In our two previous class, we discussed about sexual orientation, and we had our presentation about Hope in the Unseen book. At first we had a nice discussion about stress and how to manage it. We divided in groups and then each group came up with some interesting ideas about stress management. In my group, most of us thought time managing is the most effective solution to reduce stress. We also thought that exercising and not focusing on the issue may reduce stress as well. As Julian said deep breathing and letting go of the problems for some minuets could be effective, too. But the most important exercise, I believe, is mindfulness meditation. Ten to fifteen minuets mindfulness mediation is really helpful to decrease our stress. This is scientifically supported by neuroscientist, and I learned it from my Behavioral Neuroscience class. In sexual orientation exercise, I had a purple star and I felt that I was so lucky that my sexual orientation didn’t cause me trouble or label as GLBT, however, in my opinion GLBT should never be treated like that. Although the exercise was not real, but I felt happy and lucky, and I also felt that other students did not feel comfortable, especially, students who were GLBT. That exercise allowed me to feel how difficult should be when we were treated unequally. And still I don’t understand why it is hard to see these people as humans. There is absolutely no difference between a gay person and me. It is important to note that more than 80% of gay people were born like that, and they were not practicing to be gay. The situation of GLBT in my home country, Iran, is horrible, and they are treated as deviant and sinner. Sadly, if their sexual orientation is revealed, they might end up in prison.
The presentation was exciting and each group contributed their part very well. In my group I was responsible for chapter 4. I think these kind of presentations help us to be more comfortable to give a speech in front of the students. As we give more presentation, we will be more comfortable to speak in front of students. I practice my part enough, but I don’t know why as soon as I stand up in front of students, I forget most of the things that I practice. Usually, I am an active student in class, and I am willing to participate in most activities in class, but when I stand up in front of student, I don’t why I don’t speak in a way that I practice. Other students were well prepared and gave a nice presentation, and I enjoy following the Cedric’s story and my classmates presentation.
When I was reading the articles and chapter nine from the book, the incredible improvement in higher education that women showed during the past several decades really surprised me. Historically men used to have more power in society and before 40s, the American society, in my opinion, was a patriarchal society. We could see inequality everywhere, especially, in higher education. Women had an extraordinary improvement in many areas in higher education. Women got bachelor degrees more than men, and they had less dropout rate than men. Those incredible achievements did not come easy, and women had to pay high prices and worked very hard to gain those achievements. For example, in the house, the resources were not distributed equally among boys and girls. Boys got the best resources for continuing their education especially in STEM. It was not the case in the house; girls were treated unequally in schools when it came to study STEM. The reason that women are not willing to study in STEM or not successful in STEM, perhaps, is the expectation that society have from women. From the early childhood, boys and girls are treated differently according to their gender. Their toys are different and they always hear from their parents that boys are boys and girls are girls. These are socially constructed, and are society’s expectation from different gender. If girls from the early childhood are exposed more to technology that are supposedly boys job, we would see different reaction towards technology from girls. This is true for STEM, too. Men and women experience many things differently and that is why they react differently to STEM. Gender segregation in science and engineering is another reason that women are less interested in those areas, however, gender desegregation, recently, in STEM has been changed in a good way. Once in college, women, are more likely than men to change to a science major after beginning a non-science major. Therefore, women dramatically change the ratio of gender in higher education and this achievement change the expectation of American society from women. Today, 57 percent of students enrolled in colleges and universities are women and women should be proud of this achievement and should be a role model for other people around them for continuing their education.
Here are my questions:
What are the reasons that women dramatically made a progress in higher education?
Why women earn more bachelor degree than men?
Why women are less interested in STEM?
What are the institutional factors that change gender roles and expectations in higher education?
How research can help men to dropout less than women?
