is related to anxiety/OCD.
I suppose that an argument could be made that it makes sense to be pleased that my learning style is more "masculine" when I'm studying a subject that is -- statistically, on average -- easier for that more masculine learning style. It's not a good argument, though, because this was a knee-jerk reaction.
Whatever the answer -- there's a very, very angry feminist in my soul, who is currently working to give me the sorest fanny in town!
Posted by Jost on October 18, 2006, at 20:35:39
In reply to Weird reaction to comment on my learning style, posted by Racer on October 18, 2006, at 18:00:21
Yeah--it's a huge bummer, when you find out that you think women aren't as smart-- when you're a woman.
:(
I kinda think that whole gestalt is a big part of the self-hatred thing that women have, but maybe I'm rationalizing. It's there, though-- I guess very few people can really escape it--
Jost
Posted by Vinalee on October 20, 2006, at 19:03:05
In reply to Weird reaction to comment on my learning style, posted by Racer on October 18, 2006, at 18:00:21
Hmmm-
it could be that SHE is the one who has a problem with needing to define how someone does things as either masculine or feminine... after all, she is a woman in what is seen as predominantly a man's profession and subject area.Vin
Posted by Racer on October 20, 2006, at 21:08:39
In reply to Re: Weird reaction to comment on my learning style, posted by Vinalee on October 20, 2006, at 19:03:05
That's a good point, but I don't think so. What led to this exchange was talking about why I didn't like another instructor. (I think he's a nice enough fellow, but an abysmally bad teacher.) She said she didn't think different teachers made it easier or harder to learn the material, but I disagree. (I used to teach adult ed, among other things.) I pointed out that the areas I still struggle with are from things in his class.
One of us said that her teaching style worked better for my learning style, which is when she said it.
Anyway, that is a really good point on the matter.
Posted by Lindenblüte on October 25, 2006, at 17:18:04
In reply to Weird reaction to comment on my learning style, posted by Racer on October 18, 2006, at 18:00:21
What are these learning styles?
What does formalized vs. intuitive mean?
Your inner feminist is right to be offended.
There is very little empirical support for an intrinsic, biological factor that makes boys score better (on average) than girls on tests of mathematics and "hard science".
Lacking evidence for innate advantage, these gender differences are, for the most part propagated by parents, teachers, professors and the like who treat children differently, depending on whether they are identified as a boy or a girl.
When our society decides that it's a fine thing for a woman to excel at physics, and when women in academia decide that the current system for granting tenure is biased against women who (gasp!) decide to have children, perhaps your inner feminist won't be so riled.
Read about Claude Steele's work on "stereotype threat" for more evidence on how a mere reminder that a stereotype exists for a group you identify with (be that African-American, White, Asian, Women, Korean... etc) can impact personal performance on skills as diverse as basketball, SAT math exams etc...). Even on skills where pretests had found no difference between groups who are briefed ahead of time "this is a math test that has been used extensively in college populations. Unlike some math tests, this exam shows no difference in performance for men or women..."
geez. was your instructor trying to compliment you? As if being a woman and being "good at math" are somehow very nearly mutually exclusive (as mediated by this variable called "learning style"?!? huh?
what's up with the fanny?
-Li
hmm.
Posted by Jost on October 25, 2006, at 17:46:22
In reply to Re: Weird reaction to comment on my learning style, posted by Lindenblüte on October 25, 2006, at 17:18:04
Not to make any overinterpretations, but when someone starts to say that there's a masculine (or male) and a female way of doing things-- and the things are of a certain sort-- I think it's a fair assumption, in the absence of some obvious clue-- that invidious comparisons of some sort are being made-- and even when being female is better-- it's usually at something you'd never want to be known for being that good at-- like boring repetitive tasks, or something.
Even multitasking-- oh-- you can do a million things at once-- of course you're not that good at any of them-- and men are better at doing any one thing-- ya know-- cause the corpus callosum in men has less white matter or whatever- and is smaller-- and so they do specialized stuff really well-- and women can just kind do lots of whatever-- whenever.
I could be wrong-- it's just my possibly crabbed take on this type of comment-- and if I"m uncivil to anyone in saying so, I apologize-- but I'm a bit of a lunative fringer on the subject. That's my position and I'm sticking to it.
Jost
This is the end of the thread.
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