The best sort of mentoring and the best role models would be born out of already existing relationships:. Teachers, parents, interested professionals. I think we all agree that these relationships can have great impacts on people's lives.
Agreed. The vast majority of teachers are female, and being raised without a father is much more common than being raised without a mother. So it seems to me that the opportunity for girls to have a significant relationship with a positive same-sex role model is significantly greater than the opportunity for boys.
The fact that NASA has created a program to mentor young girls, along with the low numbers of girls going into STEM programs, suggests that the informal system has broken down for girls and Women@NASA is attempting to make up for this breakdown. The informal system seems to work for boys so complaining about this little program for a handful of girls seems a bit petty, imo.
Petty. Principled. Tomato. Tomahto. I can easily put myself in the situation of someone with a girl who is interested in the program who also has a son who would be interested in the program if they didn't discriminate against him. If something is unfair on an individual level, but argued as fair on a group level, I usually don't agree with those arguments. Thomas Sowell wrote a book on the issue called "The Quest for Cosmic Justice."
As for what message it sends to boys, well, it seems to me it sends the message that the industries are is designed with them in mind so they don't need these "make-up" programs.
What do you mean when you say our industries are designed?
And why should we be more worried about the messages boys receive than the messages girls receive?
Did someone say we should be? I suggested that the message boys receive should not be completely ignored.
