My husband’s family had 6 kids. He always says that by the time it came to the last children (him and his brother) his parents just said yes to everything. They got away with a lot of things the first four did not while growing up. There are three sisters in the family and three brothers. All the boys went to college and all the girls did not. Mom and dad paid for all the education for the boys in private schools but not the girls. His mother often said that the girls could marry rich men while the boys had to take care of their wives and family and therefore needed to go to college. Two of the sisters say that’s just the way it was and accept it. One sister, Sandra is very angry about it and I don’t blame her. She says that her life would have been much better if she were encouraged to go to college. All her adult life she did secretarial work but felt she was capable of much more. Sandra had a special aptitude for science in high school. She was one of three girls in her honors biology class the rest were boys. Sandra’s mom often told Sandra she did not have to take honors biology because she could not ever become a biologist. Her mom reminded her often she was not going to college. Instead Billy, the oldest boy was pushed into biology honors classes he now says he hated. Sandra said she was proud that she could prove her capabilities right along side boys. She would get better grades than her brother had. However her mother stressed her out and eventually Sandra dropped the class: “the longstanding belief that females innately have less aptitude and ability in math and science has helped erect barriers to women’s participation in science and math education, not to mention careers in those fields” (p192). Sandra regretted leaving the class and never taking another honors science class again for a long time. In the time period she left the class Sandra said that she found it easier to make friends as she stopped being tomboyish (perceived as trying to be like boys) and became more of a “nice girl” (p199) which made her mother happy. But recently she has gone back to school and is majoring in marine biology. Sandra plans to take her life plans more seriously and eventually when she graduates research all the sea life she can find. Her brother Billy works in an office as an executive. Are there still more boys in honors math and science classes?