[Magdalen] BSA

[Roger Stokes]

On 28/07/2015 18:21, Susan Hutchinson wrote:
> On 2015-07-28, at 9:42 AM, James Handsfield wrote:
>> Yes, girls may join Venturing crews.  The only Explorers left are Sea Explorers who are members of a ship.  My point is to open Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts to girls.  And, BTW, I think GSA should be open to boys.  There are girls who prefer the kind of scouting activities of Cubs and Boy Scouts, and there are boys who prefer the kind of activities of Brownies and Girl Scouts.
> I have to disagree with you, Jim. Here in Canada the Boy Scouts -- Scouts Canada -- accepts and encourages girls to join. It hasn't helped their numbers significantly, but it does work for some young women. Girl Guides in Canada has taken a different route, celebrating its single sex history, and the role it has had in encouraging women's leadership. There is hardly a woman of major achievement and leadership in Canada, from author to astronaut, scientist to arts figure, politician, judge, sports figure, or whatever, who doesn't credit Girl Guiding for encouraging her to go further, try harder, learn leadership. There is no difference in the program possibilities between the two organizations. But the studies show that girls flourish in a same sex environment and not always so in a mixed gender environment.

I believe this applies also in education, and as a male educated in 
basically a single-sex contect from the age of 7 I am probably 
well-placed to say it, and say it bluntly.  Males can benefit from the 
humanising influence of the females.  The females miss out (and Joan was 
vocuferous to me on this) because of the males' dominating approach in 
appropriating kit, etc. in class.  There is a good argument for the 
diamond approach to education - keep the gebder apart during adolescence.

I recall in particular Joan telling me of an Equal Opps session where a 
male noted the occasions where somebody interrupted the discussion.  The 
impression was that the women had interrupted more but the record showed 
that the converse was the case.  Likewise I recall hearing a woman 
saying that on entering a predominantly male environment she was advised 
to say something at a very early stage.

The point was that the timbre of her voice would be a shock. Introducing 
it on something relatively trivial (such as when to break for lunch) 
wouyld mean it would be not sucvh a shock when she had something more 
important to say.  I believe Margaret Thatcher received trainung in 
lowering the pitch of her voice an ++KJS has a low and rich timbre to 
her normal speaking voice.

Roger