Stuff! (December)

Thoughts about Nelson Mandela
This man was an inspiration to millions of people and his death is a saddening event. It is very interesting to observe the public response - it feels that a sense of communal celebration has resulted from his death, rather than mourning or grief. Compare this to, for example, the death of Princess Diana (another figure loved and admired by many) and there is a strong difference in the response to the death. Perhaps this is because Mandela has been ill for a long while and was an old age but instead of grieving, celebration and honoring of his life have been the main themes over the last week or so.

Gender bias in A Level choice
It had been in the news that there was a distinct gender bias in students choices of A Levels. English, Biology and Psychology were studied a lot more by girls than by boys and the opposite was true for Physics, Maths and Economics. (It seems I am very stereotypically feminine in my A Level choices since I study English, Biology and Psychology, haha!) But this story led me to consider, why this bias exists. Is it influences, whether intentional or unconscious, from the schools? Or perhaps peer influence or social norms? Maybe society's ideas that studying certain subjects makes an individual more masculine or feminine are so deeply engraved that they are not explicitly apparent? These ideas could be enforced from a young age and internalised by individuals, who use such ideas to form their gender schemas during gender development. There is a danger that some individuals, who may have done particularly well in a certain subject, never considered it because it was inconsistent with their ideas of masculinity or femininity. There are real dangers of wasted potential here.

Interesting news stories
Prisoners doing yoga may see psychological benefits
Cutlery 'can influence food taste'
Exercise can reduce chances of depression
More students are seeking counselling
Teachers' concern at child sexualisation