Week 5

Week 5 once again didn't see much deeply philosophical, except maybe for the discussion I had in a meeting about sexism on campus.  As a faculty most of us are pretty good at avoiding sexism in the classroom.  Boys might shout out answers more, but if they do, we make a point to call on girls more.  We have equal numbers of boys and girls taking our AP Calculus course, and boys and girls are equally likely to hold positions of some influence (like student body president).  But we can't avoid sexism in some forms because we inherit it from the wider society.  Only girls are cheerleaders, for instance.  Girls feel much more pressure to dress in the latest fashions.  Some of the girls come to school dressed in what would have to be considered fairly provocative clothes.

Should we tell girls that they can't wear what they want?  Is it morally objectionable for a girl to proud of the fact that she can get boys to turn their heads?  How does it make the other girls feel—the ones who don't feel comfortable wearing clothes like that, or who have body types that might be ridiculed if they did?  What about the boys who don't want to be called creeps and feel they have to avert their eyes when a girl dressed like that walks by?  Is that really better than a construction worker's sexist whistles at adult women?  Is it fair that male teachers feel less permission to hug or even touch the students than female teachers?

These kinds of questions are slowly being brought to the forefront after years of answering them essentially with "yep...tough question.  yyyyyep.  dunno.  eeeeexcellent question. yyyyep."

In addtion, some of the students I thought would be more difficult are turning out to have more perseverance than I thought, and some of the ones I thought would be okay are turning out to be a pain.  B+ girl got another B+.  We'll see how that plays out.

The biggest lesson last week was learned by some of my younger students, who realized that, amazingly, doing your work in an organized manner with attention to detail makes it more likely to be right and makes it easier to check.  Unfortunately, only some figured that out.  I guess it will take a couple of lower-than-expected test scores before the rest do.  I try to do them a favor by telling them this over and over (and...over,  and over, and over and overoverover.  and over), but so often they don't accept it until they experience it the hard way.  Ah, youth.

Comments

[Your Wife]

Damnit! Would something deep and philosophical PLEASE happen?

[Archie]

Yeah, this isn't like Dangerous Minds or Stand and Deliver AT ALL.

[David Harmon]

"Should we tell girls that they can't wear what they want? Is it morally objectionable for a girl to proud of the fact that she can get boys to turn their heads? "

I've been thinking about that issue for a while, because I'm one of those guys who likes to consider myself sex-positive, but at the same time, I can't escape the sense that there's *something* screwy there.

What I eventually came up with, is that wearing provocative clothing in "the public sphere" (i.e., not someplace where "flaunting it" is the point of being there), is linked to the general issue of "obscenity". Even for sex-positive types, having this sort of thing "in your face" can get pretty annoying, and the reason it's annoying, is because it's *distracting*. Because of the instinctive responses involved, it grabs your attention away from whatever you "ought" to be looking at.

That is, "excessive" display of sexuality is a social issue, because it's a matter of "grabbing" people's attention in a fashion that's socially agressive. The closest example I can find (outside both sex and personal appearance), is when somebody paints their house, say, bright pink and lime green, in an area where most of the houses are just brick and siding.

Or to put it another way, "flaunting it" out of proper context, is *tacky*. Not evil, or even really nasty, just a little unmannerly. Of course, there are other sorts of personal display that are also considered "tacky" -- but as far as I've seen, those all share that same basic element: They grab more of people's attention than is really appropriate to the situation.

Of course, it's proverbial that "us grownups" consider "those kids" to be rude and tasteless. Even so, I think it's not too unreasonable to give them a bit of grief about it here and there. Whether they listen is another question entirely....

[David Harmon]

Oh yeah, it's worth noting that the word "tacky" also refers to something that's a little sticky, like half-dry paint. I suspect that's exactly the metaphor that yields its social usage.

[Paul Carpenter]

I'm one of "those kids" but I would still argue that there is a way in which people should conduct themselves in society which does involve not dressing too provactatively, although it's not the biggest issue at hand in todays youth, really.

Anyways, hows about some maths?