Story Archive

Leggo My Lego

“I always tell the boys, ‘You’re going to have a turn,’” says Karen Keller. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah, when hell freezes over’ in my head.” Keller teaches kindergarten in Bainbridge Island, Wash., and she thinks playing with Legos can help get girls on a track to STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Math — careers. After Legos in stereotypically feminine colors failed to attract the girls in her class, she got new ones with a grant and excluded the boys from playing with them so that the girls would, at least during a certain block of time. (“This isolated, short-term practice ended in October,” said the district after an uproar.) Keller says the exclusion was fair: “Fair is getting what you need to succeed or to get better.” (AC/Bainbridge Island Review) ...And what boys need is to learn that gender “fairness” isn’t about them.