Monday, June 28, 1999 - The Michigan Daily - 5
LETT, T ES TT 0EDITOR
Homemaking
siould be
examined
TO THE DAILY:
Dennis Keeler's June 14 let-
ter "Homemakers deserve cred-
it," was a disheartening denon-
stration of an often overlooked
double standard that exists.
ugh well-intentioned, Keeler
>t only expresses a line of
thinking that ignores some sad
truths about women who choose
traditional careers, but he also
mistakenly believes this attitude
is beneficial to women, men,
and society as a whole.
We can't help but question
why a disproportionate number
of women enter into the low
paying field of homemaking.
Ghat is troubling is not the fact
t women assume these roles,
but the reasons they do so. Why.
for instance, did Keeler's female
friend become a homemaker,
while her husband continued to
work outside the home? Could it
be that it made more sense
because she, with her masters
degree, still earned only S.75 for
her husbands dollar?
* Perhaps it was because her
upbringing led her to believe
that the home was "her place,"
Maybe implicit or explicit pres-
sures from her husband or
friends or parents were an
issue. These and other factors
influence many women, and
very few men, to enter into a
lifetime of serving the family's
needs.
Homemaking is a career that
Omen and men should not be
ashamed to choose, as it is a
rewarding, challenging and
important line of work.
Until we really encourage
women to follow a desired path
through equal pay, equal educa-
tional encouragement, and
strong role models - and begin
so see homemaking as an option Column
for both partners - it will
always be women's work. st igm atized
EVA FRAZEE mentally il
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Guns create
criminals
TO THE DAILY:
Talk about "convoluted think-
ing!" Chris Georgandellis' June
14 viewpoint "Increased avail-
ability of guns will prevent
crime" seems to imagine a world
with "good people" and "crimi-
nals." Georgandellis believes that
when good people are armed
with concealed guns, they'll eas-
ilv thwart the criminals.
But let's look at "criminals"
Before the school shootings, they
were good kids - now they are
criminals. Before they got angry
with a family member, ora friend
at a party, they were good people
-- now they are criminals. With
the ready availability of guns,
good people can become crimi-
nals. Good people, walking
around with concealed guns, can
become criminals if someone
else displeases them.
The "original intention" of
the Second Amendment was to
avoid having a standing army in
the United States - read the
Federalist Papers -let the farm-
ers keep their single shot, muzzle
loaded rifles (no hand guns, no
automatic guns) and be part of a
well-regulated militia when
called.
After he's "damned sure" to
get his own concealed gun, with
his attitude, Georgandellis may
become a "criminal,' too.
G.E. PAVLIK
UNIVERSITY ALUMNUS
TO THE DAILY:
I was appalled to read Emily
Achenbaum's opinions in her
June 14 column "It's time to get
over 'depression chic."'
Viewpoints like hers that t
published and subsecqe lv 1
read by people truly sufterin
from mental illness reinforce
the stigma that exists around
having and admitting that vou
have a mental illness.
Without walking step by
step through phrases like
"downing some Prozac" and
"cry into your pillow," it is
obvious that her entire column
serves only to mock and offend
those who have ever suffered
from the debilitating disease.
To say that talking about one's
suffering somehow makes it
fake or makes one weak goes
against everything people who
fight various forms of repres-
sion and discrimination stand
for.
To conclude by telling her
readers that they should not
seek out help, that help will
find them, is unbelievably
naive. In the world we live in, a
world which Achenbaum says
should talk less about this dis-
ease, who is going to suggest
that someone get help?
Achenbaum is discouraging
anyone who may not be teeter-
ing on the edge of a building
from seeking help for a very
serious and very real illness.
I am angered and saddened
for every truly sick person out
there who read Achenbaum's
column and felt ashamed of
themselves for something that is
completely out of their control.
RACHEL RENNIE
LSA JUNIOR
Slowing down on the Information Superhighway
ve always advocated increasing the role the have even preferred a phone call, because then
I Information Superhighway plays in our I could hear their voices.
lives. It is changing the way I live -- frotu I chose to be short and blunt. Why should I
ordering gifts online to doing all of the even try to express my feelings'? E-mail is the
research for a 20-page paper without leaving least emotional form of communication. I
ismy desk. briefly let them know what happened and how
I have also come to depend on the Internet I was feeling.
for communication. Many of my And their responses were even
friends and relatives are scattered more uncomfortable. Besides telling
across the country, so e-mail is usu- me that my situation was terrible and
ally the cheapest ssav to keep up with things will work out, they couldn't do
them. Sure, I m not hearing their much.
,oices or seeing them in person, but . E-mail will never replace being
it is free. able to look into someone's eyes and
When I'm at work, I exchange e- ° hear that everything will be fine. I
mail with my friends, who are also at can't hug an Internet greeting card.
their jobs. It's a quick way to let This experience made me look at
them know how my day is going and other things the Internet may replace.
find out how they are. EFFREY News Websites, where the users can
But my views on Ithe Internet OSSEFF customize the types of articles they
have changed recently. Two weeks see, are becoming more popular. But I
ago, I received some pretty bad news -. like being able to thumb through an
from home when I was at work. I was actual newspaper, possibly seeing an
sad, I couldn't think clearly and I needed to article on biotechnology that I would not have
talk to my friends, read otherwise.
Unfortunately, I didn't know their work And I never want to watch movies over the
phone numbers, so the only way I could reach Internet. I always want to be able to sit in the
them was over e-mail. balcony of a movie theater, with a huge screen,
Writing the e-mails was awkward. I had just heavy air conditioning and the smell of buttery
learned something that could seriously change popcorn.
toy life. About a million questions, thoughts, I always used to dismiss people who argued
fears and hopes were flying through my head, that the Internet is not as personal as other
Ilow could I formulate those thoughts into an forms ofcommunication. They'll get used to it,
e-mail? .I said. But personal interactions are so much
Then I realized that I could not even begin more powerful and real than e-mail. They can
to pour my heart out to a blinking telnet screen. never be replaced, no matter what Al Gore
What do I choose for the subject title of the e- invents.
mail? "Life sucks" "If you thought your life - Jeffie KosseJfcn be reached over e-
s as bad ..." mail at jkosseffaumich.edu, but he would
Ihere was not an easy way for me to open prefer it if you called him at 763-2459 or
up my soul to login.itd.umich.edu ( I). I would came to visit hii at 420 Maynard St.
A college diploma: not required for the real world
A ccorditio a news state em"plo"ent fore- Uniersity as an engineering student, tinkitg
1 cast by the Michigan Department of Career my classes would slide me right into a job I
Development, nearly 80 percent of all Michigan would be well prepared for.
Job openings in the next seven years will not I learned differently when I visited an engi-
require a four-year college degree. neer at Ford Motor Company who informed me
The study goes on to say that one in five col- that everything she learned about her job, she
lege graduates will end up in jobs that don't was taught in training. Her colleges classes were
require bachelor's degrees - not barely useful to her career and she said
exactly great news for students who that was the case with most employees.
spend tens of thousands of dollars and I should have seen it coming. In
tens of thousands of hours working to high school I took all the "advanced"
get a potentially worthless degree. classes so I would be ready for college
But it's not all that surprising. and the real world. But when I graduat-
Nowadays, LSA graduates are a dime a ed it suddenly struck mne that I could
dozen, and there are only so matny firms take the derivative of the most complex
u-ho need to sire philosophy majors. polynomial known to man, but I could-
I work at a practically brainless job n't even change the oil in my car.
swith 'U' graduates who have majored I wasted my tine in calculus and
in everything frosm psychology to geol- AMY chemistry when I should have been
ogy. Exactly how does a psychology BARBER taking shop and home economics to
degree help someone run a cash regis- teach me much more valuable
ter? Hmm... nope. I don't see a correla- { lessons. Then at least I could build
tion. These people have worked to earn myself a loft or make a decent meal
their degrees for years only to end up in a job every once in a while (not that I don't love
they could have gotten straight out of high ramen noodles).
school. I'd probably do myself a favor by dropping
Most of the LSA classes I've taken have been out of school now and snatching up an office job.
completely irrelevant to any potential career. But I won't. And other students won't either,
When I finally decided I might want to pur- because college life is too good. I'm not stupid
sue a career in journalism, and thus planned to enough to leave a situation in which my parents
take classes related to my choice, I learned that invest their money into a life that allows me to
our esteemed University doesn't even have a play outside, watch T.V. and party like an animal
journalism programs. all day every day... oh yeah, and go to class every
So I had to pick another major. After an once in a while.
ntense round of eesie-meenic-miie-roe, I Maybe I'm not being as well educated as I
decided on economics and communications, nei- should. But at least I'm having fun. And Il'm sure
thr of which will be very helpful in developing someone will hire me eventually ifter I graduate.
journalistic skills. I should start preparing now. Do you want that
Evsen more respectable degrees like those that for here or to go?
come out of the Coliege of Engineering can be -lnt, Barber-t h /e reached oer
less meaningful than they seem. I came to sthe e-mail at ubarberi utttich.eds.
RANK LODESERTO & BRYON MURDOCK REVELATI
'4'
19
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