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How does gender play a part in education
Differences in education for males and females
How does gender play a part in education
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When looking at like, as a whole, the differences between men and women seem small. Even insignificant when a step is taken back and the real issues that concerns the daily lives of human beings are thought of. Life, death, family, survival in general as the world changes. As has been said before, the more that changes the more that stays the same. The issues confronting men and women and the education process are complicated ones. Some claim that men (boys) have had centuries of preferential treatment in institutional learning settings. That feeling has led to a shift of thinking in the educational system. As a shift of thinking happened to attempt to become more inclusive for girls, it left some thinking, of course, that things had gone too far. Making an effort to level the educational system does not mean things have gone too far. It must be realized that gender differences are here to stay in combined schools and the dynamic should be embraced to improve education for all.
Even discussing the topic of gender roles in school can bring out the worst of stereotypes concerning the two sexes. Boys like to play with cars and trucks and play sports while girls like to sit in corners and brush their doll’s hair while being sweet and quite. Neither of those scenarios are correct, yet it cannot be denied that there are real difference between the sexes that act upon the quality of education.
Differences are there but is there any need to skew education towards one gender or another? Virginia Bonomo in her 2010 article titled, Gender Matters in Elementary Education: Research-Based Strategies to Meet the Distinctive Learning Needs of Boys and Girls said, “Research indicates that gender influences how children learn. Those findings ...
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... said to demean women and young girls. Words, that might perpetuate the myth that men and women are different. Words that might have more than one interpretation. Dangerous words. Evil words. Malevolent words. Words like mailman. Workman. Manager. Manhole cover. Manly. Caveman.” The added tension in the classroom over political correctness is not going to assist in the process of making education better for either sex.
It is easy to say that boys are not being short changed in school, but it is difficult to find why they are showing a trend of underperforming compared to females. There are biological factors at play the cause them to be misclassified and placed in special education. The facts though do not prove that this is due to more a focus on girls in the classroom. A solution can be reached so that all students no matter the gender get the proper education.
Gerry Garibaldi, a high school teacher and Michael Kimmel, a professor of sociology both explain how the consequences of the feminism movement are harming boys in school and later in life. Kimmel and Garibaldi present their views on the gender education problems in their articles “How The Schools Shortchange Boys” and “A War Against Boys”. Both make passionate arguments and prove that boys are at a disadvantage in modern feminized classrooms. Kimmel’s arguments about the problems boys face in the American educational system are more convincing than Garibaldi’s, because his style of argumentation is more objective, supported by more statistics, and provides unbiased restatement of opposing views.
It is a common phenomenon in coed schools that when an instructor asks a girl to answer a question in a science or math class, some boys always interrupt and answer that question correctly. Many girls at that moment may feel embarrassed, frightened, and even want to be invisible. In many cases, instructors do not punish the boys for their rude behaviors. As The learning environment and teachers’ attitude make girls feel pressure and decrease their Learning enthusiasm. As a result, girls and boys receive a different education even though they have the same class. In the U.S., the discrepancy in academic performance persists across gender. In order to close the gap and provide an equitable and quality education
To remove this gender difference the national curriculum, and programs such as the “Girls into science and technology” was introduced. The national curriculum helped girls under achievement. Today girls are now outperforming boys. However there is still a clear difference in subject choice by gender. Girls still tend to study and take up careers in the arts and social science where as males study science and technological subjects in higher education.
All children are made differently, but the gender does not play a role in how well they do in school. For example, “upon entering school, girls perform equal to or better than boys on nearly every measure of achievement, but
Sadker, Myra, David Sadker, and Susan Klein. "The Issue of Gender in Elementary and Secondary Education." Review of Research in Education 17 (1991): 269. JSTOR. Web. 14 Mar. 2012.
Because young boys are more active they often are disciplined, while girls are often quieter and naturally become a teacher’s favorite. This causes problems because classrooms naturally become more attuned to a girl’s style of learning, leaving young boys behind in the classroom from an early age. “Boy Problems” by Ann Hulbert goes into detail over the increasing “gender educational disparity.” Hulbert gives the reader useful information about how and why men are falling behind and the increasing gender differences in education. When fixing a problem one must first realize the problem exists. Now that the problem has come to light, action must be
Brooks argues that male and female brains work and experience things differently. He suggests that this theory is also the reason as to why young girls are surpassing their male counterparts in school settings. He incorrectly assumes that by separating males and females, males will be allowed to break free from gender stereotypes. Brooks strengthens his argument with results of brain research on sex differences. But, Brook’s argument is unpersuasive. He categorizes all young males, and suggest that single sex-schools are the best solution for them. He wants to apply a black-and-white solution to something that is just not that simple. While Brooks uses comparisons and surveys to convince the reader, his argument simply does
Education was sex segregated for hundreds of years. Men and women went to different schools or were physically and academically separated into “coeducational” schools. Males and females had separate classrooms, separate entrances, separate academic subjects, and separate expectations. Women were only taught the social graces and morals, and teaching women academic subjects was considered a waste of time.
Sending a child to a gender based school, is a very big decision to make. The decision is so big, that looking at what research has to say about the topic could alter one’s decision to send their child to a gender based school. “Educators must apply different approaches in teaching make, and female students” (Gurian). This is said by Gurian, because he also believes that boys and girls learn differently. “Social pressures can be gentler and your child can learn at his own pace” (Kennedy).
Same sex classes make it possible for teachers to cater to student needs in a more efficient way. In general boys benefit from hands on learning, but girls benefit from calm discussions (Mullins 3). Girls tend to doubt themselves while boys think they can do anything. Boys need to be brought down from the clouds while girls need to be dug out of a hole (Mullins 3). David Chadwell says, "Structure and connection are two key concepts when examining gender in the classroom. All students certainly need both, but it seems that teachers need to consider the issue of structure more with boys and the issue of connection more with girls" (7), and Kristen Stanberry’s research has shown, "Some research indicates that girls learn better when classroom temperature is warm, while boys perform better in cooler classrooms. If that's true, then the temperature in a single-sex classroom could be set to optimize the learning of either male or female students" (1). These observations further support the idea that same sex classrooms can cater to student’s...
All people deserve the right of education equality no matter gender, race or financial income. According to the daily star, by 2015 only seventy percent of countries will have achieved equality between the sexes in primary education and fifty six percent will have achieved equality in lower secondary education. Education equality is one of the main problems in school systems. Despite progress in recent years girls still suffer a lot of disadvantage in education systems. While gender equality in education remains a crucial issue for many countries women still account for two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population.
Girls are seen as caring, nurturing, quiet, and helpful. They place other’s needs above their own. Girls get ahead by hard work, not by being naturally gifted. Boys are seen as lazy, but girls are seen as not capable. In class, teacher will call on boys more than they call on girls. Boys are seen as better at math and science; while girls are better at reading and art. This bias is still at work even out of the classroom. There are more males employed at computer firms than women. The ratio of male to female workers in STEM fields is 3-1. In college, more women major in the humanities than in the sciences. In education, women are often seen as lesser than; even though 65% of all college degrees are earned by women. Women are still often seen as needing to be more decorative than intellectual, as represented by the Barbie who included the phrase, “Math is hard!” and the shirt that JC Penneys sold that said, “I’m too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me.” While there was a backlash on both items, it points out that there is a great deal of work to do on the educational gender bias to be
Women, Girls, Boys and Men today face a variety of different issues in contemporary american society. Many of the problems that they face are regarding gender and cultural issues. Today we say that both genders are equal but in reality they are really not. We have both girls and both falling behind in school because of these cultural issues. According to David Brooks article titled “Honor Code,” the reason why boys especially, are falling behind in education is because of the way the education system is set-up. He states that schools today proclaim that they are diverse, but in fact they have become “homogeneous,” they only cater to students who are “nurturing, collaborative, disciplined, neat, studious, industrious and ambitious.” He says that those who do not fit in with those categories are left behind, they become disconnected and eventually withdraw completely from their education. It has become a huge problem in the U.S, where colleges are lowering their admission standards just so they can admit more men. Mr. Brooks says the problems with boys is that they are naturally aggres...
This problem occurs in schools everywhere and is starting to become more evident in today's society. The problem is that boys and girls learning potential are not being reached when put into the same teaching atmosphere. Girls seem to be out smarting boys in many classes. While boys excel in math and sciences and girls seem to be better in English. The styles in which boys and girls feel comfortable with are extremely different. The learning styles of girls usually contain socializing and context. For instance, most girls like to talk in small groups about the current discussion. They also like hands on activities or real life situations to compare things to. Boys are confrontational and formal. They need to be challenged by their teachers to help motivate them to become better students and be prepared. In contrast girls do not like to be confronted by teachers who are asking for an immediate answers. In most cases, girls seem to be more reserved and modest than boys about their intelligence ("What are someÉ) are. Their differences may not seem evident but make a difference to reaching their highest learning potential.
The reality that boys are failing, especially through elementary, middle, and high school, strikes many as news. Richard Whitmire, author of Why Boys Fail, cites teachers’ experience that have noticed distinct differences between boys and girls. He presents multiple witnesses of boys’ and girls’ education, one of which is Kenneth Dragseth, the superintendent of schools in Edina, MN. In 2001, He noticed the disparity between the participation of girls and boys in education. He first noted the recipients of almost all academic achievements and scholarship awards were girls. Dragseth initiated specific research into the disparity between boys and girls, and discovered even more details. In a study, he further discovered that girls earned honors awards far more than men, while boys earned suspensions far more than ...