| Topic Name: |
same sex....education?? |
| Message Name: |
wellesley student |
| Date Posted: |
02/19/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
first, the terminology is "women's colleges," not "girl's schools." (you wouldn't call the citadel a "boy's school," would you? and yes, I know it's coed now.)
second, single-sex colleges aren't trying to prove that women "are just as good as guys" -their students are a self-selecting crowd and tend to already know that. these schools offer a completely different educational experience, a whole other philosophy. gender doesn't interfere negatively with learning, and you come to realize how incomplete your education has been, how different the world ought to be. of course, there's the whole confidence aspect, the "old girls' network," the cleaner bathrooms, and a ton of other stuff I could go into.
look at female execs running fortune 500 companies: most of them come from women's colleges. if you don't believe me, there was
a new york times article about this in 1996.
and to put away some stereotypes, no, not everyone's a feminist. not everyone's a dyke, nor is everyone straight and desperate.
--a proud wellesley alumna |
| Message: |
I have to say that when I first got here, I was not at all happy about the situation. I didn't think I fell into the stereotype of the girl who lacked social skills and thus needed to sequester herself in a single-sex environment to feel safe (which was the stereotype I had of women's colleges).
However, as a senior, I am now so happy I ended up staying. I have learned so much more in my 4 years here than I did during my 12 years of co-ed education. It changed my outlook on the world, both in terms of what I felt I could accomplish and how I think the world should be.
I have also come to value the importance of sisterhood. From my experience with co-ed schools (I went abroad for a semester), it seems that women are conditioned to compete against each other for men. Things are good until a coveted male enters the picture. I am glad to say that the friends I've made at Wellesley have always come first.
True, the social life here isn't handed to you on a silver platter, but then again, what is? It's all about what you decide to make of it.
Wellesley Grad, Class of '01
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