Week Seven

The Industrial Revolution marked a huge turning point in not only the history of mankind, but of the planet Earth.  Prior to the Revolution, global population grew from approximately 375 million people in 1400 to 1 billion in 1800 (828).  As the number of people using them grew, wood and charcoal supplies became fewer and costs rose.  With these main sources of energy becoming scarcer, an energy crisis emerged.  The Industrial Revolution came in part as a response to this energy crisis as nonrenewable fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, became the new main source of energy (828).

The excessive extraction of these nonrenewable materials from the earth drastically changed the landscape in many areas of the world and has left an impact on the planet that has lasted to today.  Strayer writes of environmental impact on London during the Industrial Revolution, “Sewers and industrial waste emptied into the rivers, turning them into poisonous cesspools…. Smoke from the coal-fired industries and domestic use polluted the air in urban areas and sharply increased the incidence of respiratory illness” (828).  While environmental conditions have become better as scientific knowledge and priorities on preserving the environment have grown, the impact that the Industrial Revolution had on the earth is still prevalent today.  Because of this, many historians agree that the Industrial Revolution marks a new era in the history of humankind and of the planet.  Scientists call this era the Anthropocene, or “the age of man,” in which human activity began to leave a lasting mark on the atmospheric, ecological, and geological history of the earth (829).

Week Six

The feminist movement emerged as a result of the Atlantic revolutions, during and after which many people, based on enlightenment ideas, began to question and challenge traditional ways of thinking.  Shortly after the French Revolution, playwright and journalist Olympe de Gouges wrote Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen in which she attempted to apply to women the rights of man laid out in the French Declaration of 1789 (813, 817).  While numerous women in France at the time agreed with Gouges and attempted to participate in events promoting equality, they were unsuccessful in their efforts because most men disagreed, believing instead that women were meant to focus on marriage and motherhood rather than politics (805, 818).

Other women followed Gouges example in arguing for equality of the sexes and the rights of women.  One such woman was Elizabeth Cady Stanton who led the feminist movement in America during the nineteenth century (818).  In 1848, Stanton took a leading role at the first organized women’s rights conference in Seneca Falls, New York.  During the conference she wrote a statement in which she reworded the Declaration of Independence to read, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal” (806).  Almost fifty years later Stanton addressed the U.S. congressional committee, urging them to amend the constitution to allow women the right to vote.  Stanton’s main argument in the address is that women are individual people who must live their own lives.  She states that women have not only the right, but also the obligation to rule over themselves and make their own choices and that as individuals who are living just the same as men, women should not be sheltered from life.  Stanton believed that men do not, cannot and will never understand what it is to be a woman so men should dictate the lives and decisions of women.

“Seeing then that the responsibilities of life rests equally on man and women, that their destiny is the same, they need the same preparation for time and eternity.  The talk of sheltering woman from the fierce storms of life is a mockery, for they beat on her from every point of the compass, just as they do man, and with more fatal results, for he has been trained to protect himself, to resist, to conquer…Whatever the theories may be of woman’s dependence on man, in the supreme moments of her life he cannot bear her burden….” (819).

Week Five - Foundress's Week

On Tuesday I had lunch with the Sisters of Notre Dame.  When the event started we had some time to get to know the other people sitting at our table, then we got lunch and ate.  After we ate everyone in the room got up and introduced themselves and then tried to win Foundress’s  Week T-shirts by answering questions about Julie Billiart and Francoise Blin de Bourdon and the history of the Sisters of Notre Dame.

            At this event I learned about the importance of teaching for the Sisters of Notre Dame.  I always knew that the order had established many schools all over the world.  I have attended two of their schools in my life: Notre Dame Elementary School in Marysville, CA, as well as Notre Dame de Namur University.  Because I never had a teacher who was a Sister at either of these schools, I didn’t realize that so many of the Sisters of Notre Dame actually taught at their institutes.  As we gave introductions of ourselves almost every Sister who stood up said that she had been a teacher and that she loved teaching and would be a teacher all her life. 

I realize know that education is one of the main missions of the Sisters of Notre Dame.  Julie Billiart dedicated her life to teaching.  Even before she began the order, she taught poor children in her village about God and the Bible.  The mission expanded from religious education to well-rounded, fully developed education.  The Sisters that I met at lunch had all taught many different subjects to all different age groups.  Sr. Roseanne taught psychology and sociology to college students and Sr. Yvonne taught elementary school children. 

Although none of the Sisters of Notre Dame taught me directly in elementary school or in college, their mission of teaching has made a huge impact on my life.  A great deal of my education has been available to me in part thanks to Julie Billiart and Francoise Blin de Bourdon and all of the other Sisters of Notre Dame who dedicated their live to establishing schools, two of which I have attended in my lifetime.  I like to think that my education in Notre Dame schools have instilled in me my value and appreciation for education and learning.