Left in a lurch, a sinister student speaks

By Andrew Neumann
Collegian Staff
April 4, 2007

Over the last 50 years, this country has made great strides in breaking down prejudice. Racial, gender and social equality have not yet been achieved, but we’re getting there. However, there is one group of people that is still widely discriminated against, both nationally and here at La Salle.

It is hard for us to play sports, take tests or even use computers on campus. But no one has a day for us. No one passes out fliers or organizes protests on our behalf. Our situation is simply the cross we bear.

In case you haven’t figured out what group I’m talking about yet, I’m referring to left-handed people. Lefties comprise roughly eight to 15 percent of the adult population in the world, yet are widely ignored. Kitchen knives, scissors and other household appliances are almost impossible to use.

In grade school, teachers do not teach left-handed children how to write properly because most of them are right-handed themselves. This results in kids curling their hand around the pencil in order to write like a right-hander. The problem with this is that it’s uncomfortable, and also causes the hand to be dragged through the writing, which usually leads to black smudges on the outside of the palm. Most right-handed people would never even think of problems like this because everything has been manufactured with them in mind.

There has also historically been a precedent of considering left-handed people as strange or even evil. Up until only about 25 years ago, Catholic school children were not allowed to write with their left hands because it was considered unnatural. Using archaic dogma, these school teachers forced young children to write with the non-dominant hand, which is difficult and hard to learn. In other cultures, it is impolite to use the left hand in proper society because that hand is supposed to be used only for “unclean work,” like using the bathroom. In certain sports, such as polo, left-handed play is forbidden. Even in baseball, where southpaws are valued as pitchers, left-handed people still cannot play third base, shortstop, second base or catcher due to the angles at which plays must be made.

I would love to say that things are better at La Salle, but, sadly, there are still a lot of obstacles that lefties face. Perhaps the most egregious affront is the lack of left-handed desks in the academic buildings. Some classes have a few desks that are designed for a lefty, but most rooms don’t have any. This is very problematic during tests. Having to write a series of essays in a timed exam with nothing to support your writing hand is not the easiest thing in the world. Usually it requires propping the arm up with the knee, which is uncomfortable and strange looking.

Also, the layout of the computers in the Connelly Library and the Wister Lab means that we always have to go in and flip the mouse to the other side of the keyboard. This is especially difficult when the cord is so tight that the mouse cannot move. And finally, the intramural baseball field is laid out in such a way that lefties are forced to use a smaller bat, and only get a single for hitting a ball into right field that would have been a home run for a righty hitting the ball to left field.

My point in all this is not to complain (well, yes it is), but also to plead my right-handed colleagues to realize that there are lefties in the world who need your help. Next time you leave a computer, flip the mouse to the other side in case a lefty is coming in behind you. If you work in an office, make sure that there are left-handed supplies as well as the normal ones. If you’re an education major, make sure you learn the right way to teach left-handed kids how to write (tilt the paper, not the hand).

In closing, I will leave you with one fact that states the case against our further marginalization: in America, left-handed men with a college degree are 26 percent richer than right-handed men with the same degree. So, I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

neumanna1@lasalle.edu