Why I Would Re-Do My Class IV Talk

By ELIZA BARRETT-COTTER ’20

Editor's’ Note: Eliza Barrett-Cotter ’20 was awarded Best of Class IV Talks for her class.

I loved my Class IV Talk. I thought it was the best thing I would ever write. Now, two years later, I cringe when I re-read it. I wish I could re-write that Talk.

When I chose my topic, gender bias, I thought I was being brave. The goal of my speech was to highlight some ways in which women face gender bias. But in the speech, I should not have been so apologetic about focusing on my experiences.  I should have understood that women’s struggles are important enough to be the sole subject of a talk. In fact, my worry about how the boys might feel was a symptom of my fear that women’s issues aren’t important on their own and that I couldn’t assert myself unless I championed everybody. I worried that the boys in my class would take offense if I didn’t include their struggles, so I talked about bias against boys as well.  

I shouldn’t have worried.  I should have better described the gender bias against girls the classroom.  In class, girls have to raise their voices just to be heard around the Harkness table. Speaking as someone who rarely feels comfortable raising her voice, I often cease on participating in certain class conversations because it’s exhausting to have to work so hard to be heard.

It’s not only when talking about gender that I find myself stepping back. In any classroom, a girl has to speak twice as loudly as a boy does to be heard. You may be frustrated at how many times you have heard this story; but it’s even more frustrating to have to raise my voice to be heard around the Harkness table.

Struggling to be heard is only the beginning. Feeling invisible leads to feelings of inadequacy and invalidation in school and beyond the classroom as well.  If girls don’t feel comfortable speaking up in class, how are we supposed to feel comfortable speaking up outside of it? How are we supposed to say “no” to sex if we can’t even tell our brothers and fathers to just be quiet for once while we have our say?

My first English assignment this year was to consider any question and ask it in a different way. I decided to write about the question I ask myself after not having spoken up for myself: Why did I let myself get interrupted instead of raising my voice? I flipped the question to ask: Why should I have to speak so loud to be heard? I think the boys whose feelings I worried about bear blame and responsibility. In class, boys talk louder and interrupt far more often than girls do. The reason boys don’t seem to understand that cutting off other speakers is wrong is that competitive, superior, aggressive behavior is often tolerated and even expected of boys. For girls, this is not the case. If a girl interrupts a boy, she is chastised and asked to wait her turn. She is accused of exhibiting bad manners. Girls are taught to be accomodating; they are not taught to take their place at the front of the line.

If I were given the chance to go back in time and change my Class IV Talk, I would take it. The Class IV Talk gave me an opportunity for me to assert myself. I feel that I gave up that opportunity and, in doing so, I let myself down. So, if I were given the chance to re-write my Talk, I would take that chance to speak up about my experiences neither quietly nor cautiously. •