Jay's World of Abstracts

Jay's World of Abstracts 00019

Raising Smart, Bold Girls

excerpted from the Girls Incorporated Operation SMART program

[Standard disclaimer: The nature of abstracts are that they are pieces of something larger. Not everyone is going to be happy with my choice of abstracts from any larger work, so if you are dissatisfied, I would refer you to the original document, which should be able to be found on the Internet. I encourage others to make their own abstracts to satisfy their needs. I would be happy to publish them here.

Jay's Introduction

This abstract comes from the web site of Girls Incorporated (the old Girls Clubs of America) and paints a picture that girls will be powerful when they take on math and science. Perhaps.

I produced this abstract using time paid for by the Quay County Maternal Child and Community Health Council with funds from the New Mexico Department of Health.

Abstracts

Raising Smart, Bold Girls
excerpted from the Girls Incorporated Operation SMART program

Assume girls are interested in math, science and technology. Girls will jump at the opportunity to dismantle machines, care for small animals and solve logic puzzles.

Let them make big, interesting mistakes. Girls who are overly protected in the lab or on the playground have few chances to assess tasks and solve problems on their own. Supported by adults instead of rescued, girls learn to embrace their curiosity, face their fear and trust their own judgment.

Help them get past the "yuk" factor. Girls who are afraid of getting dirty aren't born that way -- they're made. Girls Incorporated encourages girls to put concerns about their "femininity" aside and get good and grubby digging in a river bed or exploring a car engine. Girls learn they have a right to be themselves -- people first and females second -- and to resist pressure to behave in sex-stereotyped ways.

Expect them to succeed. Teach girls that they are not only capable of mastering math and science, they're expected to continue to do so throughout high school and college. They learn that their ambition is as natural as boys' - and as necessary, if they are to become leaders of the 21st century.

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