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CSTA: Google Surveying Educators On Unconscious Biases of Students, Parents 173

theodp writes: According to a Computer Science Teachers Association tweet, Google is reportedly asking educators to assess the unconscious bias of students and their parents for the search giant. "We are in the early stages of learning how unconscious bias plays out in schools, and who would benefit most from bias busting materials," begins the linked-to 5-page Google Form, which sports a ub-edu@google.com email address, but lists no contact name. "This survey should take 15 minutes to complete, and your responses are confidential, meaning that your feedback will not be attributed to you and the data will only be used in aggregate form." The form asks educators to "list the names of organizations, tools, and resources that you have used to combat unconscious bias," which is defined as "the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner." A sample question: "Who do you think would benefit most from unconscious bias training at your school (or program)? Rank the following people in order (1=would most benefit to 5=would benefit least) training: Student, Parent (or guardian), Teacher (or educator), Guidance counselor, Principal." Google deflected criticism for its lack of women techies in the past by blaming parents' unconscious biases for not steering their girls to study computer science, suggesting an intervention was needed. "Outreach programs," advised Google, "should include a parent education component, so that parents learn how to actively encourage their daughters."
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CSTA: Google Surveying Educators On Unconscious Biases of Students, Parents

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 13, 2015 @05:23AM (#50096891)

    There is nothing in western society stopping women from pursuing technical careers except women themselves. They are given every possible advantage.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Apparently you're oblivious to the political power that can be generated via a simple accusation.
    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Say it LOUD !
      Men and women are different and like doing different things, and the feminazi thought police cannot change that.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Folks, it is time you guys see beyond what is shown on the screen

      This "female have been discouraged from STEM" thing is just a decoy

      The power that be is using it to push for something MUCH MORE HEINOUS - total mind control

      First of all I need to stress that I am not good in explaining thing, but please do allow me to try ...

      The 'unconscious bias' thing is something very worrisome --- it is a tool for TPTB to average out all the thought pattern of the masses

      You see, first they came up with 'hate speec

      • I think you could benefit from some re-education training...
      • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

        by meta-monkey ( 321000 )

        I was with you up until "total mind control."

        It is a conspiracy. A C-O-N...spiracy, but not mind control. Just that Zuck and Billy and pals are tired of having to pay, ugh, middle class American wages to fucking software developer plebeians when they could be raking in more sweet sweet billions. So all the "women in STEM!" "teach all kids teh codez!" crap is designed to 1) get more H1-Bs now to drive down wages and 2) get more coders later to drive down wages.

        "Learn to code" is this generation's version of

        • My first tech job was as a support tech for DSL, when I applied there were fewer candidates than positions and the interviewers were asking me if I knew anyone else that went to my school looking for a job. The vo-tech and state university here have been pumping out computer related degrees like an assembly line since I went to school and now when I see people interviewing for new positions there are hundreds of associated degrees and dozens of bachelors lining up.

          If you told me their goal was to flood the

        • So your solution is NOT to "learn to code" and start with the burger flipping job right away? Any other idea where to get a "sweet 32k/year gig" without college?

          Doesn't change anything about you being spot-on right.

          But I wish I could give my kids some more reliable career advice than "Drop out of school and become the next Mark Zuckerberg". Well, I know the American Dream where anyone can make it from rags to riches with hard work, but so could anyone get struck by lightning or anyone could win the lottery.

          • I don't recall offering a solution.

            But I would say just going straight programmer is a bad choice. Specialize in something else, but also learn to code.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Do you simply not believe women when they talk about gender related harassment or discrimination?

    • I love slashdot sometimes:

      Article: link to a reasonably detailed study on a nuanced topic.

      AC: you're wrong!!! +5 insightful

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday July 13, 2015 @05:26AM (#50096895)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      This right here.
      Rather than concluding that the parents are screwing up, we should conclude that girls and boys are different and there is nothing wrong with an unequal number of men and women in particular jobs.

      • by Sique ( 173459 )
        Rather than concluding that the current situation is somehow normal and will never change, we should look in the past and in other regions of the world, where the biases were and are different and thus the numbers of men and women in particular jobs differ from what we see here. And then we wouldn't blame it on "girls and boys are different", because then we would know that it has not so much to do with the differences between girls and boys but more with the choices we as parents, as relatives, as teachers
        • by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 13, 2015 @06:50AM (#50097071)

          Instead, I have concluded that the only reason this is a problem for people is because it's a desk job with more men than women.
          No one is researching the bias leading to medical schools with 90% women.
          No one is researching the bias leading to 99% male construction workers, or garbage men.
          That's the reason for my disdain for these people.
          They don't care about equality. They care about being seen to care about equality.

          • by Sique ( 173459 )
            Of course people are also researching the bias leading to medical schools with 90% women. You just don't hear too often about them, because you are not working in the field. Your disdain is mainly fed by your confirmation bias. One of my main customers is a large health care provider with about 15,000 employees, and if I am on site, I see the information announcing research papers about exactly that topic: Where does the gender disparity in the health care professions come from?

            And thus I conclude, that t

            • "And thus I conclude..." Incorrectly, I might add, as pointed out by you own logic immediately following that phrase. .
          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Monday July 13, 2015 @09:13AM (#50097707) Homepage Journal

            No one is researching the bias leading to medical schools with 90% women.

            Actually there are people researching that. Lack of male nurses is a problem. The American Assembly for Men in Nursing offers support and scholarships in the US, for example.

            No one is researching the bias leading to 99% male construction workers, or garbage men.

            I spent five seconds searching for this on Google and it turns out that actually there is plenty of research and academic discourse on this subject, as well as newspaper articles and the like:

            http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/p... [arcom.ac.uk]
            http://www.academia.edu/634834... [academia.edu]
            http://www.equalityhumanrights... [equalityhumanrights.com]
            http://www.theguardian.com/sus... [theguardian.com]
            http://www.theguardian.com/sus... [theguardian.com]

            People do care, you are just too lazy to even type a few words into Google.

          • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

            No one is researching the bias leading to 99% male construction workers, or garbage men.

            Apparently a woman thinks you're wrong. So wrong she started a company creating a working clothes line for women [covergallsworkwear.com]. Specifically, she worked in the mining industry and was forced to put on the standard safety equipment. Which works great for men, but not so much for women (notably, using the facilities requires taking it all off).

            So the fact she's able to create a clothing line for working women and build a company out of

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Do you understand what "unconscious bias" actually is? It's not actively steering the child at all, it's making assumptions and reacting certain ways that pushes them away from STEM. It happens right from birth, let alone after 18 years. You could at least try to understand the basics before throwing in your opinion.

    • by Sique ( 173459 )
      As I have a daughter, I know better. Of course bias is a big part of it, expressed verbally and non-verbally. Parents and grand-parents who give their daughters princess dresses for christmas and act gleefully if the daughter wear it, express a bias. Parents who at the same christmas complain if the daughter plays to much on the new computer express a bias. Television programming where the only computer affiliate is a dorky guy who might be brilliant at computers but is awkward at anything else expresses a
      • Well, it's "blatantly obvious to even the most casual observer" that if your daughter's choices don't fit The Narrative, it's because you're a H8er, or something.
      • by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Monday July 13, 2015 @06:11AM (#50097013)

        "As I have a daughter, I know better. Of course bias is a big part of it, expressed verbally and non-verbally. Parents and grand-parents who give their daughters princess dresses for christmas and act gleefully if the daughter wear it, express a bias."

        Not only that. In Germany, they found out that teachers are unconscious biased against lower class pupils on the sole first-name the kids have. Because lower class parents often name their kids like celebrities or characters in TV-shows, while the more educated classes name their kids more traditionally.

        If the kids are called Kevin, Bejoncé, Kanye or Ronny for example, they get lower grades for the same content.

        The bias has even a name, it's called 'Kevinism'.

        https://namecurator.wordpress.... [wordpress.com]

        http://www.ctvnews.ca/kevin-ch... [ctvnews.ca]

        • Regarding Kevinism, did they confirm the bias was unjustified? Did they take a subset of all papers with the names redacted and have them regraded in a blinded manner? Neither article you linked to goes to that depth.

          Perhaps those children really are a bit more dim-witted. Causation: genetics. :)
        • If the kids are called Kevin, Bejoncé, Kanye or Ronny for example, they get lower grades for the same content.

          What, so the grading is performed arbitrarily? This is unacceptable. Who cares about the "kevinism" part, this reveals a far more serious issue. If there is no objective basis by which to grade the object, be it a test or paper, then it simply cannot be graded period.

      • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday July 13, 2015 @06:50AM (#50097073)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Sique ( 173459 )

          Parents and grand-parents who give their daughters princess dresses for christmas and act gleefully if the daughter wear it, express a bias.

          Shocking that parents are happy when their daughters like feminine things. It's almost like they don't think they're defective males and their views on clothing is orthogonal to computer issues.

          You got it reversely. At first, it's the parents and the grand parents and other relatives who gives princess clothes as presents and then act gleefully. Only after that positive reaction, girls show interest in being a princess, and then parents and grand parents give new girlish presents and again show happiness if the girl smiles. Don't underestimate the amount of impression you make on a child until it conciously expresses interest in some thing and disdain for others! Each toy shop with "girl aisles" a

          • by Dog-Cow ( 21281 )

            I don't think your anecdote demonstrates what you think it does. Of course peers have an influence on you. That's how fads work, after all. But at the same time, your daughter demonstrates that at the end of the day, she has her own interests and will pursue them.

            I have a simple question: has anyone asked all these girly girls if they are unhappy? Do any of them feel brainwashed and resentful because they liked princess stuff and prefer the color pink?

      • As I have a daughter, I know better.

        I have a daughter as well.

        And, oddly enough, a wife. The wife is also a programmer.

        Oddly enough, with both parents programmers, my daughter expressed absolutely no interest in programming. No, I don't believe her teachers had more influence than her parents....

        Though she's starting to express an interest in doing Minecraft mods, just because the mods she likes haven't been updated as promptly as she wishes they were....

        • by ranton ( 36917 )

          Oddly enough, with both parents programmers, my daughter expressed absolutely no interest in programming. No, I don't believe her teachers had more influence than her parents....

          But do you think that in a world where there were no parental biases, 100% of children would pick the same career as one or both of their parents? Because that is what you are implying with your post. Perhaps if you said your daughter has no interest in math, science, or computers your argument would be a little more on point.

          Though she's starting to express an interest in doing Minecraft mods, just because the mods she likes haven't been updated as promptly as she wishes they were....

          Sounds like you are just not waiting long enough for her to find her lifelong interests. Not everyone has to start programming at the age of 10. Expressing this type of interest, even

      • Parents who at the same christmas complain if the daughter plays to much on the new computer express a bias.

        Anecdote pulled out of posterior invagination.

        Television programming where the only computer affiliate is a dorky guy who might be brilliant at computers but is awkward at anything else expresses a bias.

        As opposed to the shows that have computer geeks being a woman [ranker.com] (47 listed, not including Arrow, Flash or Supernatural)?

        Yes, you can argue by purposely not including information showing the opposi

      • As *I* have a daughter who currently teaches robotics in middle school, I can safely say you're biasing you own post. You're arguing from an assumed authority, so I can as well.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      For example, the "fact" that the computer industry is infested with pervs and misogynists, therefore women shouldn't go there because they'll just be hit on by perverted geeks without any social graces or fellow feeling.

      Whether it is the truth or not doesn't really matter: people will be driven away MERELY BY THE ACCUSATION.

  • I think rather than guiding encouragement in areas where kids show ability and interest are better. Would you really be doing anyone a favour if you guided someone into a career that looks as though it will be increasingly outsourced, not be well compensated except at higher levels, and require long hours if they didn't have a keen interest and enjoyment in the area?
  • by Jesrad ( 716567 ) on Monday July 13, 2015 @05:46AM (#50096955) Journal

    Google deflected criticism for its lack of women techies in the past by blaming parents' unconscious biases for not steering their girls to study computer science, suggesting an intervention was needed. "Outreach programs," advised Google, "should include a parent education component, so that parents learn how to actively encourage their daughters."

    Ah, parents. The supposedly superpowerful entities that can somehow control their children's career path over decades without even trying, yet keep failing to stop them from having underage sex or trying drugs no matter how hard they actively attempt to.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Your gross oversimplification is indeed ridiculous, but since that's not what Google is claiming it only speaks to your own (miss)understanding of the issue.

      From an early age there is subconscious bias, not just from parents but from teachers as well. Since children tend not to be very interested in sex for the first 10+ years of their lives, and when they do become interested it's usually the unwillingness to educate and influence that is the problem, it's not really the same thing at all.

      There has been a

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Ahh MaiMoJo. As predicable as radioactive decay. Blame, deflect, and attack social status, throwing some ad hominem whenever possible and only show up for debates that provide opportunity to women or remove accountability for their own decisions.

        Never respond to any criticism or logical retort and don't forget to use sweeping statements, prejudice, and open ended responses with hardly an explanation behind them. But hey, at least you only get modded up for the first few hours, then back down it goes.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        I find the entire concept of someone being able to flip gender color orientation both Totalitarian and Orwellian. The entire concept of social science experimentation without explicit consent from the individuals involved is, as we are now seeing with the sexodus, absolutely disastrous for the continuity and functionality of society.

        Well over half of kids right now do not have a father in the home, and as a direct result of this, about a third of young men between the ages of 18 and 25 are slated never to

      • by Jesrad ( 716567 )

        Did you pause and wonder what causes the very existence of "girl colours" and "boy colours" in the first place, while you were thinking about this pink&blue flip-over as an example that somehow could undermine the subtext of my (tongue-in-cheek) comment ?

        Yeah, I guessed not :D

    • by alphatel ( 1450715 ) * on Monday July 13, 2015 @06:57AM (#50097097)
      "Let's find out what makes women dislike tech so we can fix it, then hire them for 25% less than we pay those white males."
      • by Mashiki ( 184564 )

        That comment is so good, it's almost like the BS that was spewed out the other day on sites like The Guardian, Time, and other outlets about how "teenage boys don't like big breasted women." Of course, when you look at what little data there is you find out that: There was no confirmation data, it used a online poll, it was heavily circulated on feminist sites, especially those espousing an anti-male point of view. Well, I mean the data is out there...you know the data that says said paygap is by choice.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 13, 2015 @06:16AM (#50097025)

    Boys are falling behind in education but there are still a few male bastions that have not been conquered yet. Keep fighting the good fight progressives!

  • Curious... can I... list the names of organizations, tools, and resources that I've unconsciously gravitated to via unconscious bias to combat unconscious bias?

    • by gsslay ( 807818 )

      It's an interesting idea. Perhaps an unconscious bias for a particular search engine, brought about by its name being synonymous for a verb?

  • by mccalli ( 323026 ) on Monday July 13, 2015 @06:54AM (#50097085) Homepage
    A sample question: "Who do you think would benefit most from unconscious bias training at your school (or program)? ..."

    There is an assumption there, which is as yet untested, that the respondant believes anyone would benefit from unconcious bias training at all.
    • There is an assumption there, which is as yet untested, that the respondant believes anyone would benefit from unconcious bias training at all.

      Are you claiming that unconscious bias doesn't exist?

      If so:where can I find these rational humans?

  • by swb ( 14022 ) on Monday July 13, 2015 @07:01AM (#50097105)

    Citizen, we are here to free you from your unconscious biases so that you may more thoroughly accept the wisdom of the party and refine your thoughts and actions for the glory of the party and the state.

    • by Mashiki ( 184564 )

      That's because it is. Go hang around some feminist sites these days like feministing or the mary sue, and you'll find out that using bullshit to make up your point is pretty much accepted. And of course if you point out the flaw, you're automatically a persona non grata to be purged from the ranks.

  • Everyone is clearly sick to fucking death of his SJW vomit. Where ever you're getting this shit... go somewhere else. Maybe you'll find something less idiotic to post on the board.

  • How do you expect to get any useful information out of a subjective survey given to one of the most biased groups of people I've ever seen?
  • by TheDarkMaster ( 1292526 ) on Monday July 13, 2015 @07:44AM (#50097241)
    What females wants is alpha males, both they and their parents are trained for this. Parents early insist they seek careers where they can find men with more power (political, law), and by repeat the females end up believing it too. And it's pretty hard to find alpha males in computer science courses (we care about more important things than animal instincts of domination and territory), so consequently you will see fewer females in such courses.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Maybe in the US... In Japan nerds are seen as attractive partners. Intelligent, often sensitive and less reserved, able to earn good wages and reliable.

  • by Laxator2 ( 973549 ) on Monday July 13, 2015 @08:31AM (#50097463)

    "your responses are confidential, meaning that your feedback will not be attributed to you and the data will only be used in aggregate form."

    Translation:

    "We already have enough information to identify you personally, so there is no need for you to provide us with your name."

  • by buddyglass ( 925859 ) on Monday July 13, 2015 @08:45AM (#50097521)
    ...shouldn't it be subconscious biases and not unconscious?
  • And yet the pioneers must have suffered from appalling discrimination. How did they manage to beat the patriarchy?

  • When we talk about what people want, we are talking about what they are programmed to want. This discussion has already pointed out environmental programming that goes into each of us: the roles we are expected to play; the attitudes we should have; etc ... but this discussion has entirely missed a far more essential programming that influences us all.

    We, many of us programmers, tend to forget that we are exquisitely programmed ourselves by our DNA. We do its bidding without question. Do you think that the

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