Affirmative action?

[Coscolluela Eileene]

Teresa A. Carabeo (carabeo at uclink2.berkeley.edu) wrote:
: Ps.  Eileene, I don't understand your response below.


	Teresa... one of the things that I HAVE seen is the lack of
	women putting effort into things.  I know ALOT of people with
	SO MUCH talent that just wimp out because they don't seem to
	want to put in the extra effort to do the work, know what I
	mean?

	For example, one of my friends is just brilliant.  Brilliant in
	everything, it seems, but mathematics and physics.  It's not like
	she doesn't understand the material - she just puts no effort
	into doing the assignments for the class, puts no effort to do
	any studying for the class.  Is this right?  I don't think so and
	I think it's the LACK of enthusiasm some women have for certain
	fields that prevent them from entering it.  Women should be
	encouraged to do what their talents lead them to, at a very early
	age.  I was, which is why I'm pretty good at mathematics although
	pursuing a degree in botany.  My best friend had very encouraging
	parents and she's in a field where she's talented in (physics).

	It's encouragement, starting from very young, not affirmative
	action, that solves problems.  One of my friends, an engineering
	student, didn't know how to react to her acceptance into Cornell
	University in Engineering when there were other students far 
	better thanher who didn't get in.  She felt like she was being 
	given a favor because she was a woman.  "Oh, you're not very
	good, but we'll let you in anyway because you're a woman and a
	minority."  That's how I feel about AA, which is why I don't
	like it. Yes, I recognize that there ARE benefits to it, to help
	stop a discriminating organization from being discriminatory.  But,
	it still doesn't make me feel any better and I think there are
	probably better ways to go about having equality.  <Shrug>  I can't
	really think of any that aren't "Big Brother" at the moment...
	but I want a system in which our self-esteem isn't rubbed the
	wrong way.


Eileene Coscolluela		  |  "All our science, measured against 
University of Illinois		  |   reality, is primitive and childlike --
ecoscoll at ux4.cso.uiuc.edu	  |   and yet it is the most precious thing
http://ux4.cso.uiuc.edu/~ecoscoll/|   we have."  --Albert Einstein