Yale Needs Women by Anne Gardiner Perkins

YALE NEEDS WOMEN by Anne Gardiner Perkins was just released this week and I am actually reading this book in tandem with Paul Tough’s new work about college, The Years That Matter Most. It is truly fascinating to reflect on changes and the differing experiences across generations. Perkins is writing about “How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant,” chronicling the experiences of several women who were among the first of their gender to attend Yale. For some of our students, it may be hard to believe that Yale and many other schools were only integrated gender-wise in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a generation or so ago.  Perkins does an excellent job of describing the feelings of those pioneering co-eds and her work could readily apply to events at other schools, like Union College.  In fact, Booklist says that YALE NEEDS WOMEN is “recommended for teens [because] teens approaching college age, especially those involved in social justice, will enjoy this window into a not-actually-that-distant past.”   

Perkins' book, though, is not just about the decision to admit women, but about what happened next and how subtle (or not so subtle) traditions and rituals impacted their experiences: “‘The worst part was being constantly conspicuous, which is something you don’t think about until it happens to you,’ said one freshman girl.”  Extremely well-researched, YALE NEEDS WOMEN contains a chart about the sources for oral histories and interviews, plus extensive notes (50+ pages), an index, and some black and white photos from the time.  Please look for a copy on our shelves soon – I am looking forward to having many conversations with interested readers. We still have much to do, as Perkins emphasizes through a number of statistics in her epilogue: “Women students today graduate at a higher rate than their male classmates, but their bachelor’s degrees earn them just 74 cents on the dollar compared to what men with the same credentials are paid. En route to that degree, one in five women is sexually assaulted. Nationally, women represent just 32 percent of full professors, and 26 percent of college and university presidents. … The battle … is not yet done.” 

The Rabbit Effect by Kelli Harding

THE RABBIT EFFECT by Kelli Harding describes how to “Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness.” Harding, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and emergency room doctor, sought to explore the question: “What are we missing in medicine that’s crucial to health?” and was inspired to write this book by a 1978 study which showed that rabbits who were treated more kindly by attendants had better health outcomes, despite being fed the same high-fat diet as others. Harding traces work that supports the holistic view that “a person’s health occurs in a social context that cannot be ignored” and argues that “two halves [medicine and public health] needed unification with a common language” since “the vast majority, 80 to 90 percent, of people’s health depends on factors outside clinical care.” Her book spends several chapters discussing hidden factors (for example, in our intimate relationships, our work, our education and neighborhoods) as well as the essentials of health, both individually and collectively. In a very accessible style, Harding recounts numerous scientific experiments and other anecdotes; raising questions (e.g., if genetics are fixed, why was love changing personality?) and offering “toolkit” suggestions for action by her readers. Although THE RABBIT EFFECT has no index, Harding does include almost 30 pages of source notes. This encouraging text will be of interest to AP Psych classes, perhaps to some of our anatomy students, and also relevant to this year’s professional development on social emotional learning, especially in conjunction with other titles like The War for Kindness or The Telomere Effect.  

World Class by Teru Clavel

WORLD CLASS by Teru Clavel describes “One Mother's Journey Halfway Around the Globe in Search of the Best Education for Her Children” since they attended school in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo before moving back to the United States. This is definitely a topic of high interest to our students, especially those whose parents may have been educated in other countries. There are certainly cultural differences and attitudes which are fascinating and Clavel describes many of them.  However, she is extremely negative about the Palo Alto school district, one of our sister schools. Frankly, this caused me to wonder how reasonable it was to try to generalize her children’s experience(s) as describing an entire nation’s (or region’s) school system? As other reviewers have noted, I do believe that her intentions were good, but I felt that she often made sweeping statements which were rather simplistic and sometimes repetitive, as she herself says, “One of the hard truths I came around to in California was that I’d been a little naïve about the US education system in general. … I had downplayed in my own mind how deeply rooted and systemic the problems are.”  To her credit, she includes extensive notes and references, plus a glossary and index. Also, Clavel, draws a number of parallels, noting, for example that in 2017 the OECD found that globally teachers make an average of 88 percent of the salary of those in other professions with the same level of education (in US middle schools, that figure is 60 percent) – if we want the best teachers (and reduced turnover) for our children, we should reflect that in our compensation and provide better financial incentives. I also liked how she tried to steer the conversation to learning, rather than schools, although I believe there is much more that could have been written about innovation in American schools relative to Asian ones. Overall, her suggestions about dealing with administrators or encouraging your child to read the classics seemed unrealistic for many parents. She says, “I’ve always believed that you assess your child’s education every day and then support them as best you can” which is certainly important, but at what point should those students be taking increased responsibility for their own intellectual and emotional growth? If you are interested in education, I would suggest beginning by shadowing a high school student at your local school as well as reading other titles, such as these recent ones.