Kari Byron now has an educational show, why not Danica McKellar?
I'll preface this entire post with this, "I'm grumpy and snarky today," and that I don't hate Kari Byron. Getting those two points out of the way, I wanted to dedicate my #Blogin5 post to this topic.
Every web nerd's wet dream, Kari Byron will be staring in a science show with the aim of getting kids interested in Science. She's gorgeous, charming and got her start in a very popular show. It's pretty easy to see why she got the role/gig. She's a sexy "geek." There are tons of other sexy geek lady actresses (who probably would never host a kids' show) that originated their professional lives with an education in Science/Math related fields. I've put together a small helpful list!
- Danica McKellar: Wonder Years actress, Mathematics - UCLA
- Lisa Kudrow: Friends Actress, Biology - Vassar
- Natalie Portman: Star Wars Queen, Psychology - Harvard
This is a really short list, I haven't done tons of research (I didn't want to spend a load of time on this post cause I am at work), I'm sure you guys could name some other actresses who started in a science field.
It probably is difficult to find Television personalities who have backgrounds in science or math to host educational programs. As far as I'm aware, the most prominent person I can think of who had an actual background in science who taught in an educational show was Bill Nye, who studied mechanical engineering at Cornell. I even looked into Mr. Wizard and Beakman from Beakman's World, neither of which studied science or math in college.
Of everyone I've listed in this post, Danica McKellar is the one that really stands out to me. I'm still dumbfounded she hasn't gotten her own educational show (she might not want one). Danica has been a proponent of helping middle school aged girls gain interest in mathematics. She's even written two books, Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss and Hot X: Algebra Exposed that targets young girls in grades 7 - 9.
I do appreciate Kari's position at least that one can be a girl without a science background and still celebrate and enjoy science related things. Regardless of who gets to host an educational kids' show, if it inspires at least one child to imagine and fall in love with science. It's a Good Thing.
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