> Two replies today:
> WOMEN'S STUDIES AT UCD
>
> Madam, - I will ignore the many inaccuracies in Kevin Myers's
> Irishman's Diary of March 22nd and instead, using one of his own
> techniques, seize on his use of one word - "transformative". I am
> proud, indeed privileged, to be part of the transformative agenda of
> WERRC, being a tutor on the outreach programme.
>
> We offer the opportunity to some of the most marginalised women in
> Ireland, both rural and urban, to undertake NUI-validated
undergraduate
> certificate and diploma courses. Many of these women have been
deprived
> of a full secondary education, not to mind the opportunity to pursue
a
> third level education.

What about the men?  Why aren't men facilitated in this way?  If you
don't care about men as much as women, do you at least feel that they
should get the same opportunities, perhaps given by others?


>
> I have lost count of the times women have said to me, "This course
has
> changed my life". We support the women from their tentative efforts
to
> express themselves in their first, 500-word assignment and delight in
> their huge sense of achievement when they produce a 3,000-5,000 word
> project at the end of their particular course. Many of them uncover
> talents and creative abilities they never suspected they possessed.

But men don't get this chance.

>
> Some continue their education to BA or even MA level in our
department,
> other departments of UCD, or other universities.

But men don't get this chance.

>
> >From my own perspective, these past four years in WERRC have been
the
> most rewarding in my life. Through these women, who often have to
> struggle through tremendous obstacles to achieve their goal, I am
> endlessly reminded of my own excitement, sense of achievement and
> gratitude at having the opportunity as a mature student to learn new
> skills, to broaden my horizons and to better understand the
structures
> shaping our lives.

But men don't get this chance.

"To better understand" - does that mean be indoctrinated into the
feminist way at looking at things?  And the State subsidises you to do
this!

>
> There is so much ability, talent and creativity among the ordinary
> women in Ireland.

Why not say "among the ordinary people in Ireland" or "among the
ordinary women and men in Ireland"

> Why should they be denied an opportunity to engage in
> education at whatever stage of their lives.

Why should women have the opportunity but not men?

>Why should Mr Myers, from
> his lofty eyrie, see this as a waste of time and taxpayers' money?
>
> Finally, surely education should always be "transformative"; what is
> the point otherwise? - Yours, etc.,
>
> MARY C. FAKHER-ELDIN, Women's Education, Research and Resource
Centre,
> UCD, Dublin 4.

TT



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