Page 81 - Think 3. Teacher's Book B3+

Unit 7
Breaking away Reading; Speaking

Culture notes BREAKING AWAY UNIT 7
Kathrine Switzer, born 1947 in RULES
Germany, is an American marathon CHANGING THE
runner, writer and television
personality. In 1967, she became
the second woman to run the A CHANGING THE MARATHON
Boston Marathon and the first as In 1967, runner 261 was just one of hundreds of competitors in
a numbered entrant. (Bobbi Gibb the Boston Marathon – KV Switzer. But something was different.
had run unregistered in 1966.) In The race started and soon spectators and photographers realised
that KV Switzer was … a woman.
1974, she was the women’s winner Back then, there was no rule that women couldn’t run official
of the New York City Marathon. Her long-distance races – they simply didn’t, and many thought they
wouldn’t want to. When Kathrine Switzer registered for the
personal best time for a marathon marathon, she wrote her initials as she always did, so no one found
was at Boston in 1975, when she ran out she was a woman. When she showed up for the race, none of the
it in 2:51:37. In 1968, Switzer married race officials noticed, so when the starter fired the gun, she set off.
But after about six kilometres, an official called Jock Semple wanted
Tom Miller, the man who had shoved to make her stop. He ran out, grabbed her and tried to pull her off
officials for her while running the the road. Switzer’s friend Tom Miller pushed Semple away, and Switzer
carried on running. She finished the race in 4 hours 20 minutes.
Boston Marathon in 1967, although After the race, Switzer was banned from entering athletics events
they later divorced. because she had run with men. However, newspaper reports of
her run made many people question their ideas about women and
The Boston Marathon is an annual running. In 1972, public opinion forced the organisers of the Boston
marathon race that was established Marathon to let women compete. One of them was Switzer. Later, she
went on to play an important role as a campaigner, which led to the
in 1897 with just 15 participants. It is first ever women’s Olympic marathon in the 1984 Games.
the world’s oldest annual marathon In 2017, Switzer ran the Boston Marathon again, aged 70. She finished
and one of the world’s best-known in 4 hours 44 minutes. And the organisers retired number 261 – no
one will use that number again.
road racing events. It is always
held on Patriots’ Day – the third B MALE STUDENT IN AN ALL-WOMEN COLLEGE
Monday of April – and now attracts Joe Hogan took up nursing as a young man. He didn’t have many qualifications, but he started working at
an average of 30,000 participants a community hospital in Mississippi, US. In 1981, he decided that he wanted to get higher qualifications.
each year. In 2015, about 46% of the He didn’t have enough money to go to medical school, so he applied for a course in nursing. One option he
had was to enrol at the University of Mississippi, but that was almost 200 km away from his home. He didn’t
entrants were female. want to move, or to travel that far every day – so he applied to the Mississippi University for Women (MUW).
The Mississippi University for Women MUW leaders turned him down – as a college for women only, it did not allow men to study there. But Joe
didn’t give up. He went to court, but he lost the first time. He went to court again and in 1982, after a year
was established in 1884 in Columbus, of arguments, a panel of nine judges decided that MUW had to accept Joe as a student. The president of
Mississippi, USA. During the 2005– MUW (a man) was furious, and many of the students (women) thought the decision was wrong and that
the college should not let Hogan enrol. But the college, in the end, had
06 academic year, MUW’s student no choice – and Hogan joined. MUW ended up accepting men on all its
body was about 15% male. courses (not just nursing) and now a small number of men study there.
The college has not changed its name, however.
Mississippi University for Women
v. Hogan (1982) is a legal case in SPEAKING
which the US Supreme Court ruled 8 Work in pairs. Discuss these questions.
(5–4) that the single-sex admissions 1 If you could meet either Switzer or Hogan, which one would you choose?
policy of MUW, a publicly funded What questions would you ask her or him?
women’s university, violated the 2 Do you know any stories about someone who tried to change a situation
they thought was wrong? Tell your partner.
equal protection clause of the 14th
Amendment to the United States 67
Constitution.

Activity idea An interview
8 At the end of the exercise, Students could act out an interview with either Kathrine or Joe. Divide the class
listen to some of the students’ into four groups: A (Kathrine), B (Joe), C (Reporter to Kathrine) and D (Reporter
ideas and encourage open class to Joe). Ask groups C and D to look at the relevant text again and write down
discussion. five questions to ask Kathrine/Joe. Ask group A to look at the texts again and
find key information about Kathrine and group B about Joe in preparation for an
Homework interview. Monitor to make sure all the students are making notes and help with
ideas if necessary. Put the students in A/C and B/D pairs and give them time to
Ask students to research someone act out the interview.
who has tried to change a situation
they thought was wrong. As a follow-
up, students can present this person
to the class in the next lesson.
more

Worksheets
Project People who changed the world
Communication All the same?
Get ing Who is the oldest person you
know?

Unit 7 | Breaking away T67