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School and You
School and You
Aemilia Rice-Mileto, Y10
School is a process most of us have, fortunately or unfortunately, gone through. The education system brings many advantages, such as a literate population and reaching opportunities through skill and merit instead of social position. But now that we live in a globalised world, schools have essentially become factories, trying to churn out as many productive members of society as possible.
Throughout history, many societies considered children to be inconveniences, only useful when reaching adulthood. In Japan, during the Edo period, children were not even considered human before reaching a certain age. You’ve certainly heard the old saying your grandparents were told: ‘Children should be seen and not heard’.
There is much more attention placed on the young nowadays. Indeed, the world spends about 5 trillion dollars on education every year. This is a stark contrast to 100 years ago, when schools were often one-room houses in which children of all ages and levels were crammed. However, despite all of its progress, the education system still has a long way to go.
The main problem is that schools themselves are often not moulded to suit those that attend it. For example, many schools have an early schedule, which suits adults far more than it does teenagers. It is a biological fact that the teen brain cannot naturally wake up before 8 am, and is not fully functioning before 10 or 11 am.
Every generation has to follow outdated regulations they aren’t allowed to challenge, and thus they don’t let the next generation challenge them either. The mentality is, If I had to go through it, so do you. Let’s consider the average school’s curriculum for a second. Usually, it includes science, languages, social studies, physical education, and perhaps a splash of art and music. Maths and English are its cornerstones. However, a rigid curriculum that allows for little specialisation makes it harder for students to enjoy their classes. Indeed, much of the advanced information we learn in the last years of school we never use again as adults. Instead of focusing solely on a few subjects, schools should take a step back and cover a wider range of subjects. This would allow students to follow their interests and make use of the knowledge they learn in their future careers, whether that’s filmmaking or construction. After all, the real purpose of school is to teach you how to learn, to survive in the real world. Subjects also need to become more practical. Courses like economics and computer science may be interesting to the child who wants to become an economist or programmer, but don’t teach how to take out a bank loan or protect yourself online.
Finally, parents and schools alike should remember that children are not machines. Parental pressure, homework and exams overload, the competitive nature of schools, and overscheduling are all factors that worsen students’ mental states.
At the moment, there are still 244 million children in the world who don’t even have the opportunity to attend school. While they remain the priority, there is no reason schools shouldn’t continue to progress with the times, as their job is one of the most important there is: shaping the face of the future.
Hatshepsut, the Woman Who Was King
Hatshepsut, the Woman Who Was King
Sanjana Singh, Y10
Hatshepsut was the eldest daughter of Thutmose I and was married to her half-brother Thutmose II (who was the son of Mutnofret). Because three of Mutnofret’s older sons had passed away, Thutmose II inherited his father’s throne with Hatshepsut as his consort in around 1492 BCE.
When Thutmose II died in around 1479 BCE, the throne passed to his son, Thutmose III (who was two or three at the time). Since he was so young, Hatshepsut acted as regent for him.However, by the end of Thutmose III’s seventh regnal year, she had been crowned king and the two of them were co-rulers of Egypt.
Hatshepsut’s coronation was a very controversial move with some viewing it as a grab for power, while others held the view that a woman should not hold such an important role. Nonetheless, Hatshepsut fought to prove its truthfulness, using her royal lineage as evidence that her father had appointed her as his successor. So she began to reinvent herself.
Hatshepsut was an ambitious pharaoh , and brought great wealth and artistry to her land. She controlled one of Egypt’s most successful trading expeditions to a distant land known as ‘Punt’ which brought back a variety of riches, including: gold, incense, ebony and ivory. Her biggest accomplishment is regarded as the memorial temple at Deir-el Bahri, which is an architectural wonder of Egypt.
Thutmose III went on to rule for around 30 years after Hatshepsut died around 1458 BCE. At the end of his reign, there was an attempt to eradicate any evidence of his great mother’s existence. It was Thutmose III who was suspected to have been the perpetrator. Her statues and monuments were destroyed and her name was removed from the official records of Egyptian royalty. The motive behind this is debated, whether it was to close the gap in the dynasty’s line of male succession or to erase the example of a powerful female ruler.
Yet, in trying to bury the legacy of Hatshepsut, her name has lived on throughout history.
Sources:
Quoifs and Quills: A Short History of Women in Literature
Quoifs and Quills: A Short History of Women in Literature
George Lyden, Y12
Always the muse, never the musician, always the art, never the author. Women’s voices have consistently been underrepresented and undervalued in artistic and academic circles, so when we encounter an intersection between the two circles, the issue is particularly salient. However, women have always found a way to leave their mark throughout the millennia, and it is important, especially in this Women’s History Month, to recognise and pay tribute to these women writers.
In the classical period, we often think of the roles of women as limited to that of wives, slaves and prostitutes, and while their work in literature was certainly limited, dominated as the period was by men, there are still several women’s legacy who lingers on today. Perhaps the most well known of these women was the poet “Sappho”, also known as the “tenth muse” (the other 9 of which were goddesses of the arts). She hailed from the island of Lesbos, and is best known for her lyric love poems, intended to be recited aloud whilst accompanied by music. While most of her poetry only exists in fragmented forms, enough of her verse can be found that her legacy lives on, especially in queer circles where she has become something of an icon. The term “lesbian” actually comes from her home lesbos, and the word “Sappho” for a general queer woman, is derived from her name. Anyte of Tegea is one of the only other poetesses of this period with surviving works, largely because she wrote on rock rather than paper. Smart lady. Anyway, she wrote epigrams, or short poems which were carved into tombstones, and like Sappho, was a rare example of a female poet who achieved acclaim in her lifetime.
Jumping forward in time 1000 or so years we find ourselves in the Renaissance period, when the first woman to ever publish a book in English would have her manuscript spread across the country. Julian of Norwich was a religious recluse whom little is known about, but her novel, the Revelations of Divine Lore, contains the testament of a collection of visions Julian had whilst on (what she believed to be) her deathbed. Luckily for all of us, she survived to write up these accounts. However, while she is regarded to be the first woman to have written a book in English, Murasaki Shikibu, a woman from Japan is actually widely regarded to have written the world’s first novel in the 11th century. She wrote the Tale of Genji, which tells the story of the son of an ancient Japanese emperor. In 1390 we see Christine de Pizan, the first woman to ever make a livelihood out of writing. She published The Book of the City of Ladies, revolutionary at the time as it suggested women might actually not be inferior to men. Shocking. Truly.
The Victorian era saw a whole slew of fantastic female writers, however they faced the obvious difficulties associated with the expectations of the era. They found ways to manage this, many actually appealing to the patriarchal expectations of the time in order to win protection of male reviewers. Others would publish anonymously or under a male pseudonym. One such author was Mary Ann Evans, better known as George Elliot, author of Middlemarch, Adam Bede and The Mill on the Floss. Great Georges clearly think alike. She had more than one reason, however, to keep her name out of writing. Her life was riddled with controversy regarding her romance with George Henry Lewes, a journalist who was still married to another woman throughout their relationship. However, many women did not choose such a radical approach to society. No, indeed many chose to atone for their writing by consistently preaching female submissiveness.
Continuing the theme of female creativity being constrained, I am approaching the end of my very oppressive word limit. On a serious note though, however far we have come there remains a problem of female written texts not being taken seriously. The romance genre is often associated with femininity, and is often cast off and dismissed as silly or frivolous. Women sharing their experiences so often speak them into a crowd that is unwilling to listen, and will respond in kind. It is for all these reasons that it is important not only now, during women’s history month, but always to remember that everyone has a story to tell, and we have a responsibility to hear them.
Sources:
https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/1978/3/78.03.09/3
Who was Amelia Earhart?
Who was Amelia Earhart?
Sophie Turner, Y12
American pilot Amelia Earhart is often regarded as someone who not only was an excellent pilot who broke down barriers, but also fought hard for gender inequality.
Born in July of 1897, Earhart was only the 16th woman to earn her pilot’s license from The Federation Aeronautique. However, Earhart first gained widespread attention after completing a solo non-stop transatlantic flight in 1932. This made her the first woman to complete the long 15 hour flight that began in Newfoundland, Canada and ended in Northern Ireland.
Some of her other significant achievements include:
Reached the highest altitude for a woman to fly at (achieved in 1922, at 14,000 feet)
Became the first person to fly across the atlantic twice (completed in 1932)
She was the first woman to fly coast to coast across the United States (flew non-stop in 1932)
However, Earhart was not only a celebrity during her lifetime due to her impressive aviation achievements that broke gender barriers, but she was also regarded as a celebrity. She told fellow female pilot Ruth Nichols that she believed firmly in gender equality, and thought all women should be given opportunities to prove themselves. By defying the harsh gender stereotypes of the 1920s and 30s, Earhart paved the way for not only other women in aviation, but for those in all male-dominated fields.
In 1937, Earhart began planning her most ambitious trip yet: a full-trip around the world. It was to be her longest flight yet, spanning 47,000km as it followed near the equator. Unfortunately, Earhart along with her navigator Fred Noonan, disappeared in their Electra 10E plane somewhere off Howland Island in the central Pacific Ocean. After nearly 90 years, it is still unknown what happened to the plane, as well as Earhart and Noonan, and nothing has been recovered.
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