Why All-Women's Schools? - Page 11

BJM8 · 04-28-2006, 09:00 PM

Cellardweller...you neglected to put the rest of my post into the quote (ironic isn't it?)

Quote:

The Sadkers show us how far women have come in the last century, in claiming their place in the classrooms of schools from elementary to graduate school both in front of the class, and behind the desk. They also show us how different that place is from the space filled by their male counterparts, and how sexism has seeped into every aspect of the female educational experience. The Sadkers studied the numbers ---counting everything from female faces and names in textbooks and among teachers/professors, to school budgets for athletics, to questions and kudos offered to girls by teachers in the classroom. These numbers show that girls attend schools where the bulk of a teacher's attention in the classroom is focused on boys, their studies are centered on men and their achievements, they are taught by men (secondary education and beyond) and the bulk of their schools' budgets (including special ed and athletics) are spent on the boys. It is no wonder that the hopes and dreams of young girls are diminished as they enter adolescence, with doctors settling for nursing degrees, and chemists turning to cooking! They found that in intellectually rigorous girls' schools, few incidents of sexism were uncovered. These schools focused on the intellectual growth, academic curiosity, independence and self-esteem of their female students.

Can you honestly tell me that in the last century of education, beginning with adolescents on up, that women have been treated fairly in schools thoughout the country? If so, I have some land in Louisiana for you to buy! I have been talking all along about how all-women's colleges focus on intellectual growth, academic curiosity, independence, and self-esteem. Not only are they academically challenging; on par with those elite schools you mentioned (and yes, even in research), but in many ways even better than your supposed alma mater MIT. They meet the needs of the women who choose to attend them, and by far surpass the expectations of elitist people like you (to your chagrin, I'm sure.) We are talking about the history of education and how females were treated in schools over time, and why women's colleges and secondary schools were, and continue to be, very important entities. When you have walked in my shoes as an educator for 26 years, write back. I've seen it all.

BJM8 · 04-28-2006, 09:02 PM

Hate to break it to you Xiggi, but RLT is correct with his numbers. I would rather use current numbers rather than last year's numbers...wouldn't you?

xiggi · 04-28-2006, 10:12 PM

RLT/BJM8, did I not state that my numbers were from 2004-2005 to MAKE them match the USNews numbers you declared ... "pain" wrong. The purpose of the post was to show that the numbers I posted earlier were identical to the Common Data Set published by Smith.

Obviously, anyone is entitled to interpret the data as they wish, and speculate about the missing numbers.

J.P. · 04-28-2006, 10:28 PM

What a wonderful thread on the incredible merits of women's colleges in America today. I admit I've only read 10 percent of the postings over the past week but I could not be prouder of my daughter for selecting Mount Holyoke College to attend this fall. And she could not be any more excited.

As a student at Haverford College in the 1970s, just prior to its move into coeducation, I had the incredibly good fortune to major in an academic program at Bryn Mawr, which enjoyed a close and productive relationship with Haverford (and still does, to a somewhat lesser extent). Though my diploma says I'm a Haverford graduate, I give plenty of credit to the wonderful academic experiences I had on the Bryn Mawr campus.

Long live the Seven Sisters.

roadlesstraveled · 04-28-2006, 11:20 PM

RLT/BJM8, did I not state that my numbers were from 2004-2005 to MAKE them match the USNews numbers you declared ... "pain" wr

Xiggi, there isn’t an issue with you or your stats. I knew you knew what you were doing. You always do.

It was me that used the new figures for the class of 09 without realizing we were using the different years. No big deal.

I still believe my math is correct however.

Momwaitingfornew · 04-28-2006, 11:20 PM

Cellardweller, you're obviously talking about me when you say that the converts were "whining" about kids before rejected ED on the Yale thread. While I responded there to one of the posters, I certainly was not whining. I did not attend Yale, nor did my daughter apply to Yale. Yes, she applied to a couple of Ivies and did not get in. Still, she had a choice between good co-ed schools and good women's schools. She happened to choose Smith. Trust me, she did not only get into all-women's colleges.

I am a "convert" because I approached the women's colleges BEFORE the acceptances came out with an open mind. I respect your right to your opinion, but I am offended by your assertion that the only reason our daughters are going to women's colleges are because they were rejected from the Ivies. That is simply untrue.

roadlesstraveled · 04-28-2006, 11:41 PM

but I am offended by your assertion that the only reason our daughters are going to women's colleges are because they were rejected from the Ivies. That is simply untrue.]]

Thanks

plum1 · 04-29-2006, 07:43 AM

here is a very interesting website:

http://www.womenscolleges.org/

BJM8 · 04-29-2006, 08:47 AM

MWFN...thanks from me too. I would also like to apologize to Xiggi for my rude comments on past threads, they were uncalled for.

Quote:

What a wonderful thread on the incredible merits of women's colleges in America today. I admit I've only read 10 percent of the postings over the past week but I could not be prouder of my daughter for selecting Mount Holyoke College to attend this fall. And she could not be any more excited.

Thanks, JP! Congratulations to your D as well as MH is a great school!

Quote:

long live the seven sisters

AMEN to that!!!!

cellardweller · 04-29-2006, 10:31 AM

I certainly did not claim that girls turn to women's colleges as a last resort. My wife went to Smith and was nevertheless accepted at several selective coed schools including Wesleyan and Tufts.

As far as how many women go to the Seven Sisters after being accepted by the Ivies, the numbers are definitely very low. The same holds true with Amherst and Williams so there is nothing to be offended about.

BJM8 · 04-29-2006, 01:23 PM

Here's a partial list of women leaders who attended all-women's schools:
(Part 1)

Quote:

Notable Graduates of Women's Colleges

SENATORS IN THE 109th CONGRESS

Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY)
Wellesley College, MA

Blanche Lambert Lincoln (AR)
Randolph-Macon Woman's College, VA

Barbara Mikulski (MD)
Mount Saint Agnes College, MD
REPRESENTATIVES IN THE 109th CONGRESS

Tammy Baldwin (WI)
Smith College, MA

Rosa DeLauro (CT)
Marymount College, NY

Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX)
Saint Mary's College, IN

Donna Christian-Christensen (VI)
St. Mary's College, IN

Jane Harman (CA)
Smith College, MA

Katherine Harris (FL)
Agnes Scott College, GA

Nancy L. Johnson (CT)
Radcliffe College, MA

Sue Kelly (NY)
Sarah Lawrence College, NY

Barbara Lee (CA)
Mills College, CA

Nita Lowey (NY)
Mount Holyoke College, MA

Betty McCollum (MN)
College of Saint Catherine, MN

Anne Meagher Northup (KY)
Saint Mary's College, IN

Nancy Pelosi (CA)
FIRST woman elected as Democratic whip in the House of Representatives (10/01)--the highest post ever held by a women in Congress.
Trinity College, DC

Allyson Schwartz (PA)
Simmons College, MA

FAMOUS FIRSTS FROM WOMEN'S COLLEGES

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FIRST woman to be named Secretary of State in the U.S., appointed in 1997. (Wellesley)

JANE AMSTERDAM, FIRST woman editor, The New York Post. (Cedar Crest)

EMILY GREEN BALCH, FIRST woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. (Bryn Mawr)

CATHERINE BREWER BENSON, FIRST woman to receive a college bachelor's degree. (Wesleyan)

EARLA BIEKERT, FIRST scientist to identify the Hong Kong flu virus. (Wesleyan)

CATHLEEN BLACK, FIRST woman leader of the American Newspaper Publishers Association. (Trinity, D.C.)

SARAH PORTER BOEHMLER, FIRST woman to be Executive V.P. of American Stock Exchange. (Sweet Briar)

JANE MATILDA BOLIN, FIRST African American woman judge in the U.S. (Wellesley)

DOROTHY L. BROWN, FIRST African American woman general surgeon in the south. (Bennett)

PEARL S. BUCK, FIRST to win Nobel Prize in Literature. (Randolph-Macon Woman's College)

ILA BURDETT, FIRST Georgia's FIRST female Rhodes Scholar. (Agnes Scott)

DOROTHY VREDENBURGH BUSH, FIRST woman secretary of the Democratic National Party. (Mississippi University for Women)

ELIZABETH PFOHL CAMBELL, FIRST woman founder of a PBS station (in D.C.) in 1961. (Salem)

HON. AUDREY J.S. CARRION, FIRST Hispanic woman judge Circuit Court for Baltimore City. (College of Notre Dame of Maryland)

RACHEL CARSON, FIRST environmentalist who awakened public consciousness through her book Silent Spring in 1961. (Chatham)

BARBARA CASSANI, FIRST female and CEO and of a commercial airline. (Mount Holyoke)

ELAINE L. CHAO, U.S. Secretary of Labor 2001; FIRST Asian-American woman appointed to a President's cabinet in U.S. history (Mount Holyoke)

PENNY CHENERY, FIRST woman president of Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, racehorse breeder and owner of Secretariat. (Smith)

MARTHA CHRISTINZIANO, FIRST woman manager in nuclear engineering, Philadelphia Electric Company. (Georgian Court)

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, FIRST ever First-Lady to be elected to the Senate or to Congress. (Wellesley)

BETSY LANE COCHRANE, FIRST woman to serve in a leadership role in the North Carolina legislature; two terms in house minority leader, one term as senate majority leader, one term a senate minority whip. (Meredith)

FRANCES K. CONLEY, FIRST woman to become a tenured full professor of neurosurgey in the U.S. (Bryn Mawr)

FAYE BERRY CULP, FIRST Republican woman to serve as Majority Whip in the Florida House of Representatives 1996-98. (Mississippi State College for Women--now Mississippi University for Women)

ADDIE E. DAVIS, FIRST woman to be ordained in a Southern Baptist Church 1964. (Meredith)

SHERRY DAVIS, FIRST woman announcer for a major league baseball team. (College of Notre Dame of Maryland)

DIANE MULDAUR DOZIER, FIRST woman president of American Academy of T.V. Arts & Sciences. (Sweet Briar)

LT. SUSAN DURETT, FIRST female commanding officer of New York Port Authority Police Department. (Georgian Court)

MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN, FIRST African American woman to pass the bar in the state of Mississippi. (Spelman)

SUSAN ESTRICH, FIRST woman to manage a presidential campaign. (Wellesley)

KATHARINE FANNING, FIRST woman editor of the Christian Science Monitor. (Smith)

GERALDINE FERRARO, FIRST woman Vice-Presidential candidate. (Marymount Manhattan)

NEVA LANGLEY FICKLING, Georgia's FIRST and only Miss America. (Wesleyan)

BELINDA FOSTER, FIRST African-American woman District Attorney in the state of North Carolina. (Bennett)

CHARLOTTE FOX, FIRST American woman to climb three of the world's tallest peaks. (Hollins)

SARA RUTH FRASIER, FIRST woman elected to the Tennessee legislature. (Wesleyan)

BJM8 · 04-29-2006, 01:25 PM

(Part 2) Note: some are even scientists!

Quote:

SARAH FULCHER, FIRST woman and only third person to complete a 2,700 mile run around Australia. (Salem)

DR. MILLIE HUGHES-FULFORD, FIRST civilian woman scientist on a space shuttle mission (SpaceLab Life Sciences I). (Texas Woman's University)

SUSAN BREAKEFIELD FULTON, FIRST woman manager of a major metropolitan radio station. (Wilson)

GAIL GAMBLE, FIRST woman elected president of physicians at Mayo Clinic and of Minnesota Medical Society in 1994. (Hood)

MARY GARBER, FIRST woman sportswriter in the Atlantic Coast Conference, recently inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers' Association Hall of Fame. (Hollins)

SUSAN BRANDEIS GILBERT, one of the FIRST woman lawyers to argue a case before the Supreme Court. (Bryn Mawr)

APRIL GLASPIE, FIRST woman to hold a key diplomatic reporting post with the U.S. Foreign Service in the Middle East. (Mills)

ELSA GOMEZ, FIRST Hispanic woman named president of a comprehensive state college. (College of St. Elizabeth)

RHEA GRAHAM, FIRST woman and first African-American to be named director of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Bryn Mawr)

ELLA GRASSO, FIRST woman to be elected governor of a state (Connecticut) in her own right. (Mount Holyoke)

HANNA HOLBORN GRAY, FIRST woman president fo a major university–The University of Chicago. (Bryn Mawr)

PRISCILLA PERKINS GREW, FIRST woman awarded the American Geological Institutes Ian Campbell Medal; FIRST woman to teach science at Boston College; FIRST to head the California Department of Conservation; FIRST non-industry person; FIRST woman on the California mining and Geology Board; FIRST woman named state geologist for Minnesota. (Bryn Mawr)

CYNTHIA HALE, FIRST woman, FIRST African American, and youngest person nominated as associate minister general in the Disciples of Christ Church. (Hollins)

MARY KERR MOREHEAD HARRIS, FIRST female judge in the South. (Peace)

BERNADINE HEALY, FIRST woman to become Director of the National Institutes of Health in 1991. (Vassar)

RACHELLE HENDERLITE, FIRST woman ordained minister of Presbyterian Church, U.S. (Agnes Scott)

KATHARINE HEPBURN, FIRST and only person to have won four Academy Awards for acting. The American Film Institute voted her the nation's leading screen legend of the 20th century. (Bryn Mawr)

BRIGADIER GENERAL ELIZABETH P. HOISINGTON, USA retired, FIRST woman general of the U.S. Army. (College of Notre Dame of Maryland)

GWEN IFILL, FIRST African- American woman to serve as moderator and managing editor of PBS' Washington Week in Review. (Simmons)

ANTOINETTE JENNINGS, FIRST woman president of the Florida senate. (Wesleyan)

KAREN JOHNSON, FIRST woman judge, U.S. Fourth Circuit. (Columbia)

JUDITH S. KAYE, FIRST woman to be appointed as the state's chief judge. FIRST woman to serve on the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals in 1983. (Barnard)

CHARLENE PAYNE KAMMERER, FIRST woman to be ordained Bishop of the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Conference in 1996. (Wesleyan)

JEANE KIRKPATRICK, FIRST woman to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. (Barnard)

DOROTHY KLENKE, FIRST woman neurosurgeon in the U.S. (Bryn Mawr)

MARGARET MORROW, FIRST woman president of the State Bar of California. (Bryn Mawr)

ELIZABETH J. PATTERSON, FIRST woman elected to U.S. Congress from S.C. (Columbia)

NANCY PELOSI, FIRST woman elected as Democratic whip in the House of Representatives (10/10/01)-- the highest post ever held by a woman in the U.S. Congress; member of the 107th Congress for the state of California. (Trinity, D.C.)

FRANCES PERKINS, FIRST woman appointed to a Presidential Cabinet post. (Mount Holyoke)

AULANA PHARIS PETERS, FIRST African American woman appointed Commissioner of Securities and Exchange Commission. (College of New Rochelle)

SHIRLEY DANIEL PETERSON, FIRST woman commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. (Bryn Mawr)

SUSAN PHILLIPS, FIRST woman to chair a Financial Regulatory Agency. (Agnes Scott)

LENORE LOVING PRATHER, FIRST woman Chancellor in the State of Mississippi. (Mississippi University for Women)

GLENDA COPES REED, FIRST woman elected president of an NAACP chapter. (Smith)

ALICE MITCHELL RIVLIN, FIRST director of the Congressional Budget Office (‘94-‘96); recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant"; served as the vice chair of the Federal Reserve System's Board of Governors and directed the White House Office of Management and Budget. (Bryn Mawr)

SR. MARY JOSEPHINE ROGERS, founder of FIRST missionary order of Catholic women in U.S., Maryknoll Sisters. (Smith)

NETTIE STEVENS, FIRST person to observe that the X and Y chromosomes determine sex. (Bryn Mawr)

KELLY SMITH TUNNEY, FIRST woman General Manager for the Associated Press. (Cottey)

LAURA D'ANDREA TYSON, FIRST woman to head White House Council of Economic Advisors, appointed in 1993. (Smith)

ANN UCCELLO, FIRST woman mayor of capitol American city (Hartford) in 1967. (College of St. Joseph)

LISA VALK, FIRST woman publisher of TIME-LIFE. (Hollins)

ROSLYN WALLACE, FIRST woman to receive Scientific Achievement Award for cancer research. (Brenau)

REAR ADMIRAL LOUISE WILMOT, FIRST woman to command naval base and highest ranking woman in U.S. Navy. (College of St. Elizabeth)

KAREN JOHNSON WILLIAMS, FIRST woman appointed to a judgeship in the U.S. Fourth Circuit. (Columbia)

RACHEL GARDNER HODGES, South Carolina's current FIRST Lady. (Columbia)

arianneag · 04-29-2006, 01:40 PM

"As far as how many women go to the Seven Sisters after being accepted by the Ivies, the numbers are definitely very low. The same holds true with Amherst and Williams so there is nothing to be offended about."

This is an obvious, yet misleading, statement. Obviously people who apply to Ivy League Schools plan on going to them if admitted. The average person admitted to an Ivy will almost certainly choose Harvard/Yale/Princeton over any other school, whether it a Seven Sister, Amherst, Williams, or UC Berkeley (a University that cellardweller praised in a previous post for its supposedly abundant undergraduate research). If you didn't want to go to Ivy Leagues to begin with, why bother applying? Due to the competitive nature of the schools, one almost certainly would have to spend more time on an Ivy application than any other application. There is simply no point in wasting your time. In fact, why bother applying to ANY reach school when your number one choice is easier to get into?

Take me, for example. I personally have no intention of going to an Ivy League school (even if I got into one) so I won't even apply. However, I know that one of the schools I will apply to is Smith. In that regard I am choosing Smith over an Ivy. However, since I won't apply to an Ivy, and hence I can't get into one, I'm not going to be included in any statistic. This is why cellardweller’s comment, while technically true, is misleading.

As for the same being true with Amherst/Williams, etc, I have encountered someone who chose Amherst over the Ivies.

BJM8 · 04-29-2006, 02:33 PM

Arrianeag..another bright Smithie who can see through the cloud of dust put forth by other posters. Cellardweller's comment was very misleading, and quite a no-brainer if you ask me. I think he/she might be running out of rants about Smith??

My D is in the same boat as you; picked Smith over applying to an IVY. Her friend on the other hand was admitted to Yale, and still choose Smith.

roadlesstraveled · 04-29-2006, 02:50 PM

I think he/she might be running out of rants about Smith?? ]]

I have one for her/him. Parking is a pain by Starbucks.