Letter to 10th Grade Techer

3901 Parkview Lane Irvine, CA 92612

November 6, 2006

Dear Mr. Francisco Guzman's 10th grade English class,

My name is xxxxxx xxxxxx, a former Bravo Knight student of Mr. Guzman's 10th grade English class and now an Anteater at the [university] My name might not sound familiar at all because by the time you guys walked in through the doors of Bravo I was already attending UC Irvine. That's OK, and as a former student I hope you guys are having a great time in this wonderful school. Try making the best out of it. These four years could be the best four years of your life, or they could be the worst, believe me, I've been there. I've lived through the drama that propagates through the halls, I've taken the courses you guys are taking, but don't panic everything is going to be just fine. Now, I'm not writing to let you guys know the tricks to how to pass your AP Chemistry course, or how to integrate a function, I'll pass that chore to Mr. Morgan or Mrs. Rodriguez. I know you guys are tenth graders and excited to learn about calculus, biology, chemistry and English, but have you guys ever wonder why you guys are not exposed to issues outside the classroom? The reason is because the curriculum doesn’t allow it, all of your teachers are required to teach you certain things by certain date, which doesn’t allow the flexibility to talk about topics regarding race, gender, or any other topic that might interest you. For that reason, I'm here to talk to you about a topic that is neither covered in chemistry, nor in your English classes, that is, gender issues.

What are gender issues, you might ask? Gender issues ranges from unequal pay between men and women, domestic violence, prostitution and many others, however, I will focus on the objectification of women. At this point, you might be asking yourselves, “Why do I care?” “How does that relate to me?” Let me explain to you, at this age, you might think you know everything about the male and the female population, I mean, you guys have girlfriends and you girls have boyfriends, and you might think that your guy or girl personifies the entire male or female population. That’s not true, it’s good to know that all the couples here love each other very much, but what you know does not suffice to survive in the real world that waits for you. For that reason, I want to enlighten you, and give you some insight about the objectification of women so that you can become knowledgeable and have greater appreciation of who you are, what makes you, and what makes the opposite sex what they are, that is, their problems, stereotypes and dangers in society. Enough cajoling, as I mentioned, I will for now and for the rest of this letter focus on the objectification of women. What does that mean? That means that women are seen as sexual objects, not recognizing the fact that they are human beings capable of thinking or showing emotions. Under this objectification, women are seen only through their physical attributes, and not their intellectual capabilities. One text that talks about the objectification of women is the poem “Rape and Modern Sex War” written by poet and novelist Margaret Atwood. In it, Atwood states how woman are objectified, how women are used and