We Are Not Created Equal In Every Way Summary

Seth Ryan

9/22/15

English 102

Tuesday/Thursday 9:30-10:30

A Critique of “We Are Not Created Equal in Every Way” In an opinion piece that was printed by the San Francisco Chronicle (12, December 2000) Joan Ryan asks: Does [a ballet school] have the right to give preference to leaner body types?” She replies with a firm “yes”. Ryan argues that these institutions have the right to establish whatever standards they want to ensure that those they receive have the qualities required for professional success. But she also says that some parents push their children to extreme to meet these standards. Ryan offers a questionable approach to sheltering children from the possible abuses of such parents. Overall, she brings up timely problems in discussing

Rejection however is an inevitable part of life, she writes, which is how she came to express the view that gives her essay its title, “We Are Not Created Equal in Every Way.” And because we are not created equal, not everyone will be admitted to their first choice of higher education or get a turn on the stage. That’s the undeniable consequence of setting standards: Some will rise to the challenge and be accepted and others will not. Ryan quotes the spokesperson who explained that the San Francisco Ballet School is “not a recreational department”(which parents should realize). In other words a professional ballet school, like a university, is within its rights to deny applicants with body types unsuited to its view of success in professional ballet. To put the matter bluntly, those with unsuitable body types, however talented or attractive, are less likely to be successful in professional ballet than those with “classical” proportions. Female dancers, for example, must be repeatedly lifted and carried by their male counterparts, a feat that is already difficult enough with even “leaner body types”. Ryan points out that those who don’t have the right body type for ballet are not banned from professional dance: “They just have to find a different type of dance…just as athletes have to find sports that fit certain body