hand me an apron

At school this week it seems like I've either been (1) in a language class learning a lot and having a marvelous time or (2) watching the classroom equivalent of Dr. Phil and listening to some girl talk on and on while all the neighboring guys look slightly queasy.

Unlike last semester, where my four live teachers were women and my online teacher was a man, this semester all my live teachers are men and only my online teacher is a woman.

I know that this reflects several horribly politically-incorrect stereotypes, and that if CSUF ever finds this blog I may not be able to graduate, but I was very very happy to find out that I had all men professors this year because, I thought, "ah! maybe some of them will be competent and know their stuff and NOT turn class into an emotional therapy session."

This seems true of the two language professors (for the record, I did have a remarkably competent and talented female Spanish professor once). But it is emphatically not true of the HCom professors and/or their classes.

Today in HCom 320 (Intercultural Communication - can't graduate without it) we somehow were waylaid for most of the class period by a number of girls discussing how guys think (or, as is more frequently the case -- apparently -- don't think and just act like animals). The teacher moderated this discussion (because genders are cultures, too!), a lot like something you'd hear on a talk radio show.

If you like that for talk radio, whatever. But please don't call it school.

I somehow doubt that this would play out the same way in an all-male environment.

Now, I'm all for women becoming educated (yay for women with graduate degrees!). And I'm also all for [discreet] heart-to-heart talks with [carefully selected] female friends. But formal education is what it is (or was). Take it or leave it. Come to learn something and have heart-to-hearts over coffee and knitting.

If "equal rights" means that every public forum is open to conversation fit for a girls' slumber party, count me out.

I'd rather stay in the kitchen.