1.) When I read this passage, I see that it is not only meant for an audience of women, but for men too. Men sometimes get pushed over by family or close loved ones to do things they don't want to do. The most common example in television, books, and every day life is father/son relationships. Take the chick flick "Cinderella Story" for example. The son, Austin, wanted to be a writer and go to Princeton, but his father had other plans. His dad wanted him to be a football player for USC (I think) and he pushed him everyday. It wasn't until the end where the son stood up and said he was going to do what he wanted. He finally gained a sense of "responsibility" for himself and realized the most important person in his life was himself. And that he needed to please himself before anyone else. As for minorities and lower class people in a University, they also tend to lose respect in themselves when they let others get in their head. Others will put people down based on things like money and race and that makes others lose responsibility to themselves.
2.) When students enter a classroom, they are agreeing to be open to learn, listen, and take what they learn to another level by applying it to whatever goal they are aiming for. It is more likely that students actually stay true to that agreement in Universities or small colleges. In high school, most students are forced to be there and do not want to learn so the universal agreement that students are supposed to have are not put into action, for lack of a better phrase. Teachers are there, high school or college, to teach. No matter what level they are on, their agreement is to mold the students' mind and make them prepared for whatever is next in their lives. For high school teachers, that is college, and for professors, that is the career the students have chosen. It is ethical for students to be educated more with each year they are in some type of learning environment and it is ethical for teachers to make sure they are succeeding and that is how intellectual and ethical connects.
On a side note, I love that Rich used a quote from Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre. It is one of my absolute favorites.
I agree that the passage wasn't just meant for women but really for anyone. I also agree with the second answer too.
ReplyDeleteMen definately get pushed over by women or others and I like how you gave examples, in magazines, books, and television. Other people will always be judged if they are not as high as another person.
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