Can we have it all?

If you have not read this article on the climate at Harvard Business School, you really should. I don’t find it all surprising. Women, when knocking on the doors of power and politics, are routinely still asked to make choices. Will you be cute? Will you be smart? Will be you be the bitch? Will you be docile and shy? Will you be aggressive and a lone wolf? Will you be normatively acceptable?

I wonder if men are making the same choices? Just based on the informal survey of students in the classes I teach, I say no. The guys are themselves, coming in with baseball hats, ratty Ts, and unshaven. They raise their hands, say what they think. The women have make-up, a lot of pink (and yes, I dig the color pink too), and seem to be much more self-conscious of speaking up in class. In fact, I have one class where not a single woman has raised her hand yet to volunteer anything. 15 women – all mute – so far.

I am starting to think the bigger question is not what is – or is not – happening in Harvard’s class-driven MBA world. I am thinking about where the roots of girls/women losing their interest in being smart, in favor of being attractive and non-threatening to males. Fifth grade?

I don’t know. Maybe it’s unreasonable to think we can have it all? Maybe we need to chose a side of the street, and own it. Not sure. Something to be thinking about this semester as I teach.

Namaste.

Deep discovery…

I think I have found the secret to making school fun: eliminate the grades! OK, so I am not saying my plan is feasible in the real world, but I have discovered that I love to go to class when there are no grades. Just learning for learning/curiosity’s sake. I’m one month into my 8-month Knight Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan.

So far, so good.

I’m taking advanced German and a digital production class. Fun to think about new things every day, without the pressure of figuring out what to regurgitate back to the prof. Then again, I am used to being the prof these days…so now I get to see things again from the student side. Which is good.

Just another perfect night at the ballpark.
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