In class we were talking about New Trier alumni. We talked a little bit about the wall that shows some old students and "Where They Are Now." All five of the people there are currently college professors and three of the five were African Americans. This topic led to the topic of a fundraiser New Trier is doing with a "Hall of Fame." A group of five New Trier graduates were picked who supposedly represent our school's motto of "to commit minds to inquiry, hearts to compassion, and lives to the service of humanity." The five people chosen were
Christie Hefner (the CEO of Playboy),
Donald Rumsfeld ((in)famous politician),
Rainn Wilson (a famous actor from the popular television show "The Office"), a guy who won the Nobel Prize in physics, and a humanitarian. That was how the names were given to me. I looked the last two up and found
Jack Steinberger to be the Nobel Prize winner but I still have no idea who the other man is.
As a class we started to talk about whether or not those people truly portray New Trier's motto. It is my opinion that the Nobel Prize winner and the humanitarian definitely do, quite clearly representing the first and third part of the motto respectively. But I don't know so much about the other three. They were the names that people would recognize because they are famous, and I guess that's what a Hall of Fame should do but not necessarily under the facade of representing the New Trier motto.
What struck me most though, is that in class we have also been talking a lot about women versus men. We took an opinion quiz, a few of the questions being are girls more mature than boys? And, are boys inherently more curious and mischievous than girls? Then an article titled
"The End of Men" was brought up. It brings up the idea that the future of society might be more focused on women than men, and that women may be "better suited" to it. I went home and read the article which was very long, but I also found it to be very interesting.
Then when I thought back to class, I realized that only one out of five of the Hall of Famers is a woman and I don't know if any of the "Where Are They Now" people is a woman. Maybe because it's the past, but it isn't that far into history.... Why aren't more of the representatives women?
A great question you posed, Fishy.
ReplyDelete"Why aren't more of the representatives women?"
Maybe this shows us how far our society still has to go? What are your theories on this? Where does child-bearing fit in?
I like how you related two distinct subjects of class discussion. I would like to hear more of your own thoughts on the article and the question above, though.
I think that our society does still have a long way to go, certain things still need to be achieved, like a female President. I don't necessarily think that it's the "end of men" but I think that women will play a much larger, aggressive role in the future. They have always been a part of the past. There are plenty of examples of influential women throughout history, but now instead of playing a side position, the women will be the leaders.
ReplyDeleteChild bearing poses an interesting question, because while women can take over mens' jobs in the business industry, bearing a child is not something that a man can do instead of a woman. I think that it's similar to another article we read in class, that women are waiting longer to have children. That women choose to succeed in the business world first, and have families later. It makes sense to me.
When I picture myself in ten years (the age at which my mom was already married and pregnant with me), I don't envision having kids or even being married necessarily. I want to have a steady job. I think that mentality can be seen in a lot of teenage girls' heads today, and that is the difference between the past and the future roles of women.