Award Winning Essays in High School Won't Stand in 2024
When I was in high school, I won writing awards, two years in a row, in the personal essay category. I wrote about issues I believed needed to be discussed and offered an alternative view on whether I though things have gone too far. The school I went to was (and still is, to this day) more “progressive” and “politically correct,” especially for a more “traditional” private school. However, what wrote, one year on conservativism and the following on my version of feminism (or perhaps it was the other way around - I have to check the yearbooks, where they were published, to make sure) would likely be thrown out, perhaps even leading me to be disciplined/suspended/expelled.
It’s not as if either piece is all that radically right wing. It’s more like an alternative view. But these days, such alternative views are not often welcome. I was part of a diversity and inclusion group on Facebook during the pandemic and was met with nothing but hostility. I thought they wanted a more diverse group of people with different experiences. Well, apparently, I wasn’t the KIND of diversity they wanted. One woman told me I was too self-centred and was (I SWEAR) just short of calling me a b!tch. I don’t get it. Do I have to have that sob story they’re looking for to qualify? I thought they wanted ethnic diversity. Or only certain types of ethnic diversities? It’s really upsetting. What DO they want, anyway?
Regarding feminism, the piece I wrote in the 90s was more on shaming people who prefer a more “traditional” lifestyle. Today, my perspective and views extend to NOT encouraging/teaching boys/young men “traditionally feminine” roles (hey, think about all that unpaid labour so many of us women have to do) and career paths. In addition, I don’t think enough guys are taking advantage of the parental leave they’re allowed to have in Canada. Why is that, anyway? Because they don’t want to be shamed by the other guys at work? Because it disrupts their career? Well, it disrupts OURS too. Taking an entire year off is an entire year shaved off your job. That’s one year less experience. What can that lead to? You’re less likely to be promoted as quickly. DUH. I have to admit that this is a LITTLE more palatable to the DE&I crowd, but still not something they seem to encourage. Then there’s the whole STEM thing. Okay, we need more women in STEM. But what about business/women in investing/VC/PE? If more of us were involved in that aspect/more girls encouraged to go into these areas from a very early age, then perhaps women-founded businesses would be better-funded. Again, DUH.
My question now is: What’s WRONG WITH PEOPLE? Why are we looking at some aspects and not others? When we talk about diversity, why don’t we talk about cultural clashes between the younger generation who grew up here versus their parents as much? What about ignorance that comes from immigrants, simply because they are unfamiliar with their new environment? Seems to me that we are kind of okay with it unless what they’re doing is truly illegal. We dismiss it as “well, it’s their culture.” Isn’t that racist? We don’t seem to know what we’re doing when it comes to inclusion, do we?
I really don’t understand. And there’s way too much focus on appearance in terms of diversity and inclusion and we don’t look at what’s inside - you can be from the same ethnic or religious background but have vastly different experiences. You know what this reminds me of? The part in My Fair Lady/Pygmalion where Eliza is cleaned up and dressed nicely, but before her elocution lessons. And I think a lot of people - diversity and inclusion leadership, anyway - don’t seem to get it yet.