[516] in peace2
Re: iap class
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Karen Sachs)
Fri Jan 19 17:06:35 2001
Message-Id: <200101192205.RAA12121@w20-575-20.mit.edu>
To: Payal Parekh <parekh@pimms.MIT.EDU>
cc: Martin Voelker <nouturn@mediaone.net>, Karen Sachs <karens@mit.edu>,
peace-list@mit.edu, karens@mit.edu
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 19 Jan 2001 15:46:08 EST."
<Pine.GSO.3.95q.1010119151148.11635A-100000@pimms>
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Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 17:05:44 -0500
From: Karen Sachs <karens@MIT.EDU>
Hi everyone-
I appreciate hearing your viewpoints. I think it is important to understand
that this class is NOT only for women, it just targets women in the title.
The instructors are women (at least 2 out of 3 are).
I agree that women (and men) may be made to feel uncomfortable and reluctant
to ask questions if there are a handful of macho-acting men pretending to know
everything. But I believe that would not happen if the class was called
"Basic auto fix-it for the totally clueless" or something like that. A guy
who is sure he knows everything would not come.
The people who do come to such a class can be united in their total ignorance.
Hey, it's OK to reach adulthood without some important skills (like fixing a
car). No biggie. But it is demeaning to assume women are totally clueless
about cars.
To illustrate my point: MIT has a "pre-math" class that they give to incoming
freshmen with a relatively weak background. If it so happens (this isn't the
case, to my knowledge, I am just trying to illustrate my point) that black
students are over-represented in the population of students with weak
backgrounds (conceivable, in a country where pro-segregation Ashcroft is
considered for an important office), would it be cool by you if MIT generously
offered a pre-preclass, called "Intro Math for incoming African-American
Students"? It would offend me, because the assumption that black students
would have a weaker background is an insulting one.
Happy IAP
Karen
