 |
Speech |
|
|
Speech |
|
|
(For this speech, I used a prop, a cardboard "VCR," which I pretended to be advancing from one time period to the next.)
What do I want to be when I grow up? I'm glad you asked! To answer the question, I will tell you a story which I'm sure you will enjoy! It covers a period of at least 20 years. So, just the same as with a videotape, we will skip to the good part and fast forward over any dull parts.
("Advance VCR" to the first scene.) We'll stop first at ... Here we are, June 1964. I was a senior at Case Western University, then simply called Western Reserve.
A lot was happening in the nation at that time. We had just sent the first man ever into space. Most students on campus had gathered around the television set in the Student Union to watch in awe. A few months ago, a popular young President had been murdered. Everybody remembered where they were that day. The Civil Rights Movement was beginning. All these events made an impression on my young personality.
Personally, I was busy, too. I had been married less than a year. I was about to graduate from college with a brand-new Bachelor's Degree in Math. But, I had never really asked myself, what do I want to be when I grow up? It was time to ask and time was running out for an answer! What kind of job should I look for?
A friend, I don't even remember who it was, suggested that I look for a computer job. In June of 1964, computers were just starting to appear in the business world. There was not yet such a thing as a degree in Computer Science. Bravely, I went off into the grown-up world of interviews and resumes, holding out my B.A. in Math. I'll never forget the man who looked at me scornfully and said, "Mrs. Schubach, I have enough troubles in my department, without hiring a woman!" ... Hmmm ... I guess he told me ... Remember, this was before the days when you could sue for even subtly implying such a thing!
Shortly after that, I accepted a job at a large company, with the important-sounding title of Statistical Researcher. To my disillusionment, it turned out to be nothing more than copying lists of numbers. One day I naively asked a co-worker, "Why would they hire a college graduate for this job?" She looked at me really strange and explained incredulously, this was merely a woman's job, "Alice, you know no man would take this job."
By fall, I was working at Western Reserve. It was still clerical, but an improvement. I still didn't have a good answer to, "What do you you want to be when you grow up?"
("Advance VCR" again.) Let's fast-forward to December 1968 for the next episode.
Three and a half years later, my career path looked pretty much the same, but nationally a lot had changed. We were fighting an unpopular war in a little-known country in Asia. The fighting at home was almost as bitter as the fighting abroad, ometimes splitting up families. On the other hand, people still got excited whenever NASA sent up a space ship. In fact, we were getting close to actually landing a man on the moon, of all places!
What was different in my life was that I was about to have a baby. To be a full-time mother, this might be what I wanted to be when I grew up. One co-worker said to me in amazement, "Alice, I can't believe you are going to stay home and be a full-time Mommy." But, in the late 1960's, it really wasn't all that unusual. Since this would make a story in itself, we will fast-forward once again.
("Advance VCR," pretending to fine-tune it to the right time period.) Let's go ... 1970's ... 1980's ... 1986 ... too far, back up ... Here we are, fall 1984.
I had two wonderful children, both teenagers by now, no longer needing a full-time stay-at-home Mommy. I had come full circle. It was time to consider new career options. My education was outdated and had not been marketable originally. I had no recent paid job experience. I was too young to spend the rest of my life shopping and playing cards with other housewives. Once more, I had to ask, "What do I want to be when I grow up?"
Many things had changed in the last 20 years, including the world of computers. Now they were everywhere, even starting to appear in people's homes, in the public schools and in the aisles of shopping malls. Remember the Radio Shacks that always had a computer on display, as you walked through the mall? My children knew how to make these computers do something that, at the time, I thought was truly remarkable. They could program it to write their name continuously all over the screen! Later, I learned how easy this was, a simple 2-line program in a beginner's computer language.
(Demonstrate at board) 10 PRINT MY NAME IS ALICE
20 GO TO 10(Note to my web site readers: When the simple program ran, the results looked something like this.)
At the time, I was jealous and vowed to learn enough to keep up with them. This is what brought me to Cleveland State in the fall of 1984, studying Computer Science. The night before I started, I was as nervous as a 5-year old starting kindergarten. I worried out loud to my family, "What if I can't keep up with 'the other kids'? What if I don't know what to do?" These problems, of course, never materialized.
("Advance VCR" one more time.) Fast-forward finally to June 1988. I was not planning to attend my graduation at Cleveland State. I casually mentioned this to my family. They were shocked! The unanimous reply was, "Of course, you want to attend! You've worked so hard and we're proud of you!" Shortly after graduation, I accepted a good job as a computer programmer at Society Bank, solving my career problems. I wonder if the man who turned me down 30 years ago ever solved his personnel problems.
I was motivated to tell this story by an amusing incident at work. A young co-worker was talking about the internal training program he had just completed. When I casually added my own experience in it, he was confused! "I don't understand! Have they been doing this so long? I thought it was something new." After I finished laughing, I explained.
So there you have it! Aren't you glad you asked me what I want to be when I grow up?
A note of interest: After I gave this speech, one of the young woman members of our club approached me. She said, she was really surprised, to hear that there used to be such prejudice against women in the workplace!)
