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 a , \ L SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO daily letters@um'ch.edu.