passwords and women's education

Colleges and Universities A-Z Smith College
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<p>A blog post about Smith I think is worth sharing (written by a friend of mine)... </p>

<p>passwords and women’s education</p>

<p>When I was taking the password off of this blog, I wrote a long entry on passwords and the false sense of privacy created by the internet. But while writing it, I was unable to articulate why had I initially password protected blogsnob. It was partially because of This, which I knew might publish some of the things on here. But there was also something deeper, the desire to protect Smith against an outsider’s perception. Smith College is such a wonderfully ridiculous place. To say that among Smithies is funny and silly, but I always feel like Smith is subject to so much judgment from the outside world. For me, going to an “all-girls’ school” has always been burdened with criticism; I hate having to constantly defend my choice of a single-sex education. For instance, my grandfather, a life-long academic, said Smith was just a glorified finishing school. (I responded that it wouldn’t be a problem since I was majoring in Home-Ec.) </p>

<p>This vulnerability makes you want to hug Smith and hold it until everyone realizes how great it truly is. But Smith is a delicate eco-system: one push in the wrong direction and the balance of hipsters, Green-Streeters, the obnoxiously proud, the obnoxious that-girls, and the rest would be thrown out of equilibrium. While each Smithie has a highly individual perspective, there is a common love for the inexplicable Smith, a feeling which is more than a compilation of buildings and students but rather ideas coming together and a sense of mutual respect. I might be too idealistic, but I do believe the conceptual Smith as is real in each of our hearts. That quest for a little taste of Smith while you’re gone is why you’ve secretly read Commencement, but the vast differences in each of our experiences are why you hated it. It’s because this place cannot be summed up by one book, whether published by an alum or by admissions. However, taken as a whole, the blogs of this community do sum up our experiences and that’s why I’ve become fascinated with them. While they range in their level of wonderful ridiculousness, at the end of the day, they are all so Smith, and for that alone, you have to love them.</p>

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<p>“A glorified finishing school”–!!! I hope nobody leaks this to the Fulbright Awards committee, who must be absolutely enchanted out of their very minds by finished Smithies, based on how many awards they make to the bright young things. What if he’s right? Maybe this means Smithies shouldn’t be vexing their pretty heads with Thermodynamics? Maybe the rugby team is compromised by the pitter patter of their little slippers? Bother, perturbation, and distress! Oh, what should Smithies do? Their knickers are all in a twist over this. Please.</p>

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<p>Their grandfather should swing by Smith and check it out. I’m sure he’d be…surprised. </p>

<p>My grandmother attended Smith (class of '44) and when I was telling her that I was considering applying there, she told me that she didn’t think I would like it because it would be too prissy for me. Just goes to show how much the place has changed/is changing—even women who went there can easily lose touch with the place if they don’t go visit every once in a while.</p>

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<p>Smith at one time did have a “white gloves and pearls” reputation, as did Wellesley. I had to re-educate myself about those preconceptions when they stayed on D’s list of potential schools. I’m glad I did. </p>

<p>Of course, there’s nothing like talking with a current batch of Smithies to dispatch any illusions in that direction.</p>

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<p>Well before my D was considering college, a friend of mine encountered a group of Smithies in a professional setting. I can’t remember just what it was – they were interns, I suppose, or participating in a workshop – and they impressed my friend so much that she decided to go back to graduate school. I remember her saying that she expected Smith students to be affluent snobs instead of the quick-thinking, independent-minded, out-spoken women they turned out to be. They completely awed her. She realized then that education had a place for women who wanted more than just a degree. The first time I heard the story, I thought it was cute that she had hung out with the college students and that they had awakened her inner intellectual. But when my D decided to go to Smith and my friend reminded me of the story, I understood it. Now, I understand it even better.</p>