Vassar Quarterly - Fall/Winter 2019 - 35

Meryl Streep | '71
In my opinion, coeducation should be done
away with. Not the concept-obviously-but
the word itself.
When I was a kid in public elementary
and middle school in New Jersey, we were
all referred to as "students." It was only when
I entered the high school that I became
aware there was another subcategory of
student, designated the "coed." This word
summoned the image of a cute girl, usually
blonde, wearing a short pastel skirt, a
ponytail, and lip gloss. Carrying a stack of
books across her chest.
If you went to a large public university,
you would automatically become one. (The
boys remained what they had always been:
"students.") If I went to one of the "women's
colleges," I too could remain a student-
effectively placing out of the cuteness
requirement.
I chose Vassar, which, at the time
I applied, was a women's school. Halfway
through my time there, of course, the world
evolved (as it tends to do) and the first men
were admitted. This is a development we all
now concede was splendid, but then we
referred to them cheerfully, sneeringly, as
"coeds." Not yet fully evolved ourselves,
we understood that to cast a man with
feminine attributes was to diminish him.
There is no female equivalent to
"emasculate," a word that means removing
the potency and power of a man by diminishing his male traits.
"Effeminate" also is a pejorative; it
connotes the same diminishment of a man,
with the add-on indignity of an enhancement of what are perceived as feminine
traits. These deficits in language persist
in the larger culture, even as, within the
community of places like Vassar, they
continue to evolve toward greater understanding.
But the concept of: School's Open!
Everybody In to Learn! (regardless of whether
you sit or stand to pee) still seems like a
splendid one. And coeducation may just
need to be relegated to the archaic language
bin, along with distaff, merkin, chastity belt,
and Playtex Longline boned girdles.

Meryl Streep
probably needs no
introduction, but
for those recently
arrived from outer
space, she is an
award-winning
actress capable
of anything!

THE CONCEPT OF: SCHOOL'S OPEN!
EVERYBODY IN TO LEARN! (REGARDLESS OF
WHETHER YOU SIT OR STAND TO PEE) STILL
SEEMS LIKE A SPLENDID ONE.

VA S S A R Q U A R T E R LY

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Vassar Quarterly - Fall/Winter 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vassar Quarterly - Fall/Winter 2019

Contents
Vassar Quarterly - Fall/Winter 2019 - Cover1
Vassar Quarterly - Fall/Winter 2019 - Cover2
Vassar Quarterly - Fall/Winter 2019 - Contents
Vassar Quarterly - Fall/Winter 2019 - 2
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