Roses from Thistle Bushes: Expectations, Class and Literacy

Prof. Patricia Silver, U Mass Amherst

GWIS event, May 16, 2002, at MIT

On Thursday, May 16, the Boston Chapter of Graduate Women in Science
(GWIS) hosted their first guest speaker, Dr. Patricia Silver, a professor
of special education (now in the Department of Social Justice) at the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who had a very inspiring story to
tell. About 20 interested people gathered over some refreshments and
interesting conversation. Then Penny Beuning, the president of the Boston
Chapter of GWIS made a few announcements and introduced Dr. Silver's
presentation titled Roses from Thistle Bushes: Expectations, Class and
Literacy. Dr. Silver grew up in the hollows of West Virginia as the
daughter of a coal miner. The more fortunate people of the area would say
that teaching the poor children of miners was like trying to grow 'roses
from thistle bushes'. But Patricia was a strong willed girl that would
prove them wrong.

Although Patricia had to endure the burdens of poverty and worry about her
father coming home from the mines every night, she took an acute interest
in reading and education. She excelled in many subjects including
science, which she was never encouraged to pursue. However, there was a
high school teacher who finally took an interest in her and helped
Patricia to grow into her own potential. She received her bachelor's in
English and elementary education in 1960. She taught school in the coal
mining towns of West Virginia before earning a doctorate in education in
1970. Dr. Silver landed a job at Wheelock in Boston, but soon realized
the unacceptable class prejudices that existed there. She quit and ended
up getting a job at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she
served as a professor in the Social Justice Program, the Director of the
Learning Disabilities Support Center and then a professor of special
education. She has also written several books and articles on reading,
language, disability issues, gender bias, class and more.

An excellent point that Prof. Silver made was the importance of literacy,
especially women's literacy. Her grandmother taught herself to read from
her children's school reading primers and by reading product labels. She
explained that increasing women's literacy leads to better nutrition and
care of families and better standard of living, as was evidenced in her
grandmother's life at the turn of the century and is now being recognized
in programs for developing countries that focus on the education of women.

It was a great first event for GWIS Boston and a wonderful opportunity to
meet some very interesting people.
 

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