Yes, I also agree that cooking/cleaning are "basics" and car maintanance isn't. I was just saying that most things we can farm out if we want to. But I don't want my daughter being stranded on a highway somewhere with a flat and not know how to deal with it. (Though nowadays, they tighten the lug bolts by machine so that most people don't have the strength to loosen them!) I also agree with someone (can't remember who; I read about six different posts!) that there's wisdom in knowing when you need to call in a professional. My dad would try to fix something, and then do it wrong and it would cost twice as much than if he'd call someone in the first place!!!
My dad wasn't great at mechanic work or carpentry or plumbing, but he did teach me how to change a flat tire (even when the lugs are on real tight), check the belts and hoses and fluid levels, and add fluids, and clean the battery connections. And on more than one occasion, I've had to change a tire alone on a busy street! It's nice to be able to do something about it instead of just sit and look helpless (days before cell phones, or if you're in a no-signal zone) and wait for someone kind to come along - or someone not so kind who may change your flat for you but expect "some sort" of payment....
At university, I don't remember there being a single female in any physics class. There was only one part-time female professor, and she was the wife of a full-time professor. One year, I spoke at an international physics conference. In the official conference photograph, there were just two young women - out of a large audience of attendees. On the other hand, those students at our universities today who plan to become schoolteachers are almost all women. Why such a discrepancy? Are we bending to social norms? Do we encourage boys to study advanced physics, for example, while guiding girls to the biological sciences? Or are boys' minds better suited to some types of thinking and girls' minds better suited to other subjects? In our case, we rather went with the flow - encouraging our children in whatever subjects they enjoyed and at which they excelled. As it turns out, the two oldest (girl then boy) both ended up getting degrees in biology: One is a (female) physician assistant, and the other is a (male) nurse.
I can't speak about what boys' minds are suited to!:wink: However, I was the "odd" girl in school. I was good at math, terrible in spelling. I loved science and history and positively hated grammar. Literature was good as long as I didn't have to read any "mushy" stuff. If it was a mystery or western I was ok. I found that math and science were pretty closely related. History and literature can also be related depending on what genre you read. Even though I'm turning gray, I still gravitate toward those type of things rather than the "typical female" stuff.
Me too, Marty! I can't say I was passionate about any school subject, although I was better at English than Math, but reading almost anything would suit me just fine! ... except the "mushy stuff"! I was especially enamored of science fiction - the more "nuts and bolts" type, the better.
I ended up in a field that is mostly female. I don't know why, but I'm female and the field of study suited me so maybe there is something to that. In my major classes in college I had no male classmates. In graduate school in my field I had maybe 2 out of 40 classmates that were male. Yet most of my professors were male. I'm all for breaking gender stereotypes, but I wouldn't change my field of study because of it. I did, however, join a carpentry class as a teenager while my female peers took a class on cake decorating. This was not because I was super interested in carpentry though, but because I didn't think girls should have to go one way and boys another. The class was good except for the males looking down at the only female in their class. Maybe things will be different for my children. I don't want cake decorating to be feminine and carpentry to be masculine. I want my kids to follow their interests no matter what society thinks. Stereotypes abound in our society. My son should not have received looks of concern when he revealed his favorite color was pink.
I did not read all the posts...sorry..I am in the middle of writing something. I do not tailor make my kids' education based on gender. I never even think of it. They all do the same things. My son makes a mean pancake and my dd learned how to fix breaks on a car....or something like that...someone else taught her not me. lol.
LOL...when my son was little that was his favorite color! When my dd was little she picked a Barbie toothbrush and Darth Vader toothpaste. My other dd is all pink and sparkles but loves a good nerf sword fight.
Funny you should mention cake decorating... Eli is SO excited because he realized that next summer he's old enough to take cake decorating at the church art's academy. His favorite tv shows are Challenge (but only when they are doing pastry-type stuff) and Ace of Cakes. lol
My oldest son was one of very few guys graduating as a nurse. As the only male nurse on the hospital floor where he now works, he's beginning to learn that it has its advantages!
We have a young man going to nursing school in the fall at my church. He's a rough and tumble football player to boot. So, nursing is a profession not a gender based profession anymore. I would think there would be plenty of advantages to having male nurses. (especially if I can get a cute one! lol)
My brother is a nurse. Being a male nurse is not as unusual as it used to be. In high school I wanted to take wood working class but knew I would be ridiculed. If our children have an interest in something that my husband and I do not have knowledge of and we feel is an important skill, we will try to find a class or person who can teach our children those things of interest. We will teach our children skills that we feel are necessary for daily life even if they do not have an interest. Those daily life skills will have a little bit of a gender slant.
When I went to nursing school (mid-late 90's) we had one male in my class when I went for my LPN (we all took all our classes together) and 2-3 males in various classes when I went for my RN. You know what I find extremely funny, nursing-doctor, pretty much the same thing-just doctor is a higher degree obviously, so why is it mostly male doctors mostly female nurses? (though females doctors are increasing at a much larger rate than male nurses) I just find it extremely odd. Most NP or PA tend to be female as well. And you would think, in our society, being a caregiver seems to be a 'feminine' trait, so why in the past were all the doctors men? The medical field is dominated by women on every level except for the highest levels. Why is that? Because men are (perceived) smarter? Because the lower levels of the medical field are 'caregiver' roles and the title of 'doctor' is viewed as a scientific role?
I think you hit the nail on the head. In the past, "doctor" was a research-based position. Primative doctors were those who, through trail, error, and experiment, came up with new remedies. Nursing 'evolved' from the women who relied on knowledge of the Earth, cooking, and care-giving. Which is why modern doctors aren't the least bit concerned with preventing illness. It's not in their job description. Where as NPs tend to seek the root of the problem and suggest ways to fix it, even suggesting herbs, foods, and other natural methods.
I'm not sure I agree with that! Our doctors have gone out of their way to prevent illness - but that's another topic.
Yes, I was stereotyping. The vast majority of doctors are in the business of treating symptoms, not curing illness. This is also mostly what's taught in medical school. If you want to cure, rather than treat, you go into a research specialty. As someome recently said (I can't remember if it was on this board or another), doctors like TV's House are rare as most doctors don't have the time, inclination, education, or energy to get to the root of a problem. And even House is a specialist, not a GP.
Well, look at pregnancy! The male doctors (again stereotyping) are mostly concerned about the "symptoms" and treat it as if the woman is ill. Midwives, on the other hand, are more concerned about the "whole" and understand that this is a NORMAL condition, not something to be "cured".
Did you know that the main actor in House (Hugh Laurie) is a well-known British comedy actor? Here he is as the Prince Regent in a Black Adder series. Another actor/singer with a carefully cultured image in the US is Michael Crawford, the wonderful singer who starred in the Phantom of the Opera. Here's how we always remember Michael Crawford in Britain - as the character Frank Spencer. Crawford did all the stunts himself, which is how he won the singing role in Barnum (he walked the high wire himself) and eventually became the Phantom. Sorry for another diversion.
Steve, lol, I am an astrophysics major. And since I attended a women's college, I wasn't in the minority, although there were only a handful of us - two in my graduating class, maybe four there overall (but our grad class was like 200 or something). My mom is a surveyor - also a male-dominated field. Back to the original question...mine are still a little young for car maintenance, but we've been slowly moving into cooking for my oldest. And housecleaning - everyone has their chores. They start when they are three (putting away silverware from the dishwasher, very basic). When I was a kid, my stepfather showed me twice how to do something on my bike - change the tires, repair the tube, whatever. He told me he would only show me twice (maybe it was once?), and then he was done, and he held to it. But I could fix my bike when I needed to. I had a boyfriend in high school who was very car saavy; with his help I changed not only the brakes but the transmission. And I will sell my firstborn, or at least all of her toys, before I do that again. But I did all the basic maintenance myself while in college, like oil changes, and knew how to change a flat. On a college student's budget, that was big savings.
