Why must I be a freshman next
year?
Well, because I’ll be enrolling
in my first year of college. Yes, I know that. My question centers not on the
existentialist quality of being a freshman, but the language of it. Why must I
be a freshman?
According to dictionary.com, the
word freshman comes from the words fresh (as in new) and man
(as in not woman), and has been used to refer to first year university students
since the 1590s. This term is clearly a relic of ye olden dayes when higher
education was a realm solely accessibly to (rich, upper class, white,
able-bodied) men. Although we have abolished or significantly limited the usage
of numerous gender-insensitive terms over the years, freshman is still
the only way mainstream American society refers to ninth graders and first year
college students. Even extremely liberal colleges that generally bend over backwards
to be politically correct use the word freshman.
For colleges that are supposed to be bastions of left-wing enlightenment, I’m surprised
that they use such a dated, sexist term.
Since this has irked me since I
was a mere ninth grader in high school, I have traditionally replaced freshman
with freshperson. Honestly, it’s become second nature to type in person
instead of man after the fresh. However, I am completely aware of
how awkward freshperson sounds and how ridiculous it looks to
non-feminists.
As a result, I have begun to use the
less-clunky term first year. It’s the same amount of syllables as freshman,
can be used in the same contexts, and doesn’t sound weird or affected at all. Some
colleges, like Wesleyan and Sarah Lawrence, actually use it. I really do think
that it’s a viable alternative to the word freshman, and could be used
instead.
So, college representatives
reading this piece: please, take my suggestion to heart. At least reconsider what
you call your first year students. Make a concerted effort to include
approximately 50% of your admitted students. It’s the appropriate thing to do
in the 21st century.
I once saw the term "fresher" used in a novel to describe first year college students of either gender. After reading that I called myself a fresher all through my first year of high school, much to my family's dismay.
ReplyDeleteI believe "fresher" is the term used in the UK. It is a good, gender-neutral alternative!
DeleteBarnard uses the term "first year." It's like Hogwarts :)(By the way I don't know where you plan on going to college but you would love Barnard - great Jewish community and great feminist pride).
ReplyDeleteWhen doing research for this post, I noticed that a lot of women's colleges use "first year" rather than "freshman." I guess that makes sense, but it would be great if "first year" was more commonly used. And it would be especially epic because, I mean, HOGWARTS.
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