"THE number of students studying maths and science is falling to dangerous levels, prompting warnings of a critical shortage in skilled workers.

The Group of Eight Review, carried out by eight of the nation's leading universities has delivered an alarming picture of maths and science in Australian schools.

The review reveals students are losing interest in maths and science in primary school, leading to a decline in the number of Year 12 advanced maths students going on to degrees in key skills shortage areas such as engineering, statistics and economics."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/group-of-eight-reviews-sum-of-all-fears-maths-is-in-serious-decline/story-e6frg6p6-1225838924327

Saltpetre,

"...all this fraying of cultural cohesion...."

Yes, it's a good way to describe it..
I believe our rampant consumer culture is the driver behind the fragmentation of community in our culture. This is a phenomenon that involves a collaboration between both genders, and is undertaken in an attempt to satisfy our unquenchable desire for ever more material gain.

The genie has escaped from the bottle....and it is, it would seem, of androgynous form.

vanna
Well I did offer a different perspective that you have ignored and asked why should girls be interested in science? Why is it that traditional male roles are valued but traditional female roles are not championed in the same way. There are many women in science now, many winning awards. Why is no-one asking why boys are not flocking to nursing or childcare roles?

How to interest girls in science? Girls already have access to science but girls also have choices. I dispute the fact that it is timidity or lack of risk taking. I started a Science Degree in the 70s and later swapped to Arts (Politics/Economics) because it better suited my interests and goals.

Saltpetre
Welcome to OLO. It is refreshing to see a man put forward his view without the blame-game or using terms like 'feminazi', or blaming the woes of the world on single mothers etal. Don't worry about being old fashioned, I too an anachronism in some aspects of gender discussions, managing both to annoy some feminists and masculinsts alike (acknowedging both are a broad Church). :)

I am reminded of the old parable about the blind men who wanted to see an elephant.

One felt the tail and said the elephant was like a rope, when the other felt the legs and said the elephant was like a tree.

Each was right from his perspective, but none had the whole picture.

Typically over the last few decades the some feminists found fame, notoriety in creating myths and misrepresentations.

The masculist movement or what ever would never have existed if feminism had not reared its ugly head.( I refer to the ugly side of feminism)

At Nojustice now archived, a few articles show how for example men were research by asking women, Researchers typically ignored the majority of males who were not alcholic, drug addicts, criminals etc.

<&#9632;Publicly making derogatory comments about staff members or their work, including use of body language (eye rolling, dismissive behavior), sarcasm, ridicule; making someone the target of practical jokes>
http://www.impactednurse.com/?p=2345

I agree Saltpetre. Equality of the genders (while not quite there yet) has come at a price. Women now have twice as many jobs as they had before, and many children now miss the undivided attention of all the stay at home mothers of yesteryear.

I don't believe that relationships are any worse off though. Unhappy couples of the 50's and 60's (and previously) had no choice really but to stay together- enduring a life of sadness and sometimes of violence.

At least these days they have a chance to start again with someone else...without all the stigma of that choice years ago (except the vilification from those people still living in the past of course).

Vanna, did you even read the posts above? Or do you just go on punching the keys on your keyboard with the same anti-female diatribe, time after time?

Perhaps some of the most charismatic feminists are sociopaths.

Ever heard of Don Quixote, who went around fighting imaginary battles. I wonder how many feminist are actually Don Quixotes?

Then Orwells Animal Farm has many of the parallels of feminism.

Could you imagine spending your whole life looking microscopically for areas of inequality that only pertains to women.

Forever shifting the goal posts. Never ever really defining what Shangri La would be like once it was achieved.