Society gives us definitions for how we are supposed to be within our gender.Women are supposed to be weak, unintelligent, dependent.
While we discussed this in class, one example came to my mind, Hillary Clinton.
With the big announcement of the democratic candidate for the election of 2008 looming over our heads me and my friends sat at my lunch table discussing Clinton. When she got brought up I rolled my eyes. For some reason I couldn't stand her, and I never really understood why until now.
Unlike the sterotypical women, Clinton is strong, independent, and intelligent, and now I think subconciously that may have bothered me.
At first I was disgusted at the list shown on the overhead, in my mind I hought "WHO WROTE THIS??? SOME SEXSIST PIG!?" But then I realized how many women do fit into this stereotype, and at some points I admit that I do too. I have seen through the media (books, television, movies...) that women are often portrayed like this, and the fact that Clinton isn't made me uncomfortable because of how much it deviated from the social norms and the definitions for women in society that I was used to.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
college, college, college
Over the summer, the time when school should be the farthest thing from my mind, I was making lists. Lists of the classes I was going to be taking in the upcoming fall as well as lists of the colleges I would start applying to in a few short months.
Ever since freshman year, it's always been about college, college, college... if you don't get an A in this, you wont get into a good college. If you don't take AP classes "good" colleges won't even consider you. Every year, I challenge myself even more.. add an AP here, take accelerated here, take this and that so I can get into a "good" college.
The time came and I frantically filled out transcript request forms, composed fine tuned essays about doing this activity and that trip, and pressed the submit button on 5 different applications. By Novemeber, I had heard back from all of my colleges, and had been accepted to all.
So that means decide on one and cruise through the rest of the year, right?
WRONG.
This year has been the most challenging year thus far, and I know it probably won't get any easier until June 7th rolls around.
School challenges us to see us excell, see us get into the college of our choice, and of course keep up their already high test scores.
Ever since freshman year, it's always been about college, college, college... if you don't get an A in this, you wont get into a good college. If you don't take AP classes "good" colleges won't even consider you. Every year, I challenge myself even more.. add an AP here, take accelerated here, take this and that so I can get into a "good" college.
The time came and I frantically filled out transcript request forms, composed fine tuned essays about doing this activity and that trip, and pressed the submit button on 5 different applications. By Novemeber, I had heard back from all of my colleges, and had been accepted to all.
So that means decide on one and cruise through the rest of the year, right?
WRONG.
This year has been the most challenging year thus far, and I know it probably won't get any easier until June 7th rolls around.
School challenges us to see us excell, see us get into the college of our choice, and of course keep up their already high test scores.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
tuesdays with morrie and dependency
Tuesdays with Morrie wasn't just a movie about the devotion of a student to his teacher, but underneath that, Morrie taught us lessons about life that we could never find in any textbook, one thing he discussed was dependency.
Humans are the most dependent creatures on this earth, the minute we are born we depend on other people to do things such as feed, dress and bathe us, while a baby horse for example can run on its own just minutes after coming out of the womb. As we get older though we learn to do things on our own like walk, eat, bathe and dress ourselves-- through these things we gain the American value of independence. Our culture often teaches us that in the long run, most people let us down.. this is magnified through divorces, breakups, lay-offs and rejections. We learn to be more independent and we fear moving backwards towards the ways of children who can't do anything for themselves.
Although in some situations I am dependent, mainly on my parents. Although I have the ability to go buy my own groceries, I depend on my parents to do it for me, and when I need a poster board for a project last minute, my mom is already at walgreens asking me if I want white or lime green. It does bother me how dependent I am on my parents, especially because I'm going to be moving out in 5 months, and I need to learn how to do things for my own and not rely on people to always do them for me.
Humans are the most dependent creatures on this earth, the minute we are born we depend on other people to do things such as feed, dress and bathe us, while a baby horse for example can run on its own just minutes after coming out of the womb. As we get older though we learn to do things on our own like walk, eat, bathe and dress ourselves-- through these things we gain the American value of independence. Our culture often teaches us that in the long run, most people let us down.. this is magnified through divorces, breakups, lay-offs and rejections. We learn to be more independent and we fear moving backwards towards the ways of children who can't do anything for themselves.
Although in some situations I am dependent, mainly on my parents. Although I have the ability to go buy my own groceries, I depend on my parents to do it for me, and when I need a poster board for a project last minute, my mom is already at walgreens asking me if I want white or lime green. It does bother me how dependent I am on my parents, especially because I'm going to be moving out in 5 months, and I need to learn how to do things for my own and not rely on people to always do them for me.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Stevenson, St. Louis Park, and Me
Every year, I take short trips sporadically to Minnesota to visit one of my best friends, Rachel.
Last time I visited, I shadowed her at her high school in St. Louis Park. I went to all of her classes, finding that even some of her hardest ones (AP and IB) didn't seem quite as challenging or demanding as even my regular classes at Stevenson. It wasn't just the curriculum and the difficulty of the class that I saw noticeable differences in, it was also the way the students treated their teachers and just acted in general. When I walked into her spanish class, I was greeted by a kid who yelled "OH SH*T WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" The teacher was standing right there and didn't even react to that comment. Also the kids in that class were goofing off the entire time, making inappropriate comments toward the teacher and overall just being out of control. The whole time I sat in silence, laughing at the occasional joke or comment, but thinking "is this how they really act? This would never happen at Stevenson" Rachel later told me they had made previous teachers cry.
Although I didn't realize it at the time, the culture at St. Louis Park high school is a lot different than Stevenson. At Rachel's school it might be acceptable to treat a teacher like that, while at Stevenson it is seen as a more.
If I were a student at Rachel's school, I might have been goofing off with the rest of them, but because Stevenson has conditioned me to be a well-mannered hard working student, I saw their behavior as strange and wrong to me.
Last time I visited, I shadowed her at her high school in St. Louis Park. I went to all of her classes, finding that even some of her hardest ones (AP and IB) didn't seem quite as challenging or demanding as even my regular classes at Stevenson. It wasn't just the curriculum and the difficulty of the class that I saw noticeable differences in, it was also the way the students treated their teachers and just acted in general. When I walked into her spanish class, I was greeted by a kid who yelled "OH SH*T WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" The teacher was standing right there and didn't even react to that comment. Also the kids in that class were goofing off the entire time, making inappropriate comments toward the teacher and overall just being out of control. The whole time I sat in silence, laughing at the occasional joke or comment, but thinking "is this how they really act? This would never happen at Stevenson" Rachel later told me they had made previous teachers cry.
Although I didn't realize it at the time, the culture at St. Louis Park high school is a lot different than Stevenson. At Rachel's school it might be acceptable to treat a teacher like that, while at Stevenson it is seen as a more.
If I were a student at Rachel's school, I might have been goofing off with the rest of them, but because Stevenson has conditioned me to be a well-mannered hard working student, I saw their behavior as strange and wrong to me.
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