CLAIMING AN EDUCATION
ADRIENNE RICH
Introduction
Adrienne Cecile Rich (May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012), the renowned poet, essayist and political activist who famously defined herself as a “woman,lesbian and feminist”, was born in Baltimore, the USA in 1929. In the final year of graduation, she won the prestigious Yale series of Younger Poets Award for her book A Change of world in 1951. Her second collection of poetry entitled The Diamond Cutters in 1955. In the tumultuous 1960s, she became a great champion of the oppressed by standing for the rights of women and the sexual minorities, besides her participation in civil rights moment and anti-Vietnam War protests. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century",and was credited with bringing "the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse." Her works Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law (1963) and Leaflets (1969) were testimonies of her politics. Rich won the 1974 National Book Award, for Diving in to the Wreck (1973), one of her most celebrated collections consisting of angry exploratory poems. The questioning of patriarchal assumptions, the need for change and the power of the will were the themes in her early writings until the publication of The Dream of a Common Language (1978) which argues for a common women's language, a concern of most feminists all over the globe in the 1970s. Due to her differences with the policies of the US government and President Clinton, she refused to accept the prestigious National Medal for the Arts in 1997. She died on 27th March, 2012 at the age of eighty two.
Her political belief is best manifested in her comment: “All human life on the planet is born of woman, the one unifying, incontrovertible experience shared by all women and men is that months- long period we spent unfolding inside a woman's body.” the speech, titled “Claiming an education,” was first printed in the magazine The Common Woman in 1977 and eventually reprinted in the collection On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose 1966-1978.
Summary
In Adrienne Rich's essay, She speaks to a group of female students at Douglass college,USA. She starts out by saying that University education implies an ethical and intellectual contract between teacher and student. Although it is unwritten one must look onto it because 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. The difference is that between acting and being acted-upon. So take responsibility toward yourselves. Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work. And don't fall for shallow and easy solutions-predigested books and ideas, weekend encounters guaranteed to change your life, taking "gut" courses instead of ones you know will challenge you, bluffing at school and life instead of doing solid work. She emphasis that in case of women the matter is of life and death. She believes that the most devastating weakness in education is the exclusion of women in the academic community. Although nowadays we see an increasing number of women in universities, there are still very few of those institutions that women take part of as faculty.
It means that we insist on a life of meaningful work, insist that work be as meaningful as love and friendship in our lives. The courage to be "different." The difference between a life lived actively, and a life of passive drifting and dispersal of energies, is an immense difference. Clear thinking, active discussion, and excellent writing are all necessary for intellectual freedom, and that these require hard work. This means seeking out criticism, recognizing that the most affirming thing anyone can do for Rich claims that everything one learns reflects how men have perceived history and experiences.
EXERCISES
I. Answer the following questions:
1. In which collection was ''Claiming an education'' included?
a. The Dream of a Common Language b. On Lies, Secrets,and Silence
c. Leaflets d. None of These
Ans: b. On Lies, Secrets,and Silence
2. In which college did Adrienne Rich deliver the speech entitled '' Claiming an Education ''?
Ans: Douglass College, New Jersey, USA.
3. who was the author of Jane Eyre?
Ans: Charlotte Bronte
4. who stated that ' Women's apprehension is quicker than that of men, but their defect lies for the must part in the logical faculty and in the higher mental activities'?
Ans: Elizabeth Barret Browning
II. Answer the following questions in a sentence or two:
1. How did Adrienne Rich plan to separate her remarks into two parts?
Adrienne Rich planned to separate her remarks into two parts by saying some thoughts about women students and some thoughts about teachers, who teach in a women's college. But both are indivisible. That there is an "ethical and intellectual" contract between a student and their professor.
2. Mention one of the devastating weaknesses of the university learning, according to Rich.
According to Rich, one of the devastating weaknesses of the university learning has been its almost total ensure of women's experience and thought from the curriculum, and its exclusion of women as members of the academic community.
3. What is the difference between to claim an education and to receive an education?
The difference between to claim an education and to receive an education is that one is acting and another is being acted-upon, and for women it can literally mean the difference between life and death.
4. Why did the women students and teachers demand for the introduction of women's studies courses?
The women students and teachers demand for the introduction of women's studies courses to claim a women-directed education.
5. How does Adrienne Rich define 'taking responsibility towards yourselves', from the feminists perspective?
Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.
6. How did Elizabeth Barret Browning express her impatience with studies?
Elizabeth Barret Browning express her impatience with studies by writing against the 'passive recipiency' in the mind. She said that women want to be made to think actively because their ability to understand is quicker than that of men, but their defect lies for the most part in the logical faculty and in the higher mental activities.
7. What, according to Rich, is the courage to be 'different'?
According to Rich, is the courage to be 'different', means women should be able to demand from others- parents, friends,roommates,teachers, lovers, husband and children to respect their sense of purpose and their integrity as persons.
8. What, according to Rich, is the second part of the contract?
The second part of the contract is that in a women's college the students have the right to expect their faculty to take them seriously because many male professors still feel that teaching in a women's college is a second-rate career.
9. What are the necessary ingredients of intellectual freedom?
Clear thinking, active discussion, and excellent writing are all necessary for intellectual
freedom, and that these require hard work.
10. What does Adrienne Rich mean by 'students demand to be taken seriously' ?
Women's students demand to be taken seriously' , because they also have the inborn potentialities so the teachers must be committed to the belief that women's minds and experiences are basically valuable and unavoidable to any civilization worthy the name.
III. Answer the following questions in a paragraph:
1. Adrienne Rich's prose style in “Claiming An Education”?
In Adrienne Rich's essay 'claiming an education', the author speaks of the female experience against the backdrop of the male- dominated 'mainstream' academia. Although this essay was written in 1979, her points seems timeless. The work considered confrontational, argumentative and oratorical, this prose works have a oratorical style with didactic in tone. The entire work has a long sentences and very few simple sentences. Her language has a strong feminist touch and denouncing patriarchy in terms. She even coined some new terminologies like 'passive recipiency' ,' group therapy'.
2. The gendered bias in education, according to Adrienne Rich?
Adrienne Rich says that there is a lot of gendered bias in education because men had perceived and organized in their experience, their history, their social relationships, good and evil,etc.that is what taught in colleges. Even science can be racist and sexist. Some time male professors feel that teaching in a women's college is a second-rate career. It is only within the last 100 years that higher education has been opened to up to women. The books we study have names like 'The Descent of Man', 'Man and His Symbols', 'The Future of Man', 'Man and Machine' etc. these books pretending to describe a human reality that does not include over one-half the human species.
3. How does Adrienne Rich elaborate the concept of responsibility to oneself ?
Adrienne Rich elaborate the concept of responsibility to oneself, by saying that one should refuse to let others to do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect yourself and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work. And don't fall for shallow and easy solutions-predigested books and ideas, weekend encounters guaranteed to change your life, taking "gut" courses instead of ones you know will challenge you, bluffing at school and life instead of doing solid work. Have the courage to be 'different', which means women should be able to demand from others- parents, friends,roommates,teachers, lovers, husband and children to respect their sense of purpose and their integrity as persons. Don't sit in passive silence even when you disagree inwardly with everything that is being said around you.
4. What should be the contract between the students and faculty?
Adrienne Rich starts her essay by saying that University education implies an ethical and intellectual contract between teacher and student. Although it is unwritten one must look onto it because 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. And she describes the contract between professor and student is like a "pledge of mutual seriousness". The professors should take them seriously because they also have the inborn potentialities so the teachers must be committed to the belief that women's minds and experiences are basically valuable and unavoidable to any civilization worthy the name.
IV. Answer the following questions in about 300 words:
1. “Claiming An Education” is a critique of the present system of education from a woman's perspective. Discuss?
In Adrienne Rich's essay, "Claiming an Education", the author speaks of the female experience against the backdrop of the male-dominated "mainstream" academia of Western thought. Although this essay was written in 1979, many of Rich's points seem timeless. She starts out by saying that University education implies an ethical and intellectual contract between teacher and student. Although it is unwritten one must look onto it because 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. The difference is that between acting and being acted-upon.
Perhaps the most meaningful was the advice to "take responsibility towards yourselves". Adrienne Rich elaborate the concept of responsibility to oneself, by saying that one should refuse to let others to do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect yourself and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work. And don't fall for shallow and easy solutions-predigested books and ideas, weekend encounters guaranteed to change your life, taking "gut" courses instead of ones you know will challenge you, bluffing at school and life instead of doing solid work. Have the courage to be 'different', which means women should be able to demand from others- parents, friends,roommates,teachers, lovers, husband and children to respect their sense of purpose and their integrity as persons. Don't sit in passive silence even when you disagree inwardly with everything that is being said around you.
Women's students demand to be taken seriously' , because they also have the inborn potentialities so the teachers must be committed to the belief that women's minds and experiences are basically valuable and unavoidable to any civilization worthy the name. Clear thinking, active discussion, and excellent writing are all necessary for intellectual freedom, and that these require hard work. This means seeking out criticism, recognizing that the most affirming thing anyone can do for Rich claims that everything one learns reflects how men have perceived history and experiences.
2. Critically evaluate Adrienne Rich's concept of education?
The fundamental principle in Adrienne Rich’s article is that women, as students should not receive an education, but to claim one. Claiming an education sounds a lot like taking what’s rightfully yours. Do you receive an education for society or does society present it for a student to take? Rich seems to think that education is presented for those willing to claim it. She powerfully says that “The first thing I want to say to you who are students, is that 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.”
Rich explains that even all women colleges are ran by men. This seems interesting because Rich is encouraging women to claim their education.
Claiming something from my perspective means to take and not look back. Receiving means that someone may have to given something they have away. If women were teachers and administrators, women would feel better about receiving an education from another woman. But unfortunately very few women are working in administration field. Rich’s argument is summed up when she informs the reader that the idea of claiming an education can be embraced by any sex, race, color or creed. Rich instruct that take responsibility to yourself and refusing to let others do your thinking, talking and naming for you; so you will learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.
She says that education is not for everyone but it is there for the ones willing to take it. Rich provokes her reader by letting telling them to discover their own journey to education. She finally says to the women student that they should not sell their talents and aspirations cheaply. They should have the courage to demand from others to respect their sense of purpose and their integrity as persons. Because we live in a society that embraces abstract thinking and making something out of nothing. Rich’s article is even reflected in this day and age.
ADRIENNE RICH
Introduction
Adrienne Cecile Rich (May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012), the renowned poet, essayist and political activist who famously defined herself as a “woman,lesbian and feminist”, was born in Baltimore, the USA in 1929. In the final year of graduation, she won the prestigious Yale series of Younger Poets Award for her book A Change of world in 1951. Her second collection of poetry entitled The Diamond Cutters in 1955. In the tumultuous 1960s, she became a great champion of the oppressed by standing for the rights of women and the sexual minorities, besides her participation in civil rights moment and anti-Vietnam War protests. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century",and was credited with bringing "the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse." Her works Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law (1963) and Leaflets (1969) were testimonies of her politics. Rich won the 1974 National Book Award, for Diving in to the Wreck (1973), one of her most celebrated collections consisting of angry exploratory poems. The questioning of patriarchal assumptions, the need for change and the power of the will were the themes in her early writings until the publication of The Dream of a Common Language (1978) which argues for a common women's language, a concern of most feminists all over the globe in the 1970s. Due to her differences with the policies of the US government and President Clinton, she refused to accept the prestigious National Medal for the Arts in 1997. She died on 27th March, 2012 at the age of eighty two.
Her political belief is best manifested in her comment: “All human life on the planet is born of woman, the one unifying, incontrovertible experience shared by all women and men is that months- long period we spent unfolding inside a woman's body.” the speech, titled “Claiming an education,” was first printed in the magazine The Common Woman in 1977 and eventually reprinted in the collection On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose 1966-1978.
Summary
In Adrienne Rich's essay, She speaks to a group of female students at Douglass college,USA. She starts out by saying that University education implies an ethical and intellectual contract between teacher and student. Although it is unwritten one must look onto it because 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. The difference is that between acting and being acted-upon. So take responsibility toward yourselves. Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work. And don't fall for shallow and easy solutions-predigested books and ideas, weekend encounters guaranteed to change your life, taking "gut" courses instead of ones you know will challenge you, bluffing at school and life instead of doing solid work. She emphasis that in case of women the matter is of life and death. She believes that the most devastating weakness in education is the exclusion of women in the academic community. Although nowadays we see an increasing number of women in universities, there are still very few of those institutions that women take part of as faculty.
It means that we insist on a life of meaningful work, insist that work be as meaningful as love and friendship in our lives. The courage to be "different." The difference between a life lived actively, and a life of passive drifting and dispersal of energies, is an immense difference. Clear thinking, active discussion, and excellent writing are all necessary for intellectual freedom, and that these require hard work. This means seeking out criticism, recognizing that the most affirming thing anyone can do for Rich claims that everything one learns reflects how men have perceived history and experiences.
EXERCISES
I. Answer the following questions:
1. In which collection was ''Claiming an education'' included?
a. The Dream of a Common Language b. On Lies, Secrets,and Silence
c. Leaflets d. None of These
Ans: b. On Lies, Secrets,and Silence
2. In which college did Adrienne Rich deliver the speech entitled '' Claiming an Education ''?
Ans: Douglass College, New Jersey, USA.
3. who was the author of Jane Eyre?
Ans: Charlotte Bronte
4. who stated that ' Women's apprehension is quicker than that of men, but their defect lies for the must part in the logical faculty and in the higher mental activities'?
Ans: Elizabeth Barret Browning
II. Answer the following questions in a sentence or two:
1. How did Adrienne Rich plan to separate her remarks into two parts?
Adrienne Rich planned to separate her remarks into two parts by saying some thoughts about women students and some thoughts about teachers, who teach in a women's college. But both are indivisible. That there is an "ethical and intellectual" contract between a student and their professor.
2. Mention one of the devastating weaknesses of the university learning, according to Rich.
According to Rich, one of the devastating weaknesses of the university learning has been its almost total ensure of women's experience and thought from the curriculum, and its exclusion of women as members of the academic community.
3. What is the difference between to claim an education and to receive an education?
The difference between to claim an education and to receive an education is that one is acting and another is being acted-upon, and for women it can literally mean the difference between life and death.
4. Why did the women students and teachers demand for the introduction of women's studies courses?
The women students and teachers demand for the introduction of women's studies courses to claim a women-directed education.
5. How does Adrienne Rich define 'taking responsibility towards yourselves', from the feminists perspective?
Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.
6. How did Elizabeth Barret Browning express her impatience with studies?
Elizabeth Barret Browning express her impatience with studies by writing against the 'passive recipiency' in the mind. She said that women want to be made to think actively because their ability to understand is quicker than that of men, but their defect lies for the most part in the logical faculty and in the higher mental activities.
7. What, according to Rich, is the courage to be 'different'?
According to Rich, is the courage to be 'different', means women should be able to demand from others- parents, friends,roommates,teachers, lovers, husband and children to respect their sense of purpose and their integrity as persons.
8. What, according to Rich, is the second part of the contract?
The second part of the contract is that in a women's college the students have the right to expect their faculty to take them seriously because many male professors still feel that teaching in a women's college is a second-rate career.
9. What are the necessary ingredients of intellectual freedom?
Clear thinking, active discussion, and excellent writing are all necessary for intellectual
freedom, and that these require hard work.
10. What does Adrienne Rich mean by 'students demand to be taken seriously' ?
Women's students demand to be taken seriously' , because they also have the inborn potentialities so the teachers must be committed to the belief that women's minds and experiences are basically valuable and unavoidable to any civilization worthy the name.
III. Answer the following questions in a paragraph:
1. Adrienne Rich's prose style in “Claiming An Education”?
In Adrienne Rich's essay 'claiming an education', the author speaks of the female experience against the backdrop of the male- dominated 'mainstream' academia. Although this essay was written in 1979, her points seems timeless. The work considered confrontational, argumentative and oratorical, this prose works have a oratorical style with didactic in tone. The entire work has a long sentences and very few simple sentences. Her language has a strong feminist touch and denouncing patriarchy in terms. She even coined some new terminologies like 'passive recipiency' ,' group therapy'.
2. The gendered bias in education, according to Adrienne Rich?
Adrienne Rich says that there is a lot of gendered bias in education because men had perceived and organized in their experience, their history, their social relationships, good and evil,etc.that is what taught in colleges. Even science can be racist and sexist. Some time male professors feel that teaching in a women's college is a second-rate career. It is only within the last 100 years that higher education has been opened to up to women. The books we study have names like 'The Descent of Man', 'Man and His Symbols', 'The Future of Man', 'Man and Machine' etc. these books pretending to describe a human reality that does not include over one-half the human species.
3. How does Adrienne Rich elaborate the concept of responsibility to oneself ?
Adrienne Rich elaborate the concept of responsibility to oneself, by saying that one should refuse to let others to do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect yourself and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work. And don't fall for shallow and easy solutions-predigested books and ideas, weekend encounters guaranteed to change your life, taking "gut" courses instead of ones you know will challenge you, bluffing at school and life instead of doing solid work. Have the courage to be 'different', which means women should be able to demand from others- parents, friends,roommates,teachers, lovers, husband and children to respect their sense of purpose and their integrity as persons. Don't sit in passive silence even when you disagree inwardly with everything that is being said around you.
4. What should be the contract between the students and faculty?
Adrienne Rich starts her essay by saying that University education implies an ethical and intellectual contract between teacher and student. Although it is unwritten one must look onto it because 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. And she describes the contract between professor and student is like a "pledge of mutual seriousness". The professors should take them seriously because they also have the inborn potentialities so the teachers must be committed to the belief that women's minds and experiences are basically valuable and unavoidable to any civilization worthy the name.
IV. Answer the following questions in about 300 words:
1. “Claiming An Education” is a critique of the present system of education from a woman's perspective. Discuss?
In Adrienne Rich's essay, "Claiming an Education", the author speaks of the female experience against the backdrop of the male-dominated "mainstream" academia of Western thought. Although this essay was written in 1979, many of Rich's points seem timeless. She starts out by saying that University education implies an ethical and intellectual contract between teacher and student. Although it is unwritten one must look onto it because 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. The difference is that between acting and being acted-upon.
Perhaps the most meaningful was the advice to "take responsibility towards yourselves". Adrienne Rich elaborate the concept of responsibility to oneself, by saying that one should refuse to let others to do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect yourself and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work. And don't fall for shallow and easy solutions-predigested books and ideas, weekend encounters guaranteed to change your life, taking "gut" courses instead of ones you know will challenge you, bluffing at school and life instead of doing solid work. Have the courage to be 'different', which means women should be able to demand from others- parents, friends,roommates,teachers, lovers, husband and children to respect their sense of purpose and their integrity as persons. Don't sit in passive silence even when you disagree inwardly with everything that is being said around you.
Women's students demand to be taken seriously' , because they also have the inborn potentialities so the teachers must be committed to the belief that women's minds and experiences are basically valuable and unavoidable to any civilization worthy the name. Clear thinking, active discussion, and excellent writing are all necessary for intellectual freedom, and that these require hard work. This means seeking out criticism, recognizing that the most affirming thing anyone can do for Rich claims that everything one learns reflects how men have perceived history and experiences.
2. Critically evaluate Adrienne Rich's concept of education?
The fundamental principle in Adrienne Rich’s article is that women, as students should not receive an education, but to claim one. Claiming an education sounds a lot like taking what’s rightfully yours. Do you receive an education for society or does society present it for a student to take? Rich seems to think that education is presented for those willing to claim it. She powerfully says that “The first thing I want to say to you who are students, is that 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.”
Rich explains that even all women colleges are ran by men. This seems interesting because Rich is encouraging women to claim their education.
Claiming something from my perspective means to take and not look back. Receiving means that someone may have to given something they have away. If women were teachers and administrators, women would feel better about receiving an education from another woman. But unfortunately very few women are working in administration field. Rich’s argument is summed up when she informs the reader that the idea of claiming an education can be embraced by any sex, race, color or creed. Rich instruct that take responsibility to yourself and refusing to let others do your thinking, talking and naming for you; so you will learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.
She says that education is not for everyone but it is there for the ones willing to take it. Rich provokes her reader by letting telling them to discover their own journey to education. She finally says to the women student that they should not sell their talents and aspirations cheaply. They should have the courage to demand from others to respect their sense of purpose and their integrity as persons. Because we live in a society that embraces abstract thinking and making something out of nothing. Rich’s article is even reflected in this day and age.
