Comment - This really sounds like a hoax to me, but ABC News is treating it like a real news story. I suppose the facts will come out in the end (heh heh heh).

News -- Why don't more girls take computer programming? No one seems to know why: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/edlife/12STABINE.html?pagewanted=all &position=top

Comment - This article says many all-girl schools can't offer the Advanced Placement course in computer programming because they can't get the minimum number of students to sign up. I suppose you could say that in an ordinary public high school, girls would get teased for taking computer programming with a bunch of guys. But that does not explain why they don't take computer programming at elite all-girl schools, where presumably there would be less peer pressure.

One quote in this article suggests that computer programming is at the point that math and science classes were 20 years ago: a male ghetto. It's sexist to suppose that young woman aren't interested in programming just because they are female.

Another quote makes the good point that the U.S. is so short of programmers that we have to import people from India. It's a shame that half our population of students express little interest in such an important area for future jobs.

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11:49:40 AM