"College really isn't necessary"
So one of my pals posted this (well actually the red lined version at the end of this post) on Facebook, so I had to go snooping (Snopes.com) to see if it was legit. I didn't find anything on Snopes, but I found interesting posts around the web. Like this post from some guy claiming he messaged the writer on Myspace.
The young lady claimed she wrote the piece in protest of her school newspaper being shut down, and sent it as a letter to the editor to her Arizona hometown paper.
Anyway...let's talk about what is in the article. I thought it was absolutely hilarious. The article is of course rife with grammatical errors, but that is to be expected. She's a high school student. I know attorneys who still have poor grammar (myself sometimes included).
Miss Strauss seemingly sets the women's movement back one hundred years with this article. People often say college is not for everyone. I personally disagree. Though every college is not for every person, there is a school, program, university or something in existence to expand your mind and the breadth of your knowledge.
If she really meant this, it is somewhat sad. One would wonder where she learned such things. Eventually every person wants to be fulfilled and feel worth something more than his/her outer shell. It appears from the article, that Miss Strauss only intends to provide her "pretty" to her relationship and nothing more.
The content of her article got people riled up. She's wanting to be a princess while making her man slave and become a human bank. She doesn't plan to cook or do anything beyond shopping with the kids and getting her hair and nails done. This boiled over into a discussion about what it means for men to be providers and how would a stay at home mom be viewed.
A number of men would prefer a lady like her. Someone who smiles and looks pretty, treats him like a king and holds her position as a trophy wife. There are women who would love to play that role, whether degree holding or not. But often men who want women with little to offer but an empty shell, find women of substance to fill their time. (Think about Kobe and Vanessa...105 different mistresses??)
The young lady's premise is that college is a waste of time for women, when they can just "marry well" and find a man to handle all the nonsense of working. Does having a degree take you out of the realm of being taken care of by your man? Does "equal" mean you have to split everything (decision, chores, finances) down the middle? Are there any traditional roles that are desired by either party? What are they?
The consensus about the article is that the poor girl should go to college and get her head on straight. But there was ZERO consensus on what it means for a man to be the "head of the house" and the woman to have either equality or "take a back seat" as one guy said.
