Posted on 02/20/2005 3:32:14 PM PST by neverdem
GENDER STUDIES
In Victorian times, scientists argued that women's brains were too small to be fully human. On the intelligence scale, researchers recommended classifying human females with gorillas.
The great 19th century neuroanatomist Paul Broca didn't see the situation as quite so dire, but he warned his colleagues that women were not capable of being as smart as men, "a difference that we should not exaggerate, but which is nonetheless real."
The president of Harvard University suggested that a lack of "innate ability" might help explain why women couldn't keep up with men in fields like math and science … oh, wait, that one happened just last month.
Hold for a minute — OK — while I dig out my corset and bustle.
If that sounds snotty, I mean it to be.
I, for one, am ready to leave the 19th century behind. Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers can apologize all he wants, but the fact is that — from a position of power — he felt comfortable speculating about women's inadequate intelligence and ignoring years worth of science that proved him wrong.
I don't find that excusable. Period.
And I wonder why we women are so willing to tolerate this kind of behavior.
Summers raised the issue of women's lesser capabilities in an economic conference in Cambridge, Mass., in mid-January. And the most consistent response from women — the one still resonating across the country — is defensiveness.
A litany of female scholars quote studies proving that, yes, we girls can do long division, actually understand a chemical formula, comprehend a physical law or two and not only become professional scientists but do good work.
In fact, when allowed, women have done excellent science for decades, even since the corset-and-bustle days. The physicist Marie Curie won....
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Good posts.
But what do I know, eh?
14 generations ago, my greatngrandfather founded Harvard.
It was be no means for "Learning."
Well, I just hope these women who go to college to find a husband don't find Pell grants to do so, and I have to pay for their search. Let them soak their daddy for the tuition or else pay back loans for years. LOL
LATER
Ouch!
So how does going to college for the main goal of meeting a future husband doom a young woman to goofing off in class and not learning anything? You know, they have brains. They can look for a husband, learn a history lesson and chew gum all at the same time if they choose to do so. Do you pursue a primary goal that precludes you from ever accomplishing anything else along the way?
Say a math major takes a history class, but learning history isn't his (or her) main goal, would you assume the math major will fail history?
Indeed.
Kamsahamnida. Danke. Gracias.
Wow! Sorry you're getting hammered about this. I know a lot of young ladies who hope to meet their husbands during their college years. I live in fly-over country, nowhere near a metro area, and it's not that uncommon. Especially in homeschooling circles.
For the record, I did not meet my husband in college, I married a man 9 years my senior when I was 25.
Well, if it ever becomes popular thinking that learning is not the fundamental reason colleges exist, college degrees will become essentially worthless. Maybe we are even closer to that point than I thought.
Yeah, real honest argument here.
Adios, ladies. Have fun.
I didn't say it dooms them to anything. Just that if they *do* go to college soley to find a spouse and fail to study then it is a waste.
That kids could learn there was secondary.
Sorry, k2 - that's the way the world works.
solely.
What was so dishonest about that?
I think I know what you're getting at.
But I don't think the degree I earned is the result of politics.
And I think that Lauralee has made some excellent and mature points in this debate. You should be ashamed for your condescending and patronizing attitude to her opinions, using her youth as an excuse.
But the colony of Mass. did not fun that school so that you could learn. Or, at least, not principally.
Amazingly, I disagree, and feel no shame whatsoever.
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