Read the excerpt from Hidden Figures.She had asked plenty of questions when the scope of her work had extended only from the nose cone of a tiny Cessna 405 to its tail fin. Now there was so much more to ask, so much more to understand, and because it was all new, she felt like she was right there on the learning curve with the engineers.Read Abe’s summary of the excerpt.When the scope of Katherine Goble’s work grew, she realized she had more to learn, but, because the concepts were new even to the engineers, she felt like she was finally one of them.
Read the excerpt from Hidden Figures."Why can't I go to the editorial meetings?" Katherine Goble asked again, undeterred by the initial demurral. She always kept up the questioning until she received a satisfactory answer. Her requests were gentle but persistent, like the trickle of water that eventually forces its way through rock.Read Kelley’s summary of the excerpt.Katherine Goble repeatedly asked why she could not attend editorial meetings. She was not put off by the first rejection, and she kept asking until she got the answer she wanted. She made the requests respectfully, like a small flow of water that pushes its way through rock.
Read the passage.Ellen Ochoa began her career with NASA in 1988. Her first assignment was as a research engineer at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. She became the first Hispanic woman to travel to space when she served as mission specialist on a flight of the space shuttle Discovery in April 1993.Read Reyhan’s paraphrase of the excerpt.In 1988, Ellen Ochoa joined NASA as a research engineer at the Ames Research Center in California. In 1993, she served as a mission specialist on the space shuttle Discovery. On that flight, she became the first woman to go to space.
Read the excerpt from Hidden Figures.Building an airplane was nothing compared to shepherding research through Langley's grueling review process. "Present your case, build it, sell it so they believe it"—that was the Langley way. The author of a NACA document—a technical report was the most comprehensive and exacting, a technical memorandum slightly less formal—faced a firing squad of four or five people, chosen for their expertise in the topic.Read Mariana’s summary of the excerpt.The process of reviewing research at Langley was intense; authors of both important and unimportant documents had to defend their work before a panel of experts.
Read the excerpt from Hidden Figures.Their path to advancement might look less like a straight line and more like some of the pressure distributions and orbits they plotted, but they were determined to take a seat at the table. First, however, they had to get over the high hurdle of low expectations.Read Amara’s paraphrase of the excerpt.Their path to increased opportunities was more like one of the complicated charts they created than a linear path, but the priority was the challenging task of changing minds about their skills and abilities
Read the excerpt from Hidden Figures.The racism stuff, the woman stuff: she managed to tuck all that way in a place far from her core, where it would not damage her steely confidence. As far as Katherine was concerned—as far as she had decided—once they got to the office, "they were all the same."
Read the excerpt from Hidden Figures. Shetterly describes how Katherine Goble engaged with her colleagues.She asked early, she asked often, and she asked penetrating questions about the work. She asked with the highest respect for the natures of the brainy fellas she worked with, and she asked knowing that she was the right person for a task that needed the finest minds.Read Tamika’s paraphrase of the excerpt.Goble asked many thoughtful questions about the work. She asked these questions all the time, and she asked them with the utmost respect for the qualities of the intelligent men she worked with.
Read the excerpt from Hidden Figures.Restricting the computers from joining the editorial meetings wasn't a rule: it was a rule of thumb. It was rooted in practice and widely implemented, but it did not apply without exception to every situation.Read Takashi’s paraphrase of the excerpt.Computers were not restricted from joining editorial meetings because of a rule but because of a rule of thumb; it was a practice that was widely implemented but did not apply to every situation.
Read the excerpt from Hidden Figures.Whatever personal insecurities Katherine Goble might have had about being a woman working with men, or about being one of the few blacks in a white workplace, she managed to cast them aside when she came to work in the morning.
Read this excerpt from Hidden Figures.After a presentation of findings, the committee, which had read and analyzed the report in advance, let loose a barrage of questions and comments. The committee was brusque, thorough, and relentless in rooting out inaccuracies, inconsistencies, incomprehensible statements, and illogical conclusions obscured by technical gibberish. And that was before subjecting the report to the style, clarity, grammar, and presentation standards that were Pearl Young's legacy, before the addition of the charts and fancy graphics that reduced the data sheet to a coherent, visually persuasive point. A final report might be months, even years, in the making.Read Nathan’s summary of the excerpt.After hearing the presentation on the research, the committee asked rigorous questions that revealed inaccuracies and unsupported conclusions, and then the report was meticulously edited. The process of finalizing the report took too long to be considered efficient.
Read the excerpt from Hidden Figures."Let her go," they finally said, exasperated. The engineers just got tired of saying no. Who were they, they must have figured, to stand in the way of someone so committed to making a contribution, so convinced of the quality of her contribution that she was willing to stand up to the men whose success—or failure—might tip the balance in the outcome of the Cold War?
Read the excerpt from Hidden Figures. Shetterly explains how the roles of men and women differed at NACA.Women were "supposed” to wait for the assignments from their supervisors, and weren’t expected to take the lead by asking questions or pushing for plum assignments. Men were engineers and women were computers; men did the analytical thinking and women did the calculations.
Read the excerpt from Hidden Figures. Shetterly describes what happened when Katherine Goble asked if she could attend editorial meetings with the engineers she worked with."Is there a law against it?” Katherine retorted. There wasn’t, in fact. There were laws telling her where she might answer nature’s call—a law she ignored at Langley—and which fountain to drink from. There were laws restricting her ability to apply for a credit card in her own name, because she was a woman. But no law applied to the editorial meeting. It wasn't personal: it was just the way things had always been done, they told her.Read Sahil’s summary of the excerpt.Katherine Goble asked if it was against the law for her to attend the meetings. While there were many unjust laws that restricted her freedom, she was only being excluded from the meetings because the engineers did not want to change their procedures.
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