TURNING THE TIDE
Drew Faust just became the first president of Harvard in the 371 years old history of its hallowed corridors. Ironic, and surely gratifying to many, after the last president put a permanent blemish on his tenure by making comments that were widely interpreted as sexist. He said infamously that “innate differences between the sexes” might be responsible for women being underrepresented in academics.
Ah, the old nature versus nurture debate…you show them what you can do, Dr. Faust.
I have a different question though; tomorrow, what if science actually proves that yes, innate and irrevocable differences between men and women are responsible for women being relatively weak at academic careers? What, then? If that happens, then at least science should also simultaneously and objectively “prove that men are jerks”. Call it even then? Personally, I don’t believe for a moment that science could ever provide a definitive answer to any such complex issues. But the question strikes at the heart of the conflict between science, and public and social policy.
The conflict was probably on Jim “Honest” Watson’s mind, when he apparently contended that thin women are unhappy.
Hat tip: Chembark
