Goldie Blox- Developing female engineers

I grew up in a metro city in India and had every opportunity to pursue any field of study that I wanted to. I chose commerce in high school and arts and business in college and graduate school. Not for a moment did I ever think of pursuing an engineering degree because 'Hey, its all about equations, math and complex stuff'. Today (after working for five plus years in a profession I love), I realize, everything is only as complicated and you want it to be.

In my childhood I played with toys all girls play with- dolls, sewing machines, kitchen sets and sometimes with legos. Yet, my brother played with fire engines and cars that he often took apart to see 'how it works'. While both of us followed the paths that we chose (he's an Engineer and I'm a Marketing professional), something I came across recently has had me thinking- what if I had been exposed to this in my younger days? Would I have become an engineer? A scientist?

When I came across Goldie Blox, the feminist in me cheered. Goldie Blox develops toys for young girls to hone their spatial skills along with their verbal skills. These toys maybe compared to Legos or any other 'building oriented' learning tools, yet they are vastly different in that they are designed with feminine aesthetics. They are bold and unabashed in their 'girlyness' and hence appeal to girl children. Yet they are toys that develop pretty much the same skills as Lego or other building toys. What I love about this concept/ company is their approach to solving a very real problem (of a skewed sex ratio in science/ engineering-oriented fields) at a grass root level!

What I love about Goldie Blox

1) The approach to make Goldie Blox appealing to girls: The fact that boys and girls approach the same situation differently, is well known. And Goldie Blox has accounted for this. Goldie Blox uses a story narrative appealing to girls' preferences for reading and being imaginative while learning basic analytical and logical skills. Most other toys in this category are targeted at boys, who's natural instinct is to take things apart/ put them together to see 'what happens'. And hence I love the insight into how the product was developed to make it more appealing to the specific female TG.

2) Beauty and brains are not mutually exclusive: The whole spirit of the toy revolves around the fact that you can be as feminine and beautiful as you want and yet be smart enough to create and invent stuff. This, in my opinion really helps build a balanced human being who no longer tries to 'fit' herself into boxes designed by our society. The specific use of Gold and the image of a girl in the logo also urges one to think the company is trying to dispel the 'Dumb Blonde' myth in the most creative way possible! 

3) Pushing girls to 'Dare to dream- with no strings attached': In many cultures around the world, girls are taught stereotyped approaches to what they should be, when they grow up. Knowingly or unknowingly we push our children to dream within a framework of what the world view is (boys are good at analytics while girls are good at designing etc.). Maybe its time we shatter this reality and instead teach girls that they can truly be anything they want to be with no strings attached.

While the Goldie Blox has a long way to go, introducing more and more complex toys (and hence concepts), its heartening to see a company that's taking an innovative approach to problem solving (pun unintended!). Move over Lego! There's a new girl on the block- and she means business!

Note: I don't work for/ with Goldie Blox. I'm just an admirer of this innovative approach to solve a very real problem!

Killing talent- Slowly and steadily

There was a TED talk that I saw recently that spoke about how we are going about the business of education all wrong. It stated the example of Gillian Lynne who was a hyper active child who couldnt keep her feet still. When she was taken to a doctor he diagonsed her symptoms as being a 'dancer' rather than being ill!

I was happy to say the least. For this child went on to become one amongst the fore most choreographers in the world! Yet it left me thinking - this is one story of success amongst so many others who failed. Rarely do we hear the stories of failure. Of those who grew up and struggled for years to become an actor, artist, dancer or singer and had to do odd jobs all their lives to support their passion only to end up letting life pass them by. We only hear of those children who were encouraged to pursue their passion and ended up being stars in their chosen field. It made me think - is it only the fault of pushy parents who want their children to have 'stable' careers? Or of the education system which puts math and science above dance and music? In his TED talk, Ken Robinson notes that the current system of education stems from the origins of formal schooling in the age of industrialism. Hence children were then trained to fulfill the demand that prevailed- which was a strong foundation in science and math. Today, can we squarely blame just those who are directly responsible for turning out the future generations? After all they are merely looking out for their children. Will encouraging our children to pursue their calling suffice to secure a stable future for them? I don't think so.

Source: http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/post-1-37.php

What we need today is not just an adjustment in the way we approach our childrens education but also an adjustment in the demand and supply dynamics of this world! When there is limited requirement for artists (art in all forms) in this world how can one be sure that they can sustain a stable lifestyle for themselves? When world economics clearly dictates the need for numerous business graduates year after year and continues to absorb them with an insatiable hunger how can a parent or an education system believe that its talented musician can survive and thrive in this world? For after all, if this world can only bear the burden of a handful of dancers, why would parents encourage their children to fight and lead a hard life to secure a place in that handful when the alternate (probably a career in a profession where demand and supply are better adjusted) is far more lucrative? There's beautiful example of a 15 year old boy in Mumbai who quit schooling and today is described as a 'Maker', for no other word describes him better. Other than the sheer genius of this boy, I also see the belief of parents who have allowed a 9th grader to quit formal schooling! Yet, it speaks volumes on the direction we are headed towards.

I am in no way demeaning the need to encourage our children to pursue their dreams. Yet what I think is more important at this point is to restructure our society and economy to be more encouraging to those who are looking to pursue non-traditional professions! Over the last few centuries we have witnessed the birth of a multitude of professions that were never heard of earlier. Today, more than ever before there are opportunities for the taking. And yet we find that this space is so limited that one has no choice other than to go through the factory that the education system has become. For, uniqueness has just remained a concept.

Image Source:  http://www.psc-cuny.org/clarion/august-2012/perspectives-pathways

When we examine human history, we talk about scientific and technological advancements in the same breath as artistic and philosophical ones. So maybe its time we stepped back and thought about how we want to be viewed by our future generations- as the lot who killed talent because of assigning differential values to pursuit of varied interests or as the forerunners of a wholistically developed society!