KaitlynGrantClaimingAnEducation

This article was titled //Claiming an Education//, by Adrienne Rich, and it was just that. He spoke to women about how to push themselves and earn the education that they are capable of. It encourages women to pursue their dreams, and have respect for ever piece of themselves. The first quote from this article that had me from the moment I read it was “you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education; you will do much better to think of yourselves as being here to claim one.” I found this to be so empowering and inspirational. It’s such a true quote. We are here to fight for our degree, and to push ourselves to be the best that we can be. When we finally get the degree, we earned it; it wasn’t just handed to us.
 * Claiming An Education **

The next piece absolutely shocking to me was this: “But the most significant fact for you is that that what you learn here, the very texts you read, the lectures you hear, the way your studies are divided into categories and fragmented from one another…..is how men have perceived and organized their experience, their history, their ideas of social relationships, good and evil, sickness and health…you are hearing what men have decided is important.” I absolutely never considered this thought. It never even crossed my mind that by the time women began receiving education, they were learning what men thought was important and what men had decided on. I always just assumed that these are the facts we need to know, I never stopped to consider where these facts came from or why they were chosen to be studied.

I also find it very cool that women have classes especially for women and their culture etc. I don’t believe that men have classes all for them, to learn about their own history and culture. This makes me curious as to whether or not Bloomsburg has a feminist class. I am not sure that I would take one but I think it could be interesting to hear what women have to say and what they believe. I would like to know more about how women have been persecuted and how they had to fight for the place in society that they are at. This article definitely inspired me to pursue those interests.

When the author gets to the topic of being responsible for your mind, body and actions, I was caught wanting to listen more to what Rich had to say. I was brought up with those exact morals, of not playing my intelligence to seem cool, and to respect my body. I think it’s great that Rich emphasizes that you are empowering women and yourself by simply respecting yourself and other women. You don’t need to preach about women’s rights or take feminist classes in order to do so. I want to push myself to have this courage that Rich talks about and not settle in life for anything. I want to make the right decisions for myself and the people important to me. Rich has made it very clear and persuasive what a brilliant type of woman is. I would like to be able to say that I took on the contract that Rich speaks of, and “demand to be taken seriously.”