As my daughters grow (up!) I am reminded of how important it is to make mistakes, and be allowed this right of passage in order to improve.  The girls at school are often called “well behaved”…  and honestly it concerns me.  I would feel better knowing that they are creative, curious, intelligent, confident, or compassionate.  But, knowing that girls are “well behaved” concerns me for their future.

By high school, the level of confidence that girls feel about themselves is 1/3 of what it was in elementary school.  I wonder, what if girls were not so well behaved and were making mistakes and learning how to problem solve from those mistakes?  I wonder if girls who made mistakes and were not considered well behaved by high school feel more confident and able to thrive, no matter what.  I wonder why we expect perfect classroom behavior from girls?

I do feel that STEM has a place in this, and it pleases me that our nation is taking an interest in all children and their abilities to problem solve, make errors, and be adaptive, flexible, and messy.  Such is life.  Go Miss Frizzle!