Latest research provides some good news for those who hope to someday live in a world where women coders and surgeons are as plentiful as their male workmates: Today s elementary school girls are actually more interested in pursuing a STEM（science, tech, engineering, math）career than their male classmates are.
What’s more, while young boys’ ideal jobs have stayed relatively unfluctuating over the past 20 years of the century, young girls’ career dreams have grown more ambitious. Back in 1998, a study found that 11-year-old boys were most interested in becoming an athlete, a service member, or an engineer. Now, a new survey of children 10 and younger found that boys` career dreams have stayed relatively stable. In this study, girls said they aspired（渴望）to be teachers, nurses and hairdressers.
Also notable: Overall, girls are more likely to say they are interested in a STEM job than their male workmates. Indeed, 41% of girls express interest in technical careers, vs. 32% of boys.
"Yet while girls’ increased interest in scientific careers is clearly something to celebrate, there is still progress to be made to make it a reality," said Simon Isaacs, a researcher. "We can celebrate the girls’ focus on STEM, but if we look at children aged 1 through 10 right now, we still have a long way to go with regard to getting girls involved in engineering, computer programming and other tech fields." Other recent studies have similarly found that despite their great interest in STEM careers, most American girls believe they are relatively unlikely to end up in a job that requires computer science or engineering skills simply because they don’t think these jobs belong to girls. "Even as we talk about being a generation that is growing up more gender-non-conformist（无性别意识的）than any other generation, we aren`t necessarily seeing that translate into what kids want to be," said Isaacs.
Isaacs said that he decided to pursue this research to better understand how today’s culture of role models—who are as diverse as Mark Zuckerberg and Malala Yousafzai—are hugely shaping the next generation of students’ career ambitions.
"What we find at the elementary level is that kids are often basing their aspirations on whatever they’ve been exposed to in the media," said Tony Wagner, an expert. Wagner says that gender standards described in the media have begun to change, specifically with regard to female characters in medicine and science. Wagner has found that girls are more interested in careers that are described as having a direct human connection, like medicine and education. "What they don’t understand is that much of engineering and other STEM work, is profoundly human-centered. The problem lies in how it’s taught," he said.
【小题1】According to the latest study________.| A．there will be more female engineers and doctors than males in the future |
| B．more girls show interest in having a job in STEM related areas than boys. |
| C．boys’ career choices have greatly changed compared with those of 20 years ago. |
| D．most girls would like to become teachers, nurses and hairdressers in the future. |
| A．necessary | B．unchanging | C．wider | D．impossible |
| A．more boys under 10 years old prefer STEM |
| B．there are more girls in tech fields than boys |
| C．girls who will really work on STEM are not as many as imagined |
| D．many boys can’t end up with STEM careers, either |
| A．we can’t see the change in careers between girls and boys |
| B．gender difference still exists in career tendency |
| C．there is no sex difference in career choices for kids |
| D．we can’t expect that all children like STEM |
| A．Social culture. | B．School education. |
| C．Family influence. | D．Economic development. |
