Here are the first set of questions, answer what you want, elaborate, go off on tangents, let's treat it like we are together, having coffee and dessert and a conversation. I hope we can check in throughout the day and comment on comments and just see where the discussion takes us. We can evaluate tomorrow and see if there are things we should do different next month. (I feel like I am trying to be back in corporate America, Start, Stop, Keep, anyone??)
1. What are your thoughts on single-sex education?
2. Do you think Commencement presents an accurate description of a women's college?
3. In the novel the character Sally becomes involved with a professor. Do you think student/teacher relationships are more common at women's colleges? Or is that a myth of the old days?
I Googled "single-sex education" and here's what came up: Girls in single-sex educational settings are more likely to take classes in math, science, and information technology. Boys in single-gender classrooms -- led by teachers with training in how to lead such classrooms -- are much more likely to pursue interests in art, music, drama, and foreign languages. Both girls and boys have more freedom to explore their own interests and abilities than in the coed classroom.
ReplyDeleteI don't really think this is true at all, just based on my own education. I took plenty of those "boy" classes in a coed environment and thrived on the interaction. There was this one guy who was always the head of the class in math and I was always trying to outsmart him, probably just to get him to notice me.
Looking forward to hearing what you all think about the book today! I am so proud of us for doing this. :)
1. Now that I'm a parent, I actually have a differnt view on same-sex education than I used to. I probably won't put my kids in a same-sex school, but I really think it could be a great thing for a lot of kids. As for college though, I'm not sure. College is supposed to be a gateway to the real world (right? or did I just make that up?) and the real world consists of males and females. So I guess I'm not sure- I think it depends on the person- what works for one may not work for another. By the way are there any exclusively male colleges? I know the military academies are heavy on males, but are there any regular male colleges?
ReplyDelete2. I think Commencement probably does portray an accurate picture of women's colleges. One reason I think so is the author went to Smith, and she probably wrote from her own experiences.
3. I have no idea. I have never known anyone in "real life" who had an affair with a professor- never even heard rumors of it in college. A lot of times I think things like that are just myths, but then you watch the news and see teachers sleeping with 6th graders, so you know stuff like that happens.
3. There was a girl in my senior class who had an affair with one of the coaches/teachers. I was in his class the same time she was. It was so obvious they had something going on. He'd "teach" for like five minutes and then the rest of the class was spent with her sitting on his desk talking to him. I also had a class with her that same year at the junior college in town - she'd be bragging about how he'd let her park her car in his garage so it could be hidden. Needless to say, he didn't last all year at the school once the scandal really became public. (That was all just free info since I have nothing else great to contribute. Sorry)
ReplyDeleteThis is so fun!!!! Have loved reading what you all have written. Thanks for looking up some more info on same sex education Naomi. I wonder how many single gender school are out there anymore? Or have they been forced to open their doors to the opposite sex? I personally have zero interest in attending one, and I agree with you Elizabeth, college is a time to explore and find out who you are outside of your parent's home, and only being around women is not very real life. On the flip side, perhaps it is empowering for some, not sure.
ReplyDeleteI have not thought too much about women's colleges before reading this, other then reading a few novels that center around an all girls high school etc. One thing that I was surprised by was the vast amount of same sex relationships that were discussed (I'll just bring it up) :o), it was portrayed that most people tried it out, and I wonder how realistic that is?
I felt sad for Sally and that relationship with her teacher, especially when it came out that he was married. I thought it was cute that the girls would all go party at other schools together in order to meet some boys, but I think the Sally/teacher relationship was a one off thing and did not happen because they were at an all girl's school. So no, I don't beleive that those kind of things happen more at same gender schools.
The relationship between Bree and Lara didn't make me uncomfortable. I liked that they knew they'd found their soulmate. What troubled me was Bree's indecision about the whole thing. She struggled with it for the entire book. Is she really a lesbian if there's only one woman she wants to be with and otherwise she is attracted to men? That doesn't sound very realistic to me at all. At least, I've never heard of something like that.
ReplyDeleteI think there are single-sex classes within "normal" schools. That's what the website I read earlier seemed to be saying. There's a national organization for it, wouldn't ya know.
At first, I liked Sally's relationship with her professor. It seemed that she'd found someone who she really felt understood her. I wasn't even all that bothered by his estranged wife (who... HELLO! he didn't end up leaving until much later... jerk). What bothered me was his 6 months on/6 months off behavior, like he had dueling personalities or something. That really hurt Sally.
Wow. I just finished part 1.. I need to get going on part two questions..
ReplyDeleteLoving book club..
One of the high schools where I grew up had an all boys and all girls campus .. They were right next to each other . It was a private school and very expensive. I knew a lot of people that went there and all of the classes we combined with each other, so I don’t really know the point of it.. I would never have gone to an all girl school. But I can see how the boys could have been a distraction, but then again, I guess so were the girls at Smith college
So I was on a swim team from 7 years old until I was 18 and for 5 of those years we had an awesome guy swim coach... He was such a nice man and cared about all the swimmers. I totally had a crush on him, as did many of my friends. I was going through the ugly duckling phase, with braces and a perm, so I was very insecure but melted whenever he would talk to me. Anyway, he ended up having an affair with one of the mothers and then they got married and had baby.. Just recently he made the evening news.. He was having another affair with one of his teenage swimmers. …and was in jail for a year I mean he was 40 something at the time. Wow.. ………….. so not really sure if this falls under the category of teaching at a school but sort of.
Amanda, true, it seems that schools that are separated by gender have a partner school who they do a lot with...so how much is really separate?
ReplyDeleteI would really like to see a picture of Amanda with braces and a perm.
ReplyDelete