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Alpha Stage
Madame President
February 12, 2007






The New York Times is running an article entitled, "A 'Rebellious
Daughter' to Lead Harvard."

The article begins, "Recalling her coming of age as the only girl in a
privileged, tradition-bound family in Virginia horse country, Drew
Gilpin Faust, 59, has often spoken of her 'continued confrontations'
with her mother 'about the requirements of what she usually called
femininity.' Her mother, Catharine, she has said, told her repeatedly,
'It’s a man’s world, sweetie, and the sooner you learn that the
better off you’ll be.'"

Well, the words "Madame President" are not commonly heard in
worlds totally controlled by men.
Read the Article!!


Discussion-Starters for Younger Children

  • Ask your students to recall one thing that they recently
    learned. How will this new knowledge or skill help them?
  • Consider asking students to act out something that
    they recently learned how to do. This could be a fun
    charades activity.

  • Do your students think it's OK to have both men and women
    teachers. Why would some kids find this a bit strange? Is
    this just OK or is it good? Explain!!
  • Ask students to identify something that they recently
    learned from a man and something that they recently
    learned from a woman.

  • Ask your students what one thing they could teach others
    how to do? How does it feel to know that they can teach
    others how to do things?
  • If possible provide an opportunity for students to
    teach one another how to do things.

  • What one new thing would your students like to learn? Why
    do they want to learn this?
  • If possible, provide an opportunity for students to
    learn this new thing. Maybe you could teach it to
    them or perhaps there's a special person in the
    community who could teach it to them.


Discussion-Starters for Older Children

  • Vocabulary Terms to Discuss: "Coming of Age"; Scholar;
    Rebellious; and, Rueful.

  • Dr. Faust would not have named president of Harvard if she
    was not a great thinker. What does it mean to think? What
    does it mean to be a great thinker?
  • Consider asking students to develop definitions for
    each of these concepts, "think" and "great thinker."
    They could first work in groups and then reconvene
    as a whole class.

  • What do your think it means for the world that a woman has
    been named president of Harvard University? What would it
    mean to the world if a woman was elected President of the
    United States?
  • Consider asking students to write essays in response
    to this question. On the other hand, you might tell
    students that there are many communities in the
    world which hold women and their intelligence in low
    regard. Ask them how they might be able to convince
    the members of this community of gender equality.


  • Referring to Professor Faust, the article states, "through the
    convergence of grand changes in higher education, her own
    achievements and the resignation of Harvard’s previous
    president under pressure, she became the first woman
    appointed to lead the Ivy League university founded in
    1636." Ask students to explain this excerpt in their own
    words. Does everything that happens in life require
    convergence? Explain!!
  • Consider asking students to identify something in
    their own lives that happened because of
    convergence. Ask them to draw a graphical
    representation of this convergence.
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(C) 2007, Andrew Pass Educational Services, LLC.