quick trip across Indiana -- and agriculture!

[alexr_rwx]

On Friday evening, Lindsey and I hopped in the car and went over to the bustling metropolis of Crawfordsville, Indiana, to visit her friends Ellie and Matt. Ellie is faculty at Wabash, working on Physics Education -- particularly, how to measure and model learning in physics.

Honestly, at first I wasn't super-excited about going -- I was kind of tired from the week. But in retrospect I'm glad we went! We had some nice conversations with Ellie and Matt. They're really knowledgeable about a bunch of different topics; very interesting people. And their tiny daughter Lea is maybe 4, and adorable! She's really talkative, even with new people.

Ellie's also into gardening, and she gave us some seeds and a few plants, including chives and catnip! I gave Mylk and Andre a few fresh catnip leaves, and they were pretty jazzed about it. So: organic catnip grow operation ahoy!

(Also, I asked Ellie about why students would choose to go to an all-male school -- Wabash is dudes-only. My initial thought was that it sounds like a pretty harsh environment, especially in a tiny town in the middle of rural Indiana. Her response was that she's heard that an all-dudes environment can actually be more relaxed than a mostly-dudes environment, because with no ladies in their peer groups to try to impress, the guys don't have to be so macho; they can relax and open up somewhat. I dunno how I feel about that; I certainly wouldn't have chosen it. What do you think?)

Comments

[agonistes]

All cats need catnip!

Speaking as somebody who got asked a similar question a lot, alls I can say is that I picked Agnes Scott over UGA and Georgia State because it was smaller and because there were no dudes. I felt (and feel) like it made for a safer space, intellectually, and one where I could concentrate more on academics rather than social bullshit. I think it's a lot easier to figure out who you are and be open about it when you take that kind of social competition out of it, even if you're a lady who likes the ladies (or a dude who likes the dudes).

I think if you know what you want out of a college and if you know you're there to work more than play, single-gender education is a good option. It's certainly not for everyone.

[oniugnip.livejournal.com]

Well, they were getting catnip before, but it was from the store and dried out. Maybe they'll like it better fresh!

I was curious what you might say about this :) I was thinking about the ASC case too.

So I hear what you're saying, but I'm imagining such a setup working better for the ladies; all-male environments can get pretty weird pretty fast. Maybe sometimes having lady-types around encourages competition, but at least as often, it helps remind us to be civilized. Many of us are competitive (or aggressive) anyway.

Surely the guys at Wabash considered this ahead of time, though -- maybe their position is more like yours, and it really does help them open up?

[jes5199.livejournal.com]

well, I think it's a gross oversimplification to say single-gender groups behave like X. I mean, clearly there are failure modes (http://punkassblog.com/2009/09/03/when-your-male-privilege-stops-applying-to-your-situation-it-goes-beyond-inconvenient-doesnt-it/).

[oniugnip.livejournal.com]

Those are some pretty serious failure modes, yeah. Stanford Prison Experiment, more or less!

It's pretty terrifying what people are capable of, given the right circumstances.

[deepdistraction.livejournal.com]

Don't know about college classrooms, but there's evidence that single-gender environments in primary & secondary schools can boost, for instance, boys' performance in English and foreign languages, and girls' performance in math and science: http://www.singlesexschools.org/research-singlesexvscoed.htm