I continually push the young women in my classes to speak more.The author, Anne-Marie Slaughter, is a Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. Somebody please tell me why Princeton University — Princeton University! — is admitting women who need to be continually pushed to speak more. In the 21st century. They don't deserve the seats they fill. They shouldn't be coddled. They should be flunked out. You get into Princeton and you sit there too timid — or too withholding — to speak? Unacceptable. The teacher shouldn't be prodding you.
They must gain the confidence to value their own insights and questions, and to present them readily.Is this kindergarten? This is Princeton! How many applications for admission did Princeton turn down in the process of matriculating these ladies?
Yesterday, I saw the old bumper sticker: "Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History," and we had a conversation about whether the sentiment had any relevance today. I took the position that it did, because women still succumb to the cultural expectation that they should be pleasing and well-liked. It's a problem. Get over it or don't, but why are you occupying classroom space that could be used to good effect by someone who doesn't need a university professor to nurture her to the point where she can "present" her "insights" "readily"? If you'd confessed your limitation on your application form, the university could — and should — have rejected you.
My husband agrees...A classic feminist line!
... but he actually tries to get the young men in his classes to act more like the women—to speak less and listen more. If women are ever to achieve real equality as leaders, then we have to stop accepting male behavior and male choices as the default and the ideal.Yes, men. You need to back off and behave more like the women who need the professor to continually push them to value their insights so that they may present them readily. The future depends on your going beta.
We must insist on changing social policies and bending career tracks to accommodate our choices, too. We have the power to do it if we decide to, and we have many men standing beside us.Insist. Try a petite stamping of the foot while you insist. Yes, you can, little lady. And little men: Behave yourselves!
Absurd!
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209 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 209 of 209"No research- just spouted off the top of my head for 15 minutes on a topic I had studied as an undergrad, and opened it up for others to spout off. No paper was required- I got an A for no prep work at all. The professor loved the way I encouraged everyone to engage in the discussion."
Way way back in high school I competed in a "speech" category (we didn't have a debate team) called "Discussion." There were three ways to win (and I was not at all good at it, except that it was an unpopular category so last place might be third, so the team still got good points).
Anyhow!
The three ways to win were to take the "pro" position, take the "con" position, or set yourself up as a facilitator/moderator between the other two. You would win, not by doing better at arguing one side or the other but by controlling the discussion.
Obviously it was possible to do that without the first idea about material.
I am so agnostic on this issue of why women don't speak up in class, etc. For the first time in my entire life I discovered, by overhearing my 15-year old daugter discussing this with my wife, that women even as young as my daughter, when on a date, do not eat their meal becuase they do not want the male to see them chewing and consuming food!! This was presented to me as a well-known problem in dating becuase the female winds up very hungry at the end of the evening! If this is as widespread as I have been led to believe, it clearly calls for federal legislation to address the hunger issue involved. I can no longer make any of the generalizations about gender equality that I previously held so dear. Ann, can you help?
It is not just Princeton.
"Though women accounted for 36% of Harvard’s Class of 2009, only 11% of the school’s Baker Scholars were female. That honor is given to students who are in the top 5% of HBS’ graduating class. Meantime, only 21% of the first year honors (for being in the top 20%) for the class were awarded to women and only 22% of the second year honors were given to women."
Class participation in your group at Harvard Business School counts for about 1/2 your grade. Less participation in vigorous class discussion means lower grades and fewer Baker Scholars for women.
Why Men Outperform Women at HBS
Robespierre,
Princeton's Engineering School is ranked #21, well behind Purdue, UT Austin, and U of Maryland :
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings
Not too impressive..
@ KMG
The discussion was whether or not Princeton has an engineering school. You now see the light that it does. Mission accomplished.
On my first night at [an extremely exclusive university that wasn't Princeton], I went back to my dorm and did all the assigned reading -- more homework than I ever had in high school. Two days later, when these classes convened again, I found out that I was the only person that had actually done the reading. Same thing for the next 4 years. It's not just women that aren't participating in class.
Princeton isn't about education. It's a 4-year country club where rich kids form the social connections with other rich kids that they need to get the best jobs on Wall Street.
Sixty-seven percent of parents sending a kid to Stanford have an income over $100K. Compare that to less than 7% of the general population. Does that sound "merit-based" to you?
On my first night at [an extremely exclusive university that wasn't Princeton], I went back to my dorm and did all the assigned reading -- more homework than I ever had in high school. Two days later, when these classes convened again, I found out that I was the only person that had actually done the reading. Same thing for the next 4 years. It's not just women that aren't participating in class.
Princeton is about education. It's a 4-year country club where rich kids form the social connections with other rich kids that they need to get good jobs on Wall Street.
Sixty-seven percent of parents sending a kid to Stanford have an income over $100K. Compare that to less than 7% of the general population that earns that much. Does that sound "merit-based" to you?
Nice
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