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OPINION
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WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 9. 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
▼ A SHADENFREUDEN WORLD
MINDY OSBORNE
mosborne@kansan.com
Celebrate male, female differences
Lawrence H. Summers, president of Harvard University, addressed why so few women were on mathematics and engineering faculties at top research universities at a Jan.18 conference.
According to The New York Times, Summers said "faculty positions at elite universities required more time and energy than married women with children were willing to accept." He also said innate sex differences could leave women less capable of succeeding and that discrimination could play a role.
Years of research and observations offer clear proof that men and women are different and that, generally, men excel more often in mathematics and sciences than women. This is not to say that women can't excel in these fields at the same level as men; it's just less likely.
Summers has since apologized for being misunderstood. This is the only apology he should give because his comments do not attempt to prove that women are inferior. Instead, they are a starting point for open dialogue between the sexes to promote understanding of our differences.
An explanation comes from our ancestors. According to Barbara and Allan Pease's book, "Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps," men needed areas in the brain for long-distance navigation to hunt food. Women needed areas for short-range navigation to perform several activities simultaneously, including monitoring their surroundings and effectively communicating.
As a consequence of these needs, men's and women's brains developed specific areas to handle each skill. Studies have shown that the female hormone estrogen prompts nerve cells to grow up to 30 percent more connections between the two hemispheres of the brain.
Findings have also shown that men and women use different parts in their brains when working on the same task. According to R. Grant Steen's book, "DNA and Destiny: Nature and Nurture in Human Behavio," this is especially true for language.
During a verbal task, men tend to use a part of the brain on the left-hand side, at the front of the head, while women tend to use this region and a corresponding region on the opposite side of the head. In other words, men tend to do all the work of language on one side of their brain, while women use both hemisides of their brain.
When discussing the role of women in mathematics, Steen writes that "sex differences in variance imply that substantially fewer females than males will score in the top 10 percent of a test of mathematical or scientific ability".
In a meritocracy based purely on mathematical ability, males would be expected to outnumber females nearly two to one in the most demanding jobs. This is manifest even at the University of Kansas. Last year the ratio of undergraduate females to males in the mathematics department was 68 to 107. The ratio was 26 to 40 for math graduates and 6 to 26 for math faculty.
Of course, genetics is not solely responsible for differences between the sexes. Our environment and interaction with others proves just as influential. As human beings, we have a duty to treat each other fairly. We shouldn't resign ourselves to the stereotypes that females won't excel at math or that males won't effectively communicate. Nor should we indulge in false hopes or pursue something we aren't talented at.
Instead, we need to accept who we are, talents and flaws alike. Rather than make a moral judgment based on what others can and cannot do, we need to celebrate everyone's achievements.
- Osborne is a Dunlap, Ill., junior in journalism and international studies.
LANG'S PERSPECTIVE
Doug Lang/KANSAN
EDITORIAL BOARD
Parking for games should not be priority
At 5 p.m. on Feb. 1, eager fans hurried to pack Allen Fieldhouse in anticipation of a great game against rival Missouri. But far on the other side of campus, other students hurried to pack the few remaining parking spots near campus to get to their evening classes on time.
Though congestion, traffic and the overall inconvenience that prevails during Kansas sporting events are nothing new, preventive measures can be taken to minimize problems.
The issue is the burden placed upon students who need to get to class or to on-campus jobs. Night class students unable to park must hastily navigate Lawrence side streets in hopes of finding a spot.
Students living in Jayhawer Towers and on Daisy Hill must wait 30 to 45 minutes to use main roads to get back on campus
after games, said Cpt. Schuyler Bailey, KU Public Safety Office. And Oliver Hall residents cannot return to campus at all during this time, as all roads are closed to incoming traffic.
Asking faculty, staff and students to leave work early or park away from campus during basketball games hurts the integrity of academics at the University.
Bailey said blocking traffic assisted the 16,000 fans at the game in leaving quickly, even though some people were inconvenienced.
expect, the final sentence is simply outrageous. The fact that the department would have the audacity to suggest professors and faculty change their schedules undermines the academic integrity of the University.
In an attempt to ease the inevitable traffic debacle, the Parking Department sent an email to alert faculty and staff of the potential parking problem that concluded with a suggestion: "If you have a flexible work schedule or you have supervisory authorization, please consider adjusting your work schedule so you can leave campus before 5 p.m."
Where do the University's priorities lie? Is it accommodating students or fans?
Though the department took a step in the right direction by informing staff of what to
The fact that the chancellor or his designee has preemptive authority to repeal the use of parking spots, which have already been paid
for, to use them during times when classes are scheduled is bonk. The idea that professors should cut out early to free up spaces is mind-boggling.
This puts pressure on the University to accommodate the influx of people on campus. The e-mail was a hasty way to try to make a bad situation better and try to free up some spots.
Donna Hultine, director of parking, said the alert elicited positive feedback, but problems were inevitable: "It's like the tide, it's going to happen anway."
The University must use more foresight in the future. An earlier warning would be more effective in reaching students and faculty.
The KU men's basketball is stellar, and this likely won't change. To say that occurrences such as Feb. 1 are rare would be imperceptive.
Asking students and staff to put their lives on hold won't cut it. A possible solution might include evenly distributing parking spots for students and fans and offering shuttles for other parking areas.
♦ Chase Edgerton writing for the editorial board.
- Women's basketball: Picked to finish last in the Big 12 Conference, Kansas upset Missouri twice, completing a regular season sweep.
Facilities Operations: Maintenance crews cleaned sidewalks and roads on campus yesterday morning after snow started to fall, keeping accidents to a minimum.
all:
- KUJH-TV format change: The TV station cut theater and film students' projects and entertainment programming to focus on informational content.
REPORT CARD
Pass:
♦ Women's basketball: Picked to finish last in the Big 12 Conference, Kansas upset Missouri twice, completing a regular season sweep.
*Facilities Operations: Maintenance crews clean sidewalks and roads on campus
returned after offer was started to fall, keeping to a minimum
Pacificides Operations: was carved from the clean water yesterday morning after snow started to fall, keeping accidents to a minimum.
A RIGHT TURN
KUJH-TV format change: The TV station cut theater and film students' projects and entertainment programming to focus on informational content.
Iraqis take ownership in democracy
Other detractors asked whether Iraqis would appreciate a freedom they hadn't earned. America had earned its own freedom in the late 18th century by throwing the British out of the American colonies. We had won a glorious war to bring us freedom. In Iraq, we toppled their dictator with little or no help from them. We handed them freedom, and they had no ownership of it. Could they understand the value of freedom if they didn't have to fight for it?
At President Bush's State of the Union address, purple became the new color of freedom. Days earlier, Iraq held its first free elections in 50 years. The Iraqis in attendance during the State of the Union held up their index fingers, still marked by the purple ink they used to vote on election day, as a celebration of their newfound freedom. Iraqis also wore purple suits or purple ties to symbolize the democracy that they voted into legitimacy days earlier.
Detractors of the war in Iraq asked whether the Iraqi really wanted freedom. The American "liberators," they said, were being attacked daily by angry insurgents wanting to derail the train of democracy. If Iraqis were excited about freedom, they certainly didn't seem to show it, and if they did, the media weren't interested in letting us know.
For once, the University of Kansas should cheer the color purple.
"Everyone was ecstatic and all smiles, congratulating each other on the vote, and holding their purple index finger up in the air as prideful evidence that they had voted." Cpt. Carrie Batson, stationed near Najaf, told National Review "There were Iraqis leading the blind and rolling old women on carts to polling sites, and entire families entering the sites so the children could watch the parents vote."
On Jan. 30, the Iraqi people answered those detractors.
Though the exact numbers aren't known yet, the International Election Commission of Iraq estimated that turnout was around 72 percent of the 14.2 million Iraqis that were registered. They were excited to start their own government — one that they voted into being — instead of one ruled by Saddam Hussein or created for them by the United States. As President Bush has often said, freedom was not something that only Americans or Europeans want; freedom was something that everyone wants. On election day, Iraqis proved it.
In voting by the masses, Iraqis took ownership of their democracy. Voting conditions in Iraq scarcely resembled voting conditions in America. After the Nov. 2 election in America, angry voters raised questions about voting irregularities, such as long lines. In contrast, Iraqi voters were concerned about being killed by anti-democratic insurgents.
A week before the election, militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi released a videotape in which he said, "Democracy is also based on the right to choose your religion," which he said is "against the rule of God."
So, obviously, fears were high on election day. Indeed, about 45 people were killed during the day, and one suicide bomber killed himself yards away from a polling station. Nevertheless, Iraqis were undettered. If American voters are irritated by long lines, I can only imagine the turnout if death were a real possibility. Yet the Iraqis voted by the millions, issuing a collective slap in the face of Al-Zarqawi and other militants who wanted to stop the vote. Iraqis should be proud that they stained their fingers purple and cast a vote for a new future, free from the restrictions of tyrannical dictatorship.
Forget the Wildcats. Thanks to Iraqi voters, purple has finally redeemed itself.
- Myers is an Olathe freshman in political science. *
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There's a power outage in our apartment complex, and we're really scared that some ax murderer is going to come get us. Help!
OK. Uggs are not hot. They're ugly. Hence the name "Uggs."
For the person who wrote that the Bible forbids nice
clothes, certain meats and cutting hair, maybe you should learn how to read things analytically instead of literally. The Bible's just saying try to live a healthy and pure life. That's not such a bad thing. Learn to read between the lines a little bit.
Has anybody at the Kansan even read the Ward Churchill documents? Because if you had, you'd realize that he's never called Americans "Nazis." He called the administration "Nazis" and compared the good Americans to the good Germans.
Wescoe Beach needs some lifeguards.
My teacher has the same name as me, and every time he refers to himself in the third person, I think he's calling on me.
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