Advice for fathers of teenage daughters...

[cgallery]

If your wife and daughter ever hand you a list of courses available to high school seniors and ask for input, immediately run to your shop and hide. It is a trap.

Whatever you do, DON'T advise them that you enjoyed PHYSICS and think said daughter would, too.

Apparently, it isn't enjoyable. Furthermore, no reasonable person could ever think it was.

[crokett]

You did the right thing. I am not allowed to do the laundry, nor am I allowed to pick out which outfits either of my daughters wear. This is exactly the way I planned it.

[Richard in Smithville]

Earlier this year, my 15 yr old daughter was shopping for a new bathing suit and wanted my advice on two that she liked. It was a trap. The result of either suit would result with me beating the cr@p out of some snot nosed 17 yr old boy who looked at her the wrong way!

[sparkeyjames]

Earlier this year, my 15 yr old daughter was shopping for a new bathing suit and wanted my advice on two that she liked. It was a trap. The result of either suit would result with me beating the cr@p out of some snot nosed 17 yr old boy who looked at her the wrong way!

hehe remind me of this.

You at 17: Man she looks fine in that skimpy bikini!

You at 47: If he looks funny at my daughter in her bikini I'll beat him senseless.

[Wood_workur]

My golf coach makes fun of me because I though AP Chem was easy.

[gsmittle]

All of the above are reasons I had sons!

Nerdy #1 Son (who reads the US Constitution for fun) thinks his Honors Advanced Super-Duper AP On-Steroids-With-A-Bad-Attitude Calculus class is fun, too. Where did I go wrong?

g.

[Wood_workur]

All of the above are reasons I had sons!

Nerdy #1 Son (who reads the US Constitution for fun) thinks his Honors Advanced Super-Duper AP On-Steroids-With-A-Bad-Attitude Calculus class is fun, too. Where did I go wrong?

g.

when you told him the internet is for research.

[Pappy]

All of the above are reasons I had sons!

Nerdy #1 Son (who reads the US Constitution for fun) thinks his Honors Advanced Super-Duper AP On-Steroids-With-A-Bad-Attitude Calculus class is fun, too. Where did I go wrong?

g.

There is hope, yet! That pretty much describes #2 son. He had a shot at a scholarship to MIT but opted for A&M. Dropped out and went total blue collar as a mechanic for a while. Now he climbs cell phone towers for a living.

[jackellis]

I'm the only one in my family to graduate from college and I used to be a horrible snob about getting a college education. Until I started talking with the fellow who framed a garage for us, watched electricians and plumbers in action, and took up sawdust-making. Those of you who are really good with your hands have my respect.

On the subject of women and tough academic courses like physics, I say encourage them to at least try. LOML has a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford and it helped her earn a good living. My boss is a 45 year-old woman who has a reactor operator's license, a bachelor's in electrical engineering and a couple of master's degrees from MIT. several of my academic "rivals" in high school were women.

The stereotypes about girls not being able to handle math and science are bulls**t from men who want them...ah better not get into that.

[cabinetman]

There is hope, yet! That pretty much describes #2 son. He had a shot at a scholarship to MIT but opted for A&M. Dropped out and went total blue collar as a mechanic for a while. Now he climbs cell phone towers for a living.

Ah, a crossover. My first shop was in an industrial area made up of just about any trade you can think of. I found a mechanic there in a small single bay. No car lift other than a floor jack. He worked on my shop trucks and personal vehicles. A very personable guy from one of the islands. Found out pretty darn soon he was no ordinary mechanic. He had a Doctorate in chemistry and used to work for P&G as a research chemist, with the white lab coat and all. He loved working on cars since a kid, as cars back then in his country were kept a long time and families were very poor.

Well, the bug gnawed at him long enough, and left P&G to do what he really loved. Oh, I forgot to mention it, but his wife is a college professor with a Doctorate in education. She helped him on weekends.
.

[atgcpaul]

Out of the 4 people who applied to MIT from my high school, the lone girl was
picked. She wasn't necessarily the smartest out of all of us, but she was the
least non-nerdy and most well-rounded. In retrospect I'm glad the interviewer
saw that in her because she excelled at MIT and made out well in life. Science
fields definitely need more women.

[gsmittle]

Warning: Long, Rambling Post

Out of the 4 people who applied to MIT from my high school, the lone girl was
picked. She wasn't necessarily the smartest out of all of us, but she was the
least non-nerdy and most well-rounded. In retrospect I'm glad the interviewer
saw that in her because she excelled at MIT and made out well in life. Science
fields definitely need more women.

I'm pretty much in favor of more women in all fields. Consider Danica McKellar, an actress with a degree in math, who's written several respected research articles, has a theorem (not sure that's the right word) named after her, and has written several books on math for middle schoolers.

#1 Son wants to be a theatrical designer. He's about to find out that all that math will come in handy as he figures dynamic loads for platforms (dancers look light on their feet, but when they land from a six-foot-high leap, you have to multiply their weight by acceleration, account for the sideways thrust, and a whole bunch of other manipulations) and still make the platform light enough to break down and put in a truck.

#2 Son shares the same talents (they get it from their mom), but has no idea what he wants to do in life. This summer he calculated the arm length and weight for a baseball-launching trebuchet.

I have NO math skills at all. When the State of Missouri said I needed one more math credit for my teaching certificate, I needed a tutor four hours a day, five days a week for eight weeks. The course wasn't anything special--Math for Fine Arts Majors. I swear I don't understand--to me it's a totally foreign language.

There's a move afoot in my district to take the math out of some science courses. That's a really BAD idea!

g.

[jackellis]

There's a move afoot in my district to take the math out of some science courses. That's a really BAD idea!

They ought to see the movie "Stand and Deliver", about a high school in the LA area where a creative math teacher worked miracles with poor kids who didn't give a rip about math.

While it's true that trades jobs (plumbers, carpenters, electricians) can't be outsourced, there also aren't an unlimited number of them to fill. Even those jobs require skill with math (figuring angles for gables, estimating, etc.).

We have a friend who clearly has zero math aptitude. But my niece, who has no interest at all, would probably do well at it.

[just started]

Earlier this year, my 15 yr old daughter was shopping for a new bathing suit and wanted my advice on two that she liked. It was a trap. The result of either suit would result with me beating the cr@p out of some snot nosed 17 yr old boy who looked at her the wrong way!

That's when you look her over and say "well, I guess it's fine if you don't mind how wide it makes your butt look" or belly, thighs, hips or whatever and then how sleek the 1-piece suits made the swimmers look during the Olympics.

[leehljp]

I enjoyed physics in high school and college. Youngest daughter followed my interests and got a degree in Physics. She got to the point that she didn't like it before graduation but she persevered. (She really liked astrophysics but hated the chemistry side.)

After graduation, she found that with the major of "physics" - many doors were opened for job opportunities totally outside of that major, simply because of the physics degree. The "perception" that a "physics degree" had was strong among the interviewers and even after she accepted her first job.