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Wednesday January 19, 2005
Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

The president of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers, is under fire today for his sexist comments suggesting women are not as good as men at sciences, engineering and mathematics because of genetic differences. He is being heavily criticized by his peers for suggesting that women have less innate ability than men to reason and rationalize. One female researcher, biologist Nancy Hopkins, walked out of Mr. Summers’ presentation, and stated, “It’s so upsetting that all these brilliant young women [at Harvard] are being led by a man who views them this way.” She also said that if she had stayed, '”I would've either blacked out or thrown up.”

He further embroiled himself in controversy by saying there are fewer female lecturers and professors because women weren’t as willing as men to work long hours, and because of child raising and housework responsibilities; not because of discrimination. However, since becoming president of Harvard, one of the most prestigious institutions of learning in the world, the number of female lecturers has greatly fallen. He appointed four women and 28 men as lecturers last year.

He has tried to defend his comments by saying more research is needed into the respective intelligences of both sexes. He told the Boston Globe newspaper that people want to believe differences in male and female intelligence are due to social conditioning and not innate natural or God-given ability, “you have to be careful in attributing things to socialization. … That's what we would prefer to believe, but these are things that need to be studied.” 

Lesson & plan in Word.doc     Example Class Handout in .pdf

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about men and women / gender and intelligence / sexism / sexist comments / Harvard University / housework and child-raising / …
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. GENDER BRAINSTORM: Before telling the class what today’s lesson is about, brainstorm and write on the board any words students associate with the word ‘man’, and then the word ‘woman’. It may be interesting to further separate on the board words volunteered by male and female students. Students use these words as a springboard for further conversation and to find whether any of the associations might be construed as sexist. If  so, students who volunteered those words can defend them.

3. MY COUNTRY: Students talk about the levels of sexual equality/inequality in their own countries.

4. 2-MINUTE DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:
(a) Men are more intelligent than women. vs. Women are more intelligent than men.
(b) Women are better leaders than men. vs Men are better leaders than women.
(c) Women are more mature than men. vs Men are more mature than men.
(d) Men are more romantic than women. vs. Women are more romantic than men.
(e) Men are better map readers than women. vs. But women are safer drivers.
(f) It’s the woman’s job to stay at home and look after the husband, house and family. vs. (g) There’s nothing wrong with househusbands.
(h) Men are more violent than women. vs. Women are more violent than men.
(i) Men have easier lives than women. vs. A woman’s life is easier.
(j) Other teacher / student created mini-debates – dependent on cultures of students.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘sex’, and ‘gender ’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:
(a)  The president of Harvard University is under fire for having sex with his students.  T / F
(b)  He suggested women are not as good as men at sciences, engineering and mathematics because of genetic differences.  T / F
(c)  He is being heavily criticized by his peers.  T / F
(d)  A female lecturer attending his presentation blacked out and vomited because of his comments.  T / F
(e)  The Harvard president said discrimination is everywhere in Harvard University.  T / F
(f)  Last year he appointed 4 women and 28 men as lecturers or researchers.  T / F
(g)  The Harvard president said more research is needed into the respective intelligences of both sexes.  T / F
(h)  He said men have more innate or God-given ability than women.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)

under fire

God-given

(b)

sexist

justify

(c)

criticized

distinguished

(d)

innate

gifted

(e)

reason

in the hot seat

(f)

throw up

attacked

(g)

brilliant

entangled

(h)

embroiled

discuss

(i)

prestigious

vomit

(j)

defend

discriminatory

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)

under

differences

(b)

sexist

as men

(c)

genetic

fallen

(d)

He further embroiled himself

fire

(e)

women weren’t as willing

his comments

(f)

greatly

conditioning

(g)

He has tried to defend

things to socialization

(h)

social

in controversy

(i)

God-given

comments

(j)

be careful in attributing

ability

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Harvard sex controversy

The president of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers, is __________ fire today for his sexist comments suggesting women are not as good as men at sciences, engineering and mathematics because of genetic __________. He is being __________criticized by his peers for suggesting that women have less innate ability than men to reason and rationalize. One female researcher, biologist Nancy Hopkins, walked out of Mr. Summers’ presentation, and stated, “It’s so upsetting that all these brilliant young women [at Harvard] are being __________by a man who views them this way.” She also said that if she had stayed, '”I would've either blacked out or thrown up.”

He further embroiled himself in controversy by saying there are fewer female lecturers and professors because women weren’t as __________as men to work long hours, and because of child raising and housework responsibilities; not because of discrimination. However, since becoming president of Harvard, one of the most prestigious institutions of learning in the world, the number of female lecturers has __________fallen. He appointed four women and 28 men as lecturers last year.

He has tried to __________his comments by saying more research is needed into the respective intelligences of both sexes. He told the Boston Globe newspaper that people want to believe differences in male and female intelligence are due to social conditioning and not innate natural or God-given ability, “you have to be __________in attributing things to socialization. … That's what we would prefer to believe, but these are things that need to be studied.”

 

differences
heavily
under
led
defend
careful
greatly
willing

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘SEX’/ ‘GENDER’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:
(a)  What do you think Mt Summers’ comments?
(b)  Do you think man are more intelligent (or vice versa)?
(c)  Do women have equal opportunities to enter science and engineering-related jobs?
(d)  Is your society a sexist society?
(e)  What do men / women complain about in your society?
(f)  What three changes would you make create greater sexual equality?
(g)  Who wears the trousers in your house?
(h)  Is it OK for little boys to play with Barbie dolls and for men to cry in the movie theatre?
(i)  Should women be allowed to fight on the front lines in war?
(j)  Are men and women intellectually different from birth?
(k)  Are men born leaders and women born home makers?
(l)  Does your language contain built-in sexism? (in English host, bachelor, master are all male and are generally positive, while hostess, spinster, mistress are all female and generally carry negative association)
(m)  Are men really better at reading maps?
(n)  Why do women like shopping so much?
(o)  Why do men drive fast and cook barbecues?
(p)  Who is more vain, men or women?
(q)  Teacher’s / Students’ additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Harvard. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. POSTER: Create a poster about the good or bad things about being a woman / man.

4. LETTER TO LAWRENCE: Write a letter to the Harvard President explaining what you think about his views. 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:
(a)  The president of Harvard University is under fire for having sex with his students.  T
(b)  He suggested women are not as good as men at sciences, engineering and mathematics because of genetic differences.  T
(c)  He is being heavily criticized by his peers.  T
(d)  A female lecturer attending his presentation blacked out and vomited because of his comments.  F
(e)  The Harvard president said discrimination is everywhere in Harvard University.  F
(f)  Last year he appointed 4 women and 28 men as lecturers or researchers.  T
(g)  The Harvard president said more research is needed into the respective intelligences of both sexes.  T
(h)  He said men have more innate or God-given ability than women.  F

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)

under fire

in the hot seat

(b)

sexist

discriminatory

(c)

criticized

attacked

(d)

innate

God-given

(e)

reason

discuss

(f)

throw up

vomit

(g)

brilliant

gifted

(h)

embroiled

entangled

(i)

prestigious

distinguished

(j)

defend

justify

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)

under

fire

(b)

sexist

comments

(c)

genetic

differences

(d)

He further embroiled himself

in controversy

(e)

women weren’t as willing

as men

(f)

greatly

fallen

(g)

He has tried to defend

his comments

(h)

social

conditioning

(i)

God-given

ability

(j)

be careful in attributing

things to socialization

 

GAP FILL:

Harvard sex controversy

The president of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers, is under fire today for his sexist comments suggesting women are not as good as men at sciences, engineering and mathematics because of genetic differences. He is being heavily criticized by his peers for suggesting that women have less innate ability than men to reason and rationalize. One female researcher, biologist Nancy Hopkins, walked out of Mr. Summers’ presentation, and stated, “It’s so upsetting that all these brilliant young women [at Harvard] are being led by a man who views them this way.” She also said that if she had stayed, '”I would've either blacked out or thrown up.”

He further embroiled himself in controversy by saying there are fewer female lecturers and professors because women weren’t as willing as men to work long hours, and because of child raising and housework responsibilities; not because of discrimination. However, since becoming president of Harvard, one of the most prestigious institutions of learning in the world, the number of female lecturers has greatly fallen. He appointed four women and 28 men as lecturers last year.

He has tried to defend his comments by saying more research is needed into the respective intelligences of both sexes. He told the Boston Globe newspaper that people want to believe differences in male and female intelligence are due to social conditioning and not innate natural or God-given ability, “you have to be careful in attributing things to socialization. … That's what we would prefer to believe, but these are things that need to be studied.” 

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