this reminds me of that time I had deja vu...

From a NY Times article on differences between women and men in college:

"I think women feel more pressure to achieve," said Christina Thompson, a political science major who plans to go to law school.

Right, said her youngest sister.

"In the past, black women in the South couldn't do much except clean, pick cotton or take care of someone's children," Lynette Thompson said. "I think from our mother we got the feeling we should try to use the opportunities that are available to us now."

They and many other women at Greensboro say it is not bad to be on a campus with twice as many women as men because it encourages them to stick to their studies without the distraction of dating.

Wow. I knew I didn't care about dating in college - and considered a school without greeks a bonus - because after school, homework, work, and general life management I knew I'd rather veg or hang out with a friend than have to fuss over my clothes and Act Nice for some stranger. Apparently the tradition is continuing, at least in some places.

In freshman women, educators worry about eating disorders and perfectionism. But among the freshman men, the problems stem mostly from immaturity.

"There was so much freedom when I got here, compared to my very structured high school life, that I kept putting things off," said Greg Williams, who just finished his freshman year. "I wouldn't do much work and I played a lot of Halo. I didn't know how to wake up on time without a mom. I had laundry problems. I shrank all my clothes and had to buy new ones."

Interesting examples. Personally, I would think eating disorders and perfectionism to be related to immaturity and lack of self-confidence. I know I lost a lot of my perfectionism when I decided I could choose my battles and set my own measures of acceptable achievement. (Not that I don't pay attention to, say, measures set by work - but largely so I can be sure they're compatible.)

This quote got me thinking:

[Ms. Smyers] recently ended a relationship with another student, in part out of frustration over his playing video games four hours a day.

"He said he was thinking of trying to cut back to 15 hours a week," she said. "I said, 'Fifteen hours is what I spend on my internship, and I get paid $1,300 a month.' That's my litmus test now: I won't date anyone who plays video games. It means they're choosing to do something that wastes their time and sucks the life out of them."

Ouch. Y'know, it has occurred to me that ripping ivy out of the back yard would probably irritate my carpal tunnel less than mousing....

And some notes on the "boys crisis in education": ( It's not just gender. It's class, gender, race, and probably six other things. )

...and I've finished my tea. Back to work :)