The Woman of Valor
It was a dark night in the Brookdale dormitory, floor eight, room F. Three young women sat huddled over their textbooks in preparation for the next day of courses. All of a sudden, one of them stood up yelling the words: “We must start a revolution!” The other two girls got out of their chairs and, with their chins held high, looked each other straight in the eyes and began speaking of the women at Stern College. Although the women in room 8F had a spectacular picture of their counterparts as Women of Valor, many of their peers did not share the same vision.
The other day, I heard someone on the shuttle say that they didn’t even know why they were getting an education: “We all know that I’m going to become a stay at home mom anyways. There’s no reason for me to try to do well in this class.” This is a problem, said the girls in room 8F! The ability to have a career and advance ourselves should be our top priority, in addition to raising our children. Being a mother is a full-time job on its own accord, but there is no reason for us to stagnate our intellectual growth by not getting the complete experience of a college degree.
Before every registration date, most people are not asking themselves questions like what classes can I take that will challenge me intellectually and give me the opportunity to learn something new? Instead, everyone wants to take the easiest classes that will guarantee them an A. This is especially true with regard to Judaic studies classes.
Jewish families are spending thousands of dollars for their daughters to get an education. Women are now educators, professionals, and business women. We cannot use our precious time at Stern College to only go out on dates! Although an exciting part of the college experience, and Yeshiva University at large, this is not the prime reason we attend this institution. It behooves us, as future mothers, to prepare our minds and intellects for the obstacles we will face in the future. We should be just as capable to help our sons and daughters with their algebra homework as we are to help them understand the concept of a mitzvat aseh shehazman grama.
A current Senior at Stern College, who has chosen to remain anonymous, remarked: “It’s not that I have a problem with being a stay at home mom. I feel uncomfortable with the idea that people are spending thousands of dollars on a degree they might not ever use and essentially are using the university as a dating pool. It’s demeaning to education at large and lowers the quality of classroom discussion when people don’t care about their educations to the same extent as other people in the classroom.” We are the women of the future. Let’s start acting like it.
