Monday, October 24, 2011

WEEK 9: Adrienne Rich
Discussion questions for “Taking Women Students Seriously” by Adrienne Rich
(The Reader, pg. 273)
1) In the beginning of her essay, Rich states that her experience at an all girls’ school was that her teachers gave her great “content” (hard skills, actual booklearnin’) but that they didn’t teach the girls how to “survive as women in a world organized by and for men” (soft skills, in my opinion). Later in her essay, she hints at some ways that teachers can give women more soft skills in education. What are they? How crucial do you think they are? Are they still relevant to today’s students? (Her speech was given in ’78, remember).
2) Rich outlines the questions for teachers, and makes it clear that she feels issues of race and class are pretty much the same as issues of gender, with regard to discrimination in the university setting. Do you agree? What are some key similarities or differences that you feel are important? Does the university still have work to do in remedying this area

1) how can we teach women to move beyound the desire for male approval and getting "good grades" and seek and write their own truths that the culture has distorted or made taboo? is one of the things that she says teachers could do to help women. the things she saids is pretty crucial because back then men were still getting used to the ideal of women in the work place and sometimes even women didn't know how to handle it. so it will help alot. now in todays world maybe not too much because more women believe in women empowerment and stuff like that and they are also a lot more independent than they used to be.

2) yes i kinda agree because no matter where you go discrimination can be anything. in race and class sometimes if someone is black or asian they might not get a job if most of the worker are white or if what is sold there is mainly for white people like clothes. in gender is just the same if there mainly men working there a woman may not get there job. I don't think there is much differences between the two. I don't think unversity work like that as much as it used but there are cases where if a school as major rage of one race they will pay for students of a different race to go there.

On Self Respect

1) Well the effect its suppose to have is to make us think about how those things in the stories go with self-respect. If we have read those books and we know what she is talking about, it could work with what she is trying to do. But because some of us haven't it makes us lost and almost like we need to go a read that story to understand what it is she is talking about. Now some she gave a good detail to the explains she used.

2) I think people could agree with these statements if they knew what was going on or what that story was about. These are a little hard to catch at first so you either have to reread or look up what she was talking about. Now with the whole adultery one I thinks its a good one because its so complex of a topic. To me its really something wrong and people shouldn't do it. And people do they normally don't tell people that they did do it. I don't think its really self-respect because if your with someone why would you cheat on them. Because the only way to have self-respect is to also be able to respect others as well. Because with self-respect people will see that you are honest and trust-worthy that they will respect you.
Some examples of the statements she used:

• the careless, suicidal Julian English in Appointment in Samarra
• the careless, incurably dishonest Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby

3) When your writing you have to practice and train yourself to do your work. You have to always practice and do your best in writing things. We have to be willing to let it grow and become as good as it can possible can be. Also writing is a habit to learn as well. we aren't born to writing we have to learn how to write and we have to practice it all the time.