386 karma · joined February 12, 2013
Like you say, kids are very perceptive. The only way to truly eradicate the stereotype is to create a world in which the stereotype doesn't exist.
And that is done by giving all kids, regardless of gender or race, the __opportunity__ to learn about the value of computer science. The ones that like it will participate, those that don't, won't. And gender will be irrelevant.
I.e., instead of writing a few quick lines of code to perform bisection search in the middle of logic flow, you create a general bisection search function and implement that.
This leads to high productivity "a statement per function", and makes code cleaner and easier to update, but can substantially increase overhead costs.
For example, I have a chemistry teacher whose sole goal is to get us to pass the test. I'll ask something like, "So this ratio applies under a set, standard pressure and temperature?" And she'll reply, "What!? This has nothing to do with pressure or temperature, just multiply this number by this number...."
Other times, I'll ask a question and she'll say, "You don't need to know that for the test." She actively discourages inquiry into the "why" behind the material and instead prefers to teach robots.
I love learning, but I can't stand some classes in school. My learning is literally being shut-down by teachers.