April 5, 2002
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April 5, 2002 |
Spring has sprung, the grass is riz,
I wonder where the birdies iz.
It is here. Isn't it? Spring, I mean! In honor of the most welcome
season, a few random notes from the months just passed:
The wheels of women's liberation grind slowly -- very, very slowly. It
took seventy years, but last week I got my varsity letter from CU, a
big beautiful golden "C." A weekend of events in Boulder in February
titled "A League of Our Own" celebrated 30 years of Title IX. I was
not able to go, so my "C" came in the mail. I think I treasure it
more today than I would have in 1932. In 1932 women did not get
varsity letters. We didn't expect them. Women athletes? Ridiculous!
We could play our little games, but we were not supposed to sweat. It
took years of trying to get recognition, and finally the passage of
Title IX in 1972 to get women's sports where they are today. My belated
"C" is one small but visible evidence of what we have achieved.
I can think of nothing more frivolous for a little old woman than buying
the jacket to put that "C" on, but what the heck, I waited 70 years for
it and I'm proud of it.
xxx
A very active demonstration of how far women athletes have come is the
C. U. Women's basketball team with its wonderful coach, Ceal Barry.
They beat Stanford in the most exciting game I have watched in years.
The women play a smooth game and even my friend Doug Aden who kids me
unmercifully about the Wanna Be NBA admitted that the women play a more
skillful game of basketball than the run and hang on to the hoop game
that the men play. To add to the fun, I won $5.00 from my Stanford
son who sort of snickered (if a lawyer can snicker) when I offered him
the bet. But he paid up. We won't discuss the Oklahoma game.
xxx
Oops. I try not to make mistakes, but since I have not reached
perfection, they do slip through. But this one was a doozy and I have
only myself to blame. Some evil critter snuck into my fingers and made
me type 1948 instead of 1848 as the date of the Seneca Falls
Convention, which started the modern women's movement. If women really
were 100 years behind, think of the world you and I would be living in.
We would not be allowed to vote. We would not be allowed in medical
schools or law schools or encouraged to go to any other kind. I do
humbly apologize for the typo.
xxx
I was interested to read in the Sentinel that a local parent is urging
that a challenge program for gifted students be set up in at least one
District 51 High School. Superintendent Bob Moore says consultants
have been hired to study programs for gifted and talented students. He
said, "We're doing this because we want to be proactive so we can avoid
similar situations in the future." It is at least 44 years too late to
be "proactive."
I dug into my files and found a report of the Gifted Child Committee
dated May 21, 1958. It contains detailed recommendations for programs
for the gifted at all grade levels. Mildred Shaw and Bill Ela and I
were part of this committee which worked with the school district for
over ten years. The report states in part, "The committee feels that
School District 51 should take immediate and continued steps to
concentrate on the program to advance the potentialities of the able and
ambitious student." The problems the schools face are much more complex
today than they were in 1958, but I believe that one thing remains
constant; the importance of special programs for the gifted students.
xxx
And just a final note of winter, if Andrea Yates is sent to prison, I
hope that her husband is sent there with her -- but in a different cell
where he can see her but not touch her.
xxx
Spring has not sprung all the way, but it is coming -- really.