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UO campus discriminates against left-handedness
Guest Commentary
by Aaron McCoy |
PUBLISHED ON 5/21/07 IN Commentary
Every time I go to a large lecture hall I am discriminated against. In 100 Willamette, there are 30 left-handed desks out of 150. In 150 Columbia, there are over 500 desks, but only a handful are suited for left-handed students. Uninformed right-handed students haplessly sit at the end of rows, where the few lefty-style seats are located, because it's either easier to ditch when the lecture gets boring or easier to bolt for the door when the class ends.
Discrimination of lefties has been prevalent throughout the last two thousand years. Elementary school teachers still hit lefties for writing with the "sinister" hand; power tools maim, mangle, and kill lefty construction workers; and the overwhelming presence of right-hand specific objects (scissors, guitars, notebooks, computer mice, driving with the right foot) squashes any identity of the left-handed person. Language reflects a bias as well. "Ambidextrous" means "right-handed at both sides", since "dexter" is the Latin root for "right". "Sinister" originally meant "left" in Latin but eventually was identified with "evil".
The University of Oregon has done nothing to further the cause of the left-handed minority or stop oppression perpetrated by the right-handed majority. All we get is a half-hearted attempt at appeasement, with the placement of a handful of lefty desks in large lecture halls and, if we're lucky, one or two in other classrooms on campus. The administration needs to wake up and realize that by blatantly ignoring a group of students who are statistically more prone toward genius and higher levels of creativity (the exact population that needs to attend the University), they are harming the intellectual integrity of America and fundamentally denying left-handed students a chance to reach their full potential.
Aaron McCoy
University student
Discrimination of lefties has been prevalent throughout the last two thousand years. Elementary school teachers still hit lefties for writing with the "sinister" hand; power tools maim, mangle, and kill lefty construction workers; and the overwhelming presence of right-hand specific objects (scissors, guitars, notebooks, computer mice, driving with the right foot) squashes any identity of the left-handed person. Language reflects a bias as well. "Ambidextrous" means "right-handed at both sides", since "dexter" is the Latin root for "right". "Sinister" originally meant "left" in Latin but eventually was identified with "evil".
The University of Oregon has done nothing to further the cause of the left-handed minority or stop oppression perpetrated by the right-handed majority. All we get is a half-hearted attempt at appeasement, with the placement of a handful of lefty desks in large lecture halls and, if we're lucky, one or two in other classrooms on campus. The administration needs to wake up and realize that by blatantly ignoring a group of students who are statistically more prone toward genius and higher levels of creativity (the exact population that needs to attend the University), they are harming the intellectual integrity of America and fundamentally denying left-handed students a chance to reach their full potential.
Aaron McCoy
University student
Viewing Comments 1 - 9 of 12
Eric Cook
posted 5/21/07 @ 12:57 PM PST
Finally, its about time somebody said it.
Lisa
posted 5/21/07 @ 4:54 PM PST
Is this serious? I'm left handed and have never felt discriminated against. I went to school here and have always been content using right handed desks. (Continued…)
MCC
posted 5/21/07 @ 6:10 PM PST
Thank you, Aaron, for this enlightening article! It is about time someone spoke up against this institutionalized discrimination. The left-handists are done with being oppressed by the right-hand society. (Continued…)
Brandon
Brandon
posted 5/21/07 @ 10:06 PM PST
It's not like we're denying lefties the right to vote. Or denying their right to live. I sat in a lefty desk one day and i wrote just the same as i would have in a normal desk. (Continued…)
xodesi
Meggerz
posted 5/21/07 @ 10:59 PM PST
Look, we gave you lefty desks didn't we? Why don't you just take classes only in those lecture halls? Or maybe you just WANT to feel discriminated against, eh, Mr. (Continued…)
Brandon
posted 5/22/07 @ 5:28 PM PST
The University is a business, they're after money, in exchange for money, they offer services, how is that not a business?
Romance languages also relay of each other. (Continued…)
tomstevens55
Thomas Stevens
posted 5/22/07 @ 6:58 PM PST
If people are upset about not having "left-handed" desks, all they need to do is contact the "Office of Disabilities", not that being left-handed is a disability, but at least they can help. (Continued…)
Handoligist
posted 5/23/07 @ 3:03 AM PST
Your claim of handism is really offensive to me. I was shocked reading this. In fact I got kind of upset and started crying. I cannot believe that the ODE would publish such an obviously handist piece of disasterous writing. (Continued…)
Lazlo
posted 5/23/07 @ 6:50 AM PST
It makes my chest swell with pride to see how many students are availing themselves of advanced gullibility courses.
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