Building Robots, Breaking Barriers Anonymous

I looked down at the robot before me. I had spent weeks and weeks programming and building it, putting in countless hours of concentration. Then I looked up at my robotics teacher, excitedly, as he tested it himself — and it worked perfectly. The robot moved as the camera identified the colors correctly and gave the proper responses. I was thrilled. Then, his attention moved from the robot over to my partner sitting next to me. He had hardly helped at all with the project, and when I had talked to the teacher about him, I was shrugged away. My teacher extended his arm for a handshake and told him, “My, what an excellent job you have done.”

Needless to say, I was furious. This wasn’t the first time that my teacher had belittled my efforts in the class - “Robotics is not for girls, sweetheart,” he had directly told me - but it was the final project of the class and my eighth grade heart was so excited about it. Even worse was at the end of the year, when the technology department - headed by the same teacher - gave its Student of the Year award to my male partner, who was credited for my efforts that somehow were not mine because of my gender.

I immediately went to the school board, writing a letter explaining my predicament- the...