Ignorance is bliss, or is it not? Why do so many people live in denial? It ain’t just a river in Egypt; it’s a beautiful place where you don’t have to face the real world. But that means the world around you could be destroyed and you would have no idea. So is that good or bad? Maybe good, in short term. But when you actually have to face the real world, it’s not ideal.

High school is a great time to be in denial, you’re not yet an adult, so you can get away with living in your own little world. But that’s going to make life after school really hard, for everyone. Ignorance may be bliss in the short term, but in the long run, we need education. Education about the issues around us. If we don’t know about the problems, how are we going to solve them?

After handing out surveys, we’ve realized that some people in MUHS are ignorant. Many people don’t see or aren’t sure they see gender roles and sexism in school. Some don’t even know what gender roles and sexism are. So I think our number one priority is educating. People need to understand that there is a problem. No matter how persistent and determined we are, we can’t do anything by ourselves; education is our most powerful tool.

We are very aware that Middlebury may not represent all of Vermont, so we are working on getting more surveys out around Vermont. We are electronically sending surveys out throughout the state with the help of our principal. We hope these surveys will give us a better idea about the perceptions of sexism and gender roles in other areas of the state.

To see the results of the student surveys, click here.

Feature Image: Rod Waddington