Tips for Promoting Better Mentoring
Harding, S. (Ed.). (1993). The "Racial" Economy of Science: Toward a
Democratic Future. Indianapolis: Indiana University
Press.
This even larger (526 pages) anthology contains many and shorter chapter articles than the first text reviewed. Whereas in the first book, only two of its contributors were women, fully half of this textís contributors are men. This bookís authors attempt to deconstruct the research of past generations as in the late Stephen Jay Gouldís article "American Polygeny and Craniometry Before Darwin: Blacks and Indians as Separate Inferior Races" in order to chronicle the folly of misusing and misinterpreting science in order to serve social policyócontinued enslavement and segregation of the Black race. In the article by Shirley Malcom on "Increasing the Participation of Black Women in Science and Technology," Professor Malcom speaks with a public policy voice as a member of the national office of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She summarized some of the intervention strategies found in successful mentoring programs (p. 252-253):
* starting early [in terms of exposure to science enrichment programs]
* a continuing focus on rigorous preparation in science and especially
mathematics through the pipeline
* promoting hands-on involvement through activities such as science fairs
and projects
* contact with role models who are minority women
* availability of appropriate career information
* early exposure to research [in their chosen field]
* directly addressing gender and race specific issues, such as combining
marriage and family, addressing clash of culture
* an opportunity for early work experience in science-related employment
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