I was the first woman engineer almost everywhere I went in the 1970’s. I didn’t feel discrimination in undergrad or grad school but in industry I was told about how women didn’t belong at work, about all the stupid women they knew, how men wouldn’t want to work for me and how I ruined the collegial atmosphere. Surprisingly some of these men came back later and told me they were wrong about me and they thought I did a great job. The problem with affirmative action is that it results in people thinking they deserve the grades they get, the schools they get it and the jobs they get. When they finally get told they are not cutting it they are shocked. Companies in one city where I worked put together a program to mentor minorities in Engineering. I was assigned a student (who actually came from a more affluent background than I did) who didn’t show up on time, wasn’t able to work independently, and had very poor communication skills. At the end of the summer there was a big banquet where “scholarships” were given out. Students with C averages were getting full scholarships for the next year. In high school I was a National Merit Finalist and I didn’t get a fraction of the money these students.got. So now they expect the same treatment the rest of their careers. That is why they need safe spaces. People that are qualified don’t need safe spaces. They just want the opportunity to do what they were created to do. I was repeatedly discriminated against because I was a woman. Did I complain - no I just worked harder.
Undeserved praise weakens. It is true in every venue it occurs, and it has destroyed everything it touches. Glenn and John raise the important area of Affirmative Action, but the generation of children coddled with participation trophies and indulged at every turn finds all of this reasonable. It is a balm on the guilt of a sad generation.
I was the first woman engineer almost everywhere I went in the 1970’s. I didn’t feel discrimination in undergrad or grad school but in industry I was told about how women didn’t belong at work, about all the stupid women they knew, how men wouldn’t want to work for me and how I ruined the collegial atmosphere. Surprisingly some of these men came back later and told me they were wrong about me and they thought I did a great job. The problem with affirmative action is that it results in people thinking they deserve the grades they get, the schools they get it and the jobs they get. When they finally get told they are not cutting it they are shocked. Companies in one city where I worked put together a program to mentor minorities in Engineering. I was assigned a student (who actually came from a more affluent background than I did) who didn’t show up on time, wasn’t able to work independently, and had very poor communication skills. At the end of the summer there was a big banquet where “scholarships” were given out. Students with C averages were getting full scholarships for the next year. In high school I was a National Merit Finalist and I didn’t get a fraction of the money these students.got. So now they expect the same treatment the rest of their careers. That is why they need safe spaces. People that are qualified don’t need safe spaces. They just want the opportunity to do what they were created to do. I was repeatedly discriminated against because I was a woman. Did I complain - no I just worked harder.
Undeserved praise weakens. It is true in every venue it occurs, and it has destroyed everything it touches. Glenn and John raise the important area of Affirmative Action, but the generation of children coddled with participation trophies and indulged at every turn finds all of this reasonable. It is a balm on the guilt of a sad generation.