<p>My D has had two female professors so far. Both are teaching courses in fields that are dominated by males. These have been her 2 toughest and most rigid of her professors.
Is this just coincidence?</p>
<p>Jackie Robinson syndrome. Or so says the father of a female math major.</p>
<p>S had a female math prof. He did not see any difference in her attitude from his male math profs.</p>
<p>Perhaps these were just the toughest courses, assuming they were science or math? Perhaps these were the youngest/newest profs?</p>
<p>S had a female math prof last semester who gave a hard class, but put more emphasis on problem sets and less on exams than any math or physics prof he’s had so far. When she gave a more difficult than expected home work assignment, she apologized to the class and admitted she hadn’t been able to do one of the problems herself. (Pardon my bias, but how many male professors do you know who would do that?). He said she was particularly encouraging of female students. Also said she was good, and with a few more years of experience would be great. On the other hand, he described the male professor he had for probablility and stat as “awful”.</p>
<p>Maybe just coincidence? My aerospace class was team taught by a male and a female prof and they were both exceptional.</p>
<p>Yes, a database of 2 is not enough to build grand theories on.</p>
<p>I think sac is probably*right. Some courses are harder than others irrespective of who is teaching. Calculus II apparently is commonly known, according to my D, to be harder than Calculus III.</p>
<p>Marite, OT, but you’re much more Math-savvy than I am: D is skipping Calc III and going directly to Calc IV after having had “Math Analysis.” Is this a reasonable thing to do? The stipulation was that she’d study three chapters of Calc III on her own over the break.</p>
<p>Personally I don’t believe in probability and I have a D in statistics that probably proves it.</p>
<p>University of Toronto, where D3 attends, has, in the past couple of months, appointed women to the positions of: Dean of Medicine, Dean of Law, Dean of Engineering, and the first woman principal of University College (U of T is run on the college system).</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.engineering.utoronto.ca/English/UNIVERSITY-OF-TORONTO-APPOINTS-NEW-DEAN-OF-ENGINEERING.html[/url]”>http://www.engineering.utoronto.ca/English/UNIVERSITY-OF-TORONTO-APPOINTS-NEW-DEAN-OF-ENGINEERING.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“Breaking News - Headlines & Top Stories | The Star”>Breaking News - Headlines & Top Stories | The Star;
<p>Overdue, but impressive, nonetheless.</p>
<p>What I’m going to say is HUGELY speculatory, but I’m going to put an idea out there…</p>
<p>Women professors are very hard to come by, especially in ‘male’ dominated fields due to a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is due to tenure. Professors normally have to reach tenure within a specified amount of time upon hiring in the tenure-track position. If the said professor goes straight through schooling and is lucky enough to get a tenure-track position after their post-doc, then they will be hired in their early 30’s and required to reach tenure, say by 35-40 (again, generally speaking…). </p>
<p>Well, if the said professor is a woman who wants to have a family, then when is she to start her family? If you are a woman who has been in schooling since high school and starting a high-demand career in which you need to perform fast to secure your job, you have little to no time to have children. This MAY convince certain female professors to be harder on students and expect more out of them in order to impress the folks upstairs to approve tenure (yes, I know it is more heavily reliant on research as well, but teaching does factor in as well). </p>
<p>So, is it possible that some young female professors are harder on students? I think it’d be impossible to tell, but interesting food for thought. ;)</p>