（带文稿）1221VOA：有色人种面临的STEM教育困境【文末小测】

张老邪叨哔叨：

2020只剩最后10天嘞，不管好的坏的，希望大家能有move on的心态。虽然我自己这年也有点稀里糊涂的，但好歹是宅着看了一些书的呦（骄傲脸）以及今天也是冬至，冬至之后昼渐长夜渐短，张老邪觉得也是很特别的一天。所以啊，有什么 Resolution 就不要等新年咯~今天就开始吧！

Ebony McGee, PhD. is the Associate Professor of Diversity and STEM Education at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.

Transcript

Dominique, not her real name, is a Black electrical engineering doctoral student. She found herself in a difficult situation at a conference.

A white man thought a nearby Black woman was a hotel cleaner and asked her to clean their table. The woman did as she was asked, but she also told him that she was the main speaker at the conference. The man did not say he was sorry. He made a joke about how the woman could have two jobs.

Other white people at the table looked at Dominique waiting for her to approve of the joke. Dominique was not prepared for this. She acted as if she was laughing. The others laughed, too, but their laughter sounded real to her.

Leon, also not his real name, is a Black doctoral computer science student. He was picking up a visiting female professor at the airport. He had spoken to her over the phone several times. When Leon approached the professor, she backed away and asked him to call his doctoral adviser to confirm his identity.

Ebony O. McGee teaches diversity at Vanderbilt University. She says stories like this are common. She has collected about 300 of them in her research over the past ten years on structural racism in STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math. As a result of these incidents, she says, many Black and Hispanic students leave the STEM fields.

Managing stereotypes

McGee says the students spend much of their energy on so-called “stereotypemanagement.” It means they have to take specific actions to deal with unfair and untrue beliefs they face as a result of their identity.

These students, she says, have to deal with a mainly white STEM community in which they are seen as unskilled and undeserving of opportunities.

McGee has found that the stereotypes also give Black and Hispanic students a stronger reason to succeed and, at times, to become the best at what they do. They want to disprove the idea that they are not worthy of being in STEM fields.

Sometimes stereotype management involves putting certain things on display, like leaving a high test score on a STEM test on a desk for others to see.

It can also involve keeping certain things hidden. Some Black students report that they kept their own children hidden to avoid the stereotype of single Black mothers. McGee says some STEM professors do not want to work with such students. They mistakenly believe they will have less time to work in the laboratory than students who are not parents.

In her recent book on STEM education, she says it takes much of their energy and uses resources that could help them be creative. And that extra attention to stereotype management can cause problems with their mental and physical health.

That leads to them leaving STEM. Research shows that Black and Hispanic students leave the fields at nearly twice the rate of white students.

How to help

McGee says the answer is not to have more students of color featured on university websites or other publications. Higher education must pay more attention to the students’ college experience, their well-being, and how others view them. She says more attention should be paid to the reasons that students of color stay in STEM programs than the reasons why so many leave.

McGee’s future projects involve students creating their own STEM businesses, she said, “where Black folks can stop begging these white companies for a job and create their own kind of ecosystem.”

I’m Jill Robbins.

What did Leon and Dominique learn as doctoral students in STEM?

A. They learned that they would be accepted if they made jokes about being Black.

B. White people found it hard to accept them as part of the academic community.

C. They learned that their professors treated them the same as white students.

D. White people made it easy for them to join the academic community.

What does stereotype management mean for Black and Hispanic STEM students?

A. They have to prove they are capable of successfully studying STEM subjects.

B. They may have to show their ability to achieve even more than white STEM students.

C.They have to spend time and energy battling unfair and untrue beliefs about their identity.

D. They have to do all these things and adjust to working within a mostly white community.

How do some Black parents try to succeed in their STEM studies?

A. They bring their children into the lab to make friends with their professors.

B. They try to hide the fact that they have children from their professors.

C. They ask their professors for a work schedule to meet their family duties.

D. They do all of these to try to improve their performance in STEM studies.

What is one way that Professor McGee sees for Black STEM students to have successful careers?

A. She thinks they should ask the tech companies for better jobs when they finish their studies.

B. McGee says students need to learn to work within the white STEM ecosystem.

C. She thinks they should start their own STEM businesses and create their own network.

D. McGee says they should find reasons to stay in STEM until they can find jobs.

Words in This Story

diversity – n. the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization

stereotype – n. an often unfair and untrue belief that many people have about all people or things with a particular characteristic

management - n. the act or process of controlling and dealing with something

undeserving – adj. not having qualities that deserve praise or support

beg – v. to ask (someone) in a very serious and emotional way for something needed or wanted very much

ecosystem – n. everything that exists in a particular environment

【BDBC】