Blog Post #7
In last class meeting we had our power point presentations on the book A hope in the Unseen. I was looking forward to the presentations all week because I was curious to hear what happened to Cedric at Brown University.I enjoyed some presentations more than others. There were a couple of students with very low voices that were hard to follow but other than that I feel like I got a good understanding of how the book ended. I felt like I could relate to a couple of issues that Cedric encountered in high school, MIT, and Brown University. What I relate most with Cedric is that we both have a lot of faith in ourselves to achieve our goals and to never give up on our dreams no matter how many people are trying to bring us down. In our class meeting before our presentations we had a class activity where we randomly were given a colored star. In my scenario I got an orange star and that meant that a couple of important people in my life were “ripped” out of my life because they did not accept me for my homosexuality. This activity opened my eyes and made me empathize more with a friend that is currently going through this. It is a real shame and so sad that close people in your life like your parents can just shut you out just because of your sexual orientation. Coming out to friends and family should not be something homosexuals fear. I really hope that in the future LGBT individuals will be accepted in society and judged based on their character not on their sexual orientation.
The Goldman article was interesting to read because it had many statistics of women in higher education. Goldman mentions that women are now the majority in higher education. I am personally noticing that there are way more women around me at school than men. I was surprised to read that women are still underrepresented in STEM fields. What are more surprising are the experiences women in STEM fields reported. Women should not have to “play up” or “play down” or even prove themselves to males. Educators should encourage women into the fields and treat them equally with men. Educators should also encourage males to treat women with respect. Chapter 45 Reviving up for the Next Twenty-five years, had some good solutions to these gender issues. The one I like is “until men are fully equal inside the home, women will never be fully equal outside it.” In order to solve these gender issues we have to be equal in the home first. Children who grow up seeing their fathers do “feminine” chores and vice versa for their mom, they will learn that women and men are equal and not classify chores/STEM fields/roles as “feminine” or “masculine.”
My three questions are:
1. Why are there less men in higher education? Are men encouraged to enter the workforce right after high school?
2. Will women one day surpass men in STEM fields too? Why or why not?
3. What are other things parents can do to encourage gender equality in their homes?
