Maybe there is a little hope

There used to be a kind of nice show called boy meets world. For those unfamiliar with the concept, it follows a character(earlier a BOY), as that character went through life in a somewhat upper middle class public school. This included relationships with friends, siblings, bullies, and the school faculty.

They recently created a spinoff called GIRL meets world. In typical fashion, they tried to get the SAME people they had in the older version, but then used them as the older generation. So Cory(Played by the OLD cory character's actor) married his lifelong sweetheart topanga(Played by the OLD topanga character's actress), and they had a GIRL named Riley. She has a brother named Augie.

Of course, the problem here is that the older people are the same, and the kids are expected to be pretty much what the parents are. I guess they COULD have adopted the brother, but it would require explanation, etc....

OK, so the overall appearance of much of the cast is fixed. The girl's teacher, the girl, the brother, the mother, all their relatives, and many of their old teachers and friends. Even an old classmate(Cory's competition for topanga), and an old bully(who used to beat up cory) are fixed.

Anyway, their latest show, "GIRL meets STEM" is interesting. The school, in its usual(That's the US government for you) stupidity, provides tests for HALF the class, which is about 50% female. So they decide to split the class in groups of two. One girl, and one boy to each test. Since it is hard to split it evenly, one person is to drop a marble in a solution. The other is to ANALYZE the solution. All the boys ask the girls to drop the marble. ALL the girls GLADLY do it except Riley. Frankly, if I were Riley, I would have been upset with the teacher, and asked that I and my partner each do the WHOLE test ourselves. But NOPE, SHE complained, to her partner, that SHE should do the analysis. BTW did I mention that HER mother, Topanga, was recognized as the second smartest in her class, and her partner's father, Mincus was recgnized as the smartest in his class. So they BOTH felt they had something to live up to.

The teacher said earlier that FEW people ever get the correct answer. ODDLY, her partner, the old geniuses son, Farkle, states that the marble appears to be merely mud, and not special. Riley comes up with a silly idea, that ends up being correct. The teacher created the test to show how girls often lose any interest for STEM at that time. They gladly accept doing a relatively worthless task, as almost all of the girls did.

Frankly, I see two facts there. 1. Women are underrepresented because they as a group set themselves up to be and, 2. We should FORGET about groups in school, except for most sports. Let people succeed and fail on their OWN merits, and give them a chance to see the WHOLE project.

Her brother Augie had an interesting reversal, both for his character and tradition. His team "WON" a trophy! And HE "WON" a trophy! OH, he was SO happy! His mother didn't seem to care and even drank the OJ she poured for, and offered to, him. And he spoke of the trophy and how she wasn't happy while SHE asked him "And did you notice the mother's of the opposing team thanking me for having you?". Topanga seems to take the BLUNT approach in such matters. Auggie got the trophy to keep people from being disappointed! When the "obnoxious donothing spoiled brat"(Sorry, that IS her character's persona, in one scene, Cory says that people generally don't come with labels, and Eva comes in with a shirt that says "spoiled brat"!) Eva, comes over, she shows HER trophy, for being on the WINNING team, and you see she was on the OTHER team. SHE is upset that Augie got a similar trophy, because HIS team just stood there. Augie asked WHY they should do more, because he wouldn't get any more recognition. Eva was SHOCKED to see that Topanga was on HER side! Topanga was simply reacting the same way that she had throughout the whole Boy meets world and Girl meets world series! In a way, Augie became Eva, and Eva fell in line with Topanga's morality.

The fact? Not being honest with the teams is a bad idea. If the idea isn't a proper competition with relevant recognition, then why even keep score or give trophies? Trophies, like tips, have often become MEANINGLESS TOKENS.

So even with the attempts to change the language, and few things that reek of propaganda, there is still a glimmer of hope.

Steve