I've had miscellaneous recognitions across the years, to the point that my parents were somewhat nonchalant when I received another academic award. The evening though that I announced that I had been given the Betty Crocker Homemaker of the Future award, my father had a somewhat unkind reaction. "How did you get that one?" he asked.
"They made us take a multiple choice test," I answered.
"Oh, that explains it, then!"
Not kind, Papa, not kind. But all of us senior girls had been made to take a multiple choice test (no opting out, and of course, no boys!). The questions included things like, if a twelve ounce can cost 35 cents and a 32 ounce can cost 80 cents, which one costs less per ounce? and what would be the best source of protein: celery, potatoes, milk or carrots? In other words, it tested general knowledge and a bit of reasoning.
I never made very much of it (well, how could I??) but thirty years later I jokingly mentioned it as one of my early accomplishments. To my surprise several other women who were professors chimed in, "I was one, too!" It turned out to be our slightly silly secret that as teenagers Betty Crocker had seen potential in us - we just had used that potential in a different way.
(over the fold for why it matters here)
I took that test in 1968. So far as I can tell they were still giving out the award in the seventies - perhaps a Kosniac can help us pin down its last sitting more precisely. This little award is an emblem to me of the times I grew up in and how things have changed along the way. Betty Crocker knew that lots of girls knew quite a bit about quite a variety of things - she just thought there were highly precise limits on how we would use that knowledge. I found it touching to hear of how many of my colleagues had been as good as I was at transgressing those expectations. I am delighted that girls and boys stand on level ground now for the recognitions of talent and potential, at least the ones with formal requirements - and equally delighted that my son is interested in becoming as good a cook as his father is.
What have been your experiences with expectations? Share them in the comments, and take the poll!