GungnirSniper writes:
"Catherine Rampell at The Washington Post has 'A message to the nation's women: Stop trying to be straight-A students.'
In her analysis of others' findings, she writes of a discouragement gradient that pushes women out of harder college degrees, including economics and other STEM degrees. Men do not seem to have a similar discouragement gradient, so they stay in harder degree programs and ultimately earn more. Data suggests that women might also value high grades more than men do and sort themselves into fields where grading curves are more lenient.
'Maybe women just don't want to get things wrong,' Goldin hypothesized. 'They don't want to walk around being a B-minus student in something. They want to find something they can be an A student in. They want something where the professor will pat them on the back and say "You're doing so well!"'
'Guys,' she added, 'don't seem to give two damns.'
Why are women in college moving away from harder degrees?"
(Score: 2, Funny) by germanbird on Wednesday March 12 2014, @11:25PM
When I was freshman in college, I passed by a guy talking to a girl in the lobby of one of the engineering buildings. I didn't think much of it at the time and proceeded to the elevators. The guy boarded the elevator behind me and once the door had closed, he turned and said, "I knew she was lost. A woman in the engineering complex? Too good to be true."
I don't ever remember running into him again, but if you see this unknown-man-from-the-engineering-building, thanks for the laugh.