Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 19, 2018

in other words, the whole textbook?

Hmm. Luann as a modern day “Madame Curie.” Yeah, maybe she could become a pioneering chemist who makes new discoveries, changes things and makes a difference, if she puts her mind to it.

But on the other hand, didn’t Chemists decades ago, say just about the same thing when they gave us “plastic,” a little “item” a lot of people are NOW complaining about? ;)

Seriously though, I think that Lu would be better off studying acting, and singing, something she does quite well. And certainly better than Tiffany.

Exactly why do we need more women in science?

Chemistry is far from the only science – although most of them require some knowledge of chemistry. To date, we have not seen Luann exhibiting any fascination with chemical reactions – she just seems to be painfully learning stuff by rote. If Luann gravitates to science, something in healthcare, psychology or veterinary fields might attract her.

Do what you love. Love what you do.

We need students of all genders and races to see the possibilities in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) majors, and ditch the attitude that it is too difficult.

Now that I’m in Spain, I get to see Luann with only 7 comments so far, thanks to the time difference…here it’s 7 in the morning when it’s 1 AM on the east coast of the US. Anyways, back to Luann…I always thought she’d be a teacher. What with her love of kids and the ease with which she deals with them…

Guess Luann is having a second thought about becoming a teacher. It is a thankless job with low pay. I know – I am one. The upside is I get quite a bit of time off from work throughout the year with 8 weeks summer break. Most people I know don’t like their jobs but they gotta pay the bills. Well, Luann, whatever you decide, you’re likely to dislike it but will stay with it because you’ve gained a debt and bills to pay.

Luann should be sticking to child care and drama….

What’s stopping Luann from being a chemist is – Chemistry!

I sympathize; chemistry was always a mystery for me, " too many its like this, except when its not" ; this from someone who was at the top of his class in physics and math.

I still think that Luann should go in for civil engineering, architecture, or design. Her chief talent in theater was paying attention to all of the set-design details that could make or break a production.

Luann Science is not a hobby you have to commit fully are not at all.

We do need more women in science and engineering, but not necessarily this particular woman.

We haven’t seen Luann encounter calculus yet…

Just a few examples of those whose work might make a big difference for all human kind, and who would be excluded by the Taliban Yatterers who yarp that women are automatically inferior and should be excluded from chemistry or any other ‘serious’ study: (1) Dorothy Hodgkin, who won the Nobel Prize in 1964, discovered (among other things) the structures of penicillin and vitamin B12. Penicillin continues to save lives, and, as someone from a family that has B12 deficiencies, absent that nutrient, one can die of pernicious anemia. (2) Jenny Y. Yang, currently a chemist working on clean energy, who might help us to prevent further damage from global warming caused partly by the use of ‘dirty’ fossil fuels. Ah, but those who believe women are inferior probably also believe that coal is healthy and are happy to inhale great clouds of coal dust…

Think of Chemistry as a puzzle – it makes it easier.

yeahbut, some places Chemist has another meaning, other than the first below:

> chemist definition: 1. a person who studies chemistry, or a scientist who works with chemicals or studies their reactions 2. a person whose job is to prepare and sell medicines and other goods in a shop 3. a shop where you can buy medicines, make-up, and sometimes other things such as chocolate.

Chemistry was my nightmare. I just couldn’t get it to make sense in my head. But physics? I really enjoyed that one! Biology? Loved it!

unfortunately for Luann, the moment will come when she will have to decide what she wants to do. I thought she wanted to be a teacher, but I guess she doesn’t.

start thinking already, Luann.

We have not seen Luann’s showing any aptitude for mathematics (possibly because the writers don’t remember any themselves), so I doubt that she will ever study anything in science more complicated than remembering the atomic weight of argon. Of course, maybe she can fake it in any actual science classes. After all, Gunther gets credit in mechanical engineering class for dressmaking, so the level of academic rigor at these universities is pretty lax.

Some people have an aptitude for the sciences. Others do not. Luann, it appears, falls into the second category. No shame in that.

What we need is to stop rewriting everything we’ve ever known to be true. That can only lead to a bad future that cannot be rewritten.

What we need in any endeavor are people interested in it. And not all of those interested need to be geniuses, or even adepts. Much advancement in all endeavors is made by teams of people plodding along working every day at it. (Ask Thomas Edison.)

Bernice, you were the valedictorian of your class at Pitts H.S. (OK, that’s setting the bar pretty low, but still.) If you are so concerned about the need for women in science, why don’t you major in chemistry instead of becoming a guidance counselor? If you become a professor or a director of a lab then you can boss your underlings around and write them up for trivial infractions, just like the super-R.A. you aspire to be.

OH, blah, blah, blah on all this “We more this to do that!!!” The only thing we need as a species is more children. Can we get back to the comic strip and stop preaching?

I had the same feeling about Cell Biology.

Don’t get a degree in what you think someone else thinks would best benefit “the world”. Get your degree in a field that will be most useful when you start your career, so you can earn a living and not sponge off of mom and dad for the rest of your life.

If you want to help save “the world” in addition to your career, there will be endless opportunities for that and it doesn’t require a degree in world-saving.

As someone who went into the sciences and got multiple degrees, all I can say is: It’s not always what’s it’s cracked up to be. Been there, done that. If it’s rewarding for you then go for it, but be prepared not only for hard work but having your efforts stifled by the semi-mindless bureaucrats that you will be reporting to. That liberal arts / business major you’re making fun of? Chances are he /she are now your boss.

Why does nobody ever say that we need more women electricians, plumbers, or carpenters? We have a shortage of people in these fields and it would benefit all of us if women were also encouraged to pursue them. Maybe they aren’t glamorous enough?

Considering that she and Jack spent the last class period before the exam exchanging texts about their classmates (or passing notes, as we dinosaurs had to do it), I’d agree that chemistry wouldn’t be a good fit for Luann.

Why do we need more women in science? We need people doing what they want without feminist pressure.

“… but after that, it’s a breeze.”

When I was in high school (early ‘70s), I was not allowed to take a shop class. I had to take a Home Ecs class. I was not sassy/strong willed enough to push the issue. I think if I had, I might have gotten in. I would have enjoyed shop a LOT more! I already knew everything they were going to teach in Home Ec. I could sew an outfit and could cook a full meal – my mom graduated college with a BS in Home Economics and she made sure us kids could do all that stuff. Shop was something I DIDN’T know a lot about.

Entering a field of study because you want to increase the numbers of people of your particular characteristic in that field is not actually a good reason to do so, and you will almost certainly end up miserable.

On the other hand, if you enjoy the subject, then that is a good reason to enter that field, and you can tell anyone who: 1) wants to put a social or political motive on your choice, or 2) that you should not enter the field because of some social or political reason, to kiss off.

This is your life and livelihood we’re talking about here. Yes, tech can be difficult, but that just makes mastering (or mistressing) it more satisfying. And if you are actually being told not to do it because you’re a (insert population segment here), then making it in the field just adds icing to the cake.

Just be aware that many tech jobs have been lost due to outsourcing, so the safer ones are the ones that require a physical presence to do the work.

“Scientists are men who dream about doing things. Engineers do them… if you want to be an engineer but find you have ten thumbs, you become a scientist.” - James A. Michener. “Space”

I don’t know how many people are familiar with the book “Cheaper By The Dozen,” but you should look up the mother in that book, Lillian Moller Gilbreth. She was amazing.

7

A variety of points for today:

1. For all the negative talk about Bernice’s joke yesterday… I feel that today does show how Bernice does care and is a good friend for Luann.

2. The idea that Bernice states about the need for more women in science is a great one! But, the reality is we would benefit most from having more science interested folks from all facets of the human population…. female, male, the range of ethnicities, orientations, etc. Having more interested folks focus on science careers IMO is an especially great help to the betterment of society.

3. Now, do not get me wrong, I also believe that the various arts and artistic pursuits are also great and promote the betterment of society too.

4. Luann is not thinking very broadly at the moment. Chemistry is not the only "sciencey* subject she could pursue. If she is interested…. she could explore a bit to better understand the diverse array of different science disciplines and see if any of them strikes her as appealing. Truth-be-told, when push comes to shove…. traditional aspects of chemistry are not my favorite aspects of science to study either…. but certain aspects of chemistry are a part of the science discipline I do have passion for (biology). Luann may find biology, or physics, psychology, or earth science or some specialization in any of the above to her liking.

Considering the poor candidates we have in politics, we also need more political science, law and humanities majors.

I am told that first day of anatomy in med school is something like: The Femur: Pages 235 – 782. For the next day.One of the reasons why I did not went to med school.The others were: I wanted to sleep and have free time. So I went to Comp Sci. Yeah, that worked all right.

Way too many comments on this page!

Back in my undergraduate days, the department head of physical sciences told me to just get a secondary education degree in chemistry instead of a dual major (sec. ed. and chemistry) because “girls can’t handle industry”. I not only received my dual degrees but went on to a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry and worked in industry until I retired. Turns out, he had a Ph.D. in Astronomy because he could not get past P. Chem. We need to stop discouraging people based on their sex or skin color. Having said that, I have had students that should not have been in class. Not everyone is college material, we all have different talents. We need to encourage people to go where their talent lies while also teaching them the logistics of their chosen field (employability, pay range, geographic locations, etc.).

Of all the seemingly non-political comics Luann seems to always stir up the hornet’s nest the most. IMHO…

Bernice was just making a joke yesterday, not being snarky to Luann. She is being supportive today.

I’ve noticed for a long time that many well educated people with advanced degrees, and many older people are attracted to this comic. Any idea why that is?

My father’s favorite teacher from high school would visit him and us years later. She was an excellent teacher and generally considered a success.

I mentioned a female geologist friend of mine and Miz Beardsley got a far away look on her face. She told me she wanted to be a geologist but was told that women didn’t go into geology so she went into education instead.

She was happy when I told her that the majority of the geologists I knew were women. That was back around 1979.

We all have some regrets. There is no reason to create more than necessary.

…….

Luann should follow her own interests — unless we’re talking basket weaving. The competition is too fierce.

Hard work beats talent every time.

Women have been “doing” science for millennia (baking is chem). What they havn’t been doing is getting paid, published or credit for it. How to fight for a grant or approach a publisher is something STEM doesn’t teach. Science also usually requires a strong academic background to find those opportunities for pay or credit, which costs a lot in the US, and then your having to compete with a large foreign labor force with less student loans. Assuming people follow what they are academically encoraged to do, why would I encourage any girl to to this? It’s like encouraging your daughter to join the WNBA. Professionally it doesn’t make sence, but it might be fun.

What a boring, waste of reading skills for someone, like me, who got kicked out of a trigonometry class because the only thing I got right was my name. Don’t laugh, my name isn’t that easy.

Some things come easily. Others take a lot of work but involve a huge sense of accomplishment. For research scientists — at least good ones — the second happens every day because to have reasonable results and interpretations the hard work also includes having your work torn apart repeatedly to optimize the design and analysis. Luann actually has some of the characteristics needed already, and she has been discovering hard work recently.

Of course, anything worthwhile involves a lot of hard work. That includes friendships, marriage, and parenthood.

More brains of course unless you, @Ruth Brown are really that ignorant and not just baiting people.

On the Plus Side, that text is thick enough to take a Bullet for you.

there are ways to make a difference even if one does not want to be a scientist. Luann has never once indicated that science is her region of space. But hopefully this idea of “making a difference” will get Luann to think about how she can do that. Frankly, there may be no bigger way than molding the minds and attitudes of kids.

This isn’t a cartoon commentary, it’s a re-write of War and Peace. It needs its own bookmark.

The trolls have it! 6:30 PM, 365 comments, at least 136 focused on two commentators (Impossible Bones and Ruth Brown) who made ridiculous statements about women in science!

I like Dog ’s reply to Airman (immediately above) regarding the situation.

Luann is part-way to knowing herself. She knows what she is not or will not be.

Harder is to determine what she is and will be….

Colleges at least since the 1950s have spent time and money trying to talk women into the hard* sciences. Most big schools have had lots of discussions trying to think how to get more women into their program. (And yes, some individual men who didn’t have much self-confidence tried to shut women, or blacks, or poor men, or Italians, or … out.)

Many women who probably could’ve succeeded didn’t try. Why not? Various reasons:

Some women wanted a family more.

Some women had trouble with it at some age, and didn’t see many women examples, so gave up.

Some women thought men would try to shut them out. [Even one or two of those can have you thinking ‘everybody’ is acting that way.]

Some women want in but aren’t qualified (also true of some men, but that isn’t the question that was asked).

Some women don’t want to go to the work necessary.

Some women do the necessary work and are eminent scientists.

Some women feel forced into it and wish there were a way out.

And some women (& men) went another direction for some of the options listed, but now claim a different reason now.

Other possibilities exist.

All the above apply to some men, as well.

Don’t force women (or men) into something they won’t want; but do help people that are struggling to do more than they think they can do.

I’ve concluded that Luann, while she likes helping others find their path, is very negative when it comes to her own; the glass is always half empty; She studied hard for the chem exam and was OK with it based on that. Talking to Bern now, it seems that’s not enough. She’s taking the class as a core requirement not because she plans to be a scientist. I think the problem is that the people around her, Jack, Bern, Brad all have chosen careers. Frank and Nancy have their business. Tara is a flake (she’s made career out of that). That leaves Luann in this perpetual no mans land (by comparison); I think it makes her feel left out.

Luann will probably graduate from her community college with an Associate’s degree in “Liberal Arts”, meaning “I spent 2 years here but I still haven’t really decided why”.

Looks like Women in Science generated around 400 responses. Of course Ann Eiffel showed up out of nowhere and generated over 600 responses. God bless all us trashy folk!

As an engineer myself, I will say that you have to have a certain (large) component of OCD to be any good. Luann,.. not so much. No shame in that.