RE: Reluctance to act?

McKevitt, Susan (SMcKevitt@ed.state.nh.us)
Mon, 4 May 1998 09:23:18 -0400

As a civil rights advocate working professionally with a department of
education I would like to add that information, at least here in NH, is
widely dispersed to parents, students, teachers and administrators. The
belief is that the better informed people are about their rights and
responsibilities, the more able people will be in insisting that those
rights be actualized. I may be misreading the question but I do not know
any of my counter parts in this field, or those in my past occupation as
the Deputy Director for Human Rights that withhold information. In fact,
the frustration is in not having the capability of being more comprehensive
in its distribution, and in finding conditions do not change dramatically
once the info. is out there. Obviously, more than being informed is
necessary for mass action. It truly is the key for individual movement. It
will take in addition to individuals insisting on our right, larger group
actions to change the environment of prejudice and oppression.

Susan McKevitt
Administrator
Bureau for Equity
NH Department of Education
101 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301
Phone (603) 271-6613
Fax (603) 271-1953
Email: smckevitt@ed.state.nh.us

-----Original Message-----
From: Brown & Dempsey [SMTP:dempsy@ix.netcom.com]
Sent: Friday, May 01, 1998 12:50 PM
To: edequity@tristram.edc.org
Subject: RE: Reluctance to act?

Everyone in the equity business is a stakeholder. Each
stakeholder has marked (staked) out a speciality. If
everyone has all of the information they will no longer
be specialists. When the industrial revolution was in
full force we were taught that specialization was the
hallmark of success. Before that we were generalists and
most folks did many jobs well so they could survive.
Now we are facing the information age and once again we
will be expected to have a broader base of applicable
skills. As we become more broadly competent we will
erode the stranglehold that the specialists have on the
centralization of knowledge. Your question is parallel
to the one about why, when the corporation is downsized,
folks don't just use the knowledge they have to lateral
into another position within the structure. The answer
is that we told them they didn't have to know that
because we would take care of them. Now gender equity is
in the hands of the specialists. Actually almost all of
the information is available to the competent researcher
with the motivation. We just don't want to tell "them"
where to find it. (see Alvin Toffler, John Naisbitt and
even John Locke)
Herb Dempsey
dempsy@ix.netcom.com

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-edequity@tristram.edc.org
[mailto:owner-edequity@tristram.edc.org]On Behalf Of
Linda Purrington
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 1998 9:41 AM
To: edequity@tristram.edc.org
Subject: Reluctance to act?

I keep being puzzled by the calls to research. Does
this mask a
reluctance to act? For example, what stops us now from
putting current
research and the text and significance of Title IX into
the hands of
each student and family? Wouldn't that in itself
produce the
from-the-ground-up changes we're looking for? Why is
that move so
blocked? Why are even national women's organizations so
adamant on the
local level that Title IX information per se is to be
suppressed? Any
ideas?

Linda Purrington,
TIXA
lpurring@earthlink.net

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