We still raise girls to look to other people for assurance they are attractive and smart, while boys are raised to determine their own value. Many girls are still made to feel it's not feminine to be good at science or math.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the gender disparities in self-esteem and educational encouragement between girls and boys.
Eileen Pollack's quote emphasizes the societal conditioning that influences how girls and boys perceive their worth. While boys are often encouraged to establish their self-value independently, girls are frequently taught to seek validation from others, especially regarding their attractiveness and intelligence. This societal expectation can limit girls' confidence in fields such as science and math, which are traditionally viewed as less feminine. Pollack advocates for a shift in this mindset to foster equal opportunities and self-assurance in all genders.
In practice
In a discussion about gender equality in education, this quote can illustrate the need for empowering girls.
When my son, James, was doing homework for school, he would have five or six windows open on his computer, Instant Messenger was flashing continuously, his cell phone was constantly ringing, and he was downloading music and watching the TV over his shoulder. I don’t know if he was doing any homework, but he was running an empire as far as I could see, so I didn’t really care.
When I am reading a book, whether wise or silly, it seems to me to be alive and talking to me.
The junior high schools and high schools of America have forgotten to teach one of the most important courses of all. Investing.
I learned to read at the age of five, in Brother Justiniano's class at the De la Salle Academy in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It is the most important thing that has ever happened to me. Almost seventy years later I remember clearly how the magic of translating the words in books into images enriched my life, breaking the barriers of time and space.
My father was a great sympathizer of Ahad Ha'am. Every Friday night we would read Hebrew together, and often the reading was Ahad Ha'am's essays.
We talk of globalization, and how much money is needed for the education of children in the world, their liberation and rehabilitation just $9 billion which is four days of military expense. Just four days. Nine billion dollars is nothing. But what Americans spent on ice cream just 20 percent of this. One fifth of what you spend on ice creams could bring the children out of the clutches of their masters and put them to school.
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