BARRING MATHEMATICS

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume 4185, Issue 4185, 20 November 1934, Page 2

BARRING MATHEMATICS

GIRLS DISLIKE SUBJECT Why is it that the average girl fights shy of mathematics? Is the subject taught worse in girls’ schools than in boys’, or have women a constitutional aversion to the subject? The latter should not be the case, because there are quite a number of women mathematicians who can hold their own with any man, but,- as a whole, the average woman’s mathematical ability is just a matter for wonder. The point has been raised recently in England because of the result of the open competition for £BOO a year posts in the executive class of the Civil Service. Women secured ten out of the eighty posts offered, but not one of those successful took mathematics which was included among the optional subjects. And yet 322 girls—all from the best public schools of the country —between the ages of 18 and 19 competed. , .. . The ten successful girls are eligible to become auditors of the public accounts in the Exchequer and Audit Department, or to levy surtax or death duties at Somerset House, but not one of them would attempt mathematics in her examination. There was a recent instance in the examination for the administrative class, where a successful woman candidate tackled cheerfully such subjects as general economics, economic history, political theorv, moral philosophy, metaphysics, and logic, but at mathematics she drew the line.

COMPLICATED QUESTIONS. Here are some of the posers the girls had to answer or discuss in the Civil Service examination :

(a) Jf a live fly is fastened down in such a way that its legs do not touch the ground, the legs will remain still and the wings will move actively ; but if a small ball of cotton wool is placed against the ends of the legs the wings will cease to move and the legs will make the ball turn round and round. , , (b) The closing of the tentacles of a sundew leaf on a lly caught on the leaf. , • , i By reference to different animal and plant types you have studied, give some account of the evolution of differentiation of function. Mention three different ways in which electricity may be used on a commercial scale lor the preparation of chemical elements or compounds. _ Explain : Awnings outside the windows arc more efficient than blinds inside in keeping the room cool. State briefly what you know about the modern uses of (a) ultra-violet radiation; (hj) infra-red radiation. Write a short essay on Shakesspeare’s ghosts or on his mad people. What is the means test? Why is such a tost imposed? How far do you consider its continuance desirable? Write 200 words in German about Hitler.