At my new teaching job I have many shops---the robotics PC lab, wood shop, metal shop, and AutoCAD Apple lab. Today a group of Korean school administrators came to visit our American high school. When they visited my class, I showed them the things that the students make in wood shop---cabinets, boxes, chests, tables, goblets, bowls, chessboards, cutting boards, etc. They couldn't believe that the students could make all these items at this age.
One of my gifted robotics students lent me his robot, so I showed the administrators how the pre-programmed robot moves. The new tasks that the students had to have their robot perform were for the robot to be able to maneuver the course while stopping at each turn, blinking the LED to signal a turn on that side, beep when backing up, and playing a victory song at the finish. This robot played "Yankee Doodle Dandy" which I thought was appropriate for demonstrating the greatness of American ingenuity! The administrators were very impressed and wondered where the remote for the robot was. lol I explained that it was all programmed in PBASIC and downloaded into the robot's memory.
When I took them to the metal shop, I showed them the car that one of my students is rebuilding, the TIG welding stations, the metal sanders, painting booth, metal lathe, and plasma cutter which cut out oak trees drawn on AutoCAD. I showed them the pen that we were trying to get to scribe into the metal, but so far it is cutting through. They were very impressed by this, as well.
At the end of my tour I asked if they had any questions. The one administrator who spoke the best English and translated for the others asked, "How many girls do you have in this program?"
Of course I was thinking, "NOT AGAIN!" That was the same question that the Federal ROP overseer asked me. I answered, "Well, we have a few girls in each class, but when the girls at the school saw a female shop teacher, more joined my classes."
Then the administrator asked, "Aren't the girls not strong enough to do these things? How do they lift heavy things?"
Of course I was thinking, "NOT AGAIN!" Here I'd been a pioneer for women in engineering when I was running a million dollar Japanese/American project that lasted 9 months. My boss and I didn't let the Japanese know that I was a woman, since they only had female engineers serve coffee. At the end of the project that my team finished on time and within budget, which was unheard of for American engineers, I finally let my boss tell them that I was a woman, and they were in utter disbelief! Now I had to find a way to gently tell this Korean administrator about the greatness of women in creating things from thought, if they're given a chance.
Without missing a beat, I pointed at the strong teenage men in the metal shop and said, "We have all these strong young men to help move the heavy things. When I worked as a mechanical engineer, I had many people who worked for me." I pointed to my head and added, "I was paid for my thoughts and delegated to others the details of creating my designs," and left it at that. The female Korean administrator smiled at me in acknowledgement of what I do every day to truly emancipate women to be free to discover and pursue their talents. Not many of our dad's taught us how to use tools, so I'm stepping in and giving the young ladies and men a chance to discover the joy of shaping their own worlds with awesome power tools!
P.S. To my blog readers: If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at: https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960 Thank You!
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