Females have made significant progress during the past 20 years in medicine and the biological sciences. But the gender gap hasn't closed in technology and engineering, and in computer science it has widened.
These are among the findings of a report issued yesterday by the National Council for Research on Women.
Among the report's lowlights:
Catherine R. Gira, president of Frostburg State University, says it takes many years for girls and women to "establish a tradition" of parity, and each field has its own pattern.
"Remember when women were a rarity in law schools?" she says. "Today, I believe they're a slight majority. The gap is closing slowly in the traditional sciences, but computer science is a real challenge for all of us. It's still male-dominated in terms of who teaches the courses, and a lot of counseling in high school doesn't encourage girls to enter technical fields."
We can "take comfort" in the new report's findings, Gira says, "but progress is incremental."
This is how the safari is described in a press release: "With the help of imaginative, interactive displays, this 53-foot, multicolored mobile unit will encourage visitors to consider life from an insect's point of view and continue the adventure at home with the help of entertaining giveaways."
Wonder if the cockroach and other insects Orkin is pledged to eradicate will be among those whose lives will be considered.
The location of the Baltimore stop has yet to be announced.
On the one hand, notes William A. Galston, a professor in the college's School of Public Affairs, young people are volunteering their services in record numbers. "On the other hand," he says, "young people are disengaging from the institutions through which binding public decisions are made."
So, a new research arm of the university, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), will try to find out how young people acquire civic attitudes and what leads them to disengage - to give up voting, for example, or refuse to engage in party politics.
Much more tolerant are two elementary schools in Belgium, which, according to Newsweek magazine, are serving low-alcohol lagers and bitters at lunch.
Beer is better for kids than sugary soft drinks, says Rony Langenaeken, chairman of Limburg Beer Friends, the group that persuaded the schools to allow suds in the cafeteria.
Harry, I think, would second the motion.
Baltimoresun.com's 
