Posted on 01/31/2014 7:52:45 PM PST by Bratch
MOREHEAD — First, I'll admit that I went to see The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik speak at Morehead State primarily because I'm a fan of the show, in all its nerdy glory.
But as the actress who plays neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS comedy spoke to the large, attentive crowd in Morehead's Academic-Athletic Center, I found myself thinking about something other than the popular TV show:
I wish my daughter could hear this.
Of course, during her lecture, Bialik told the crowd about her experiences in Hollywood, as a child star on the 1990s sitcom Blossom, now as a key character on The Big Bang Theory. She talked about juggling her career and being the mother of two young sons. Much of her talk, though, focused on her real-life path to earning a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA. As the child of two English teachers, Bialik gravitated toward the arts and humanities over math and science early in her educational life.
"I assumed I wasn't good at math and science," she said, "because the way it was taught to me didn't make sense to me."
She saw her math and science classes dominated by boys. The notion that math and science were subjects for boys was ever-present and reinforced.
That is, until a biology tutor sparked her own interest and passion for science in her teens.
"I never knew you could feel that way about science," she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at kentucky.com ...
It’s genetics.
Women are genetically wired to enjoy watching men struggle with science instead of doing it themselves.
Some of them are so strongly wired that they go into the field so they can watch lots of men struggle with science.
/johnny
She must have been conditioned from a young age to think that math and science are "boy" subjects.
I was always top of my class in math and science. The idea that I should hold back because I'm female never occurred to me. Many of my math and science classes were taught by women--just as many of the "soft" classes were taught by men.
It takes a certain kind of person to go into science. If someone is the kind of person who complains about some gender inequality in science, I would question whether that person has the aptitude/personality to be a scientist.
And yeah, I'm a woman and I have a hard science PhD.
Lots of women in astrophysics
Very cool. I was ready to go into science. I had quizzed into advanced calculus and loved my science classes but was told by my advisor (this was in 1967 or so) that it would be too hard so I ended up in English and education. I then went to law school. If I believed in a next life I would want to be a forensic pathologist. Some days I still wish I had gone into the hard sciences but I’ve had a good life and career and am looking forward to retirement.
Whatever you say, Mrs Mith.
“The Big Bang Theory is a classic example of how science IS NOT done in the real world.”
I don’t want to be a wet blanket to your wet blanket, but it IS just a silly comedy show, it’s not even like it’s a drama or anything.
I like it a lot because a. it is funny (and the addition of Bialik and the gal who plays Howard’s wife have made it a thousand times funnier, they are both great) and b. it’s one of the rare TV shows that actually has smart people as characters. I always liked Frasier for that too, and of course that show was very, very funny also.
Recently a couple of episodes of Big Bang have been so good that instead of deleting them right away (we watch almost everything recorded) I’ve saved them and watched them again a couple of days later. I can’t say that about any other TV show, ever.
The one where the couples were mixed up (I forget why) as they did a scavenger hunt was just brilliant.
Actually Howard is the only one who actually has done anything meaningful.
While "space plumber" is great for a giggle it is actually rather crucial if you want to be in space for more then a day or two.
As for the others I know Sheldon has made three "great discoveries" that turned out to be so much hooey. The only one I can think of that actually panned out was the one the red-haired girl helped him with. Raj spotted a comet and I can't think of anything ground breaking Lenard has done.
In fact the whole show seems to be about the fact you may be smart but unless you actually stop playing and start working you never get anywhere.
“And yeah, I’m a woman and I have a hard science PhD.” ...
Oh no ... It’s a WITCH!!!! ;-)
(Just doing my part to uphold the media’s Conservative stereotypes as well as do my part to prolong the War on Women that exists in the minds of the LSD using class)
Haha.
One of my personal heroes is a woman scientist who pushed forward with her research regardless of what anyone said about her. People said her work was crazy, but she stood her ground and demonstrated a principle that has had a huge impact in the fields of molecular biology and genetics. She won the Nobel Prize for her work.
Her name is Barbara McClintock. She was an absolutely amazing woman, who completely disregarded stereotypes.
My mother was valedictorian of her high school. Straight ‘A’s all four years.
She went on to college and double majored in math and English (I know, seems an odd pair to me, too). Again, straight ‘A’s.
At one point in her career, she worked for A-C Spark Plug in Oak Creek, WI. They were a sub-contractor to NASA, and were working on guidance hardware and software. My mother’s job was to double-check the results of the guidance computer, using paper, pencil, and a slide rule.
With mom’s help, I breezed through every advanced math course offered through high school. I don’t accept that woman have intellectual limits that men don’t also.
FWIW, I went on to get a degree in Computer Science and Engineering.
Smart women rock.
Dude, its just a TV comedy show. It isn’t about real life.
C’mon, it’s a TV show. They all go to work all day in the show. But it would be pretty boring to watch them working at a desk for a half hour.
Now having said that, Big Bang is a comedy, not a documentary and it's very good for what it is.
I would say the show does well to explain class welfare for the elite intellectuals. We need rocket scientists....but the truth is....ninety-nine percent of them aren’t really needed much. So we employ them at odd jobs, pay them what they think they are worth, and just grin over projects that have no value.
I won’t dump on Big Bang Theory....it is a well written script and they have done some five star episodes (the comet-passing episode with the guys out in the foothills was a classic).
I can’t imagine that I ever would have backed down from studying any subject simply because someone told me it was a “boy” subject.
In Junior High, back in the early 1970s, I was told that I couldn’t take a wood working class because it was only for boys. I did not get the idea that some things are only for boys or for girls—I might not have been allowed to take the class, but I still work with wood. We have a kitchen table that I made back in the 1980s. I’ve never been one to be stopped by nay saying!
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