blog@geibtechforlearning

Megan Brockman
Educ. 310 – ULV
February 6, 2006

Conclusions about feminism:

When I was in school I never experienced the gender bias in the classroom when it came to academics. They were certain “chores” that were assigned due to gender. I think the basis for the bias originally is that males were expected to be the breadwinners and therefore education and knowledge were considered more important. Education wasn’t considered as important for females because of the presumption that they would get married and raise children.

The tenets of the feminism movement were not about have more rights than males, only equal rights. The Gloria Steinems and the Betty Friedans were scorned by the Anita Bryants and the Phyllis Schlaflys. There was a misconception that equal rights would strip women of their ability to still be nurtured and protected by males. It was a threatening movement to men who feared women might take their place and for women who were intimidated by strong females.

This could be a reason why the pendulum swung in the direction of females when it came to education.

I don’t feel like I experienced much feminism in any of my classrooms. I’ve had a balanced number of male and female teachers. Maybe there was some feminism going on in elementary and junior high school maybe I was just wasn’t aware of it. I do feel that in my education there are more female students that have excelled. One reason I can say that is when I was in junior high school, I was the 8th grade class Vice President. There were no other male students in any of the other ASB positions.
I can start to see after talking in class and reading some of these articles how on average boys are lacking in education compared to girls. One of the reasons can be the overwhelming unbalanced ratio of women teachers to men teachers. Even in my own current work environment, women outnumber the men in our office.
I have experienced some sort of feminism in my own family growing up. I see how my grandmother favors her 4 sons over her 3 daughters even to this day. Her children are adults now and I still see it happening. She sees no wrong in her sons and is tough on her daughters. My sister and I feel my mother has favored our brother similarly. The hard part for me is to not try to over compensate in trying to be fair and favor my daughter(s) over my son(s) when I have children one day.

From the first day of kindergarten to the last day of high school, I was enrolled in a home school program. I participated in many extracurricular activities including gymnastics, Campfire Girls, and music. Due my to schooling and choice of activities I was never exposed to situations similar to a traditional classroom setting, and therefore I do not have as much experience with the issue of sex differences in the classroom as some other individuals might. Despite this, I have spent (lots of) time in college classrooms and I also spent several days per week (for the duration of a semester) in a second grade classroom. From my observations, I have come to believe that there are definite differences between the ways that boys and girls are treated in schools, but I’m not convinced that it is to the extent that either “traditional feminists” or the NEWSWEEK article imply.

The teacher of last semesters’ class told our cluster that in media, if “it bleeds, it leads”, meaning that the media often chooses to focus on the very worst case scenario, making a situation seem much more terrible than it actually is. In my opinion, that is the case regarding both the “traditional feminists” claims, as well as Newsweek’s. I believe that there is going to be sexism towards both/either genders in any situation as it is human nature to play favorites, even if it is wrong. The Feminist view makes it seem like girls are learning nothing in school, and are constantly being repressed. The Newsweek article leads you to believe that all boys are falling behind or failing in school. Neither of these are true to the extent they are implied, but both do have basis in fact (but on a much smaller scale).

The idea that females are still the “weaker” sex is still circulating through academia, but I would have to say I have experienced it coming from the students just as much, if not more that from the teachers I have met. Although I have had a relatively equal amount of male and female teachers, and all my classes (with the exception of one Child Development class) have been equally attended by both male and female students, sexism has still managed to worm its way into the classroom. In one class a female student was attempting to use the VCR for a presentation, but could not get it to function properly. Instead of asking for some help from anyone who knew how to fix the problem, she promptly asked, “Hey, can a guy come up here and help me?” Most of the girls in the class scoffed in offense, but several girls and guys acted like the statement she made was only natural.

Unfortunately, my experience with discrimination against females has not been confined to students alone. I have had several teachers who would react extremely differently to girls than they did to guys. And not all the teachers were female. I had a (female) English professor who adopted one of the males in the class as her favorite student, despite the fact that several of the girls, including myself, had writing skills that paralleled and / or exceeded the males. Eventually we were treated the same as the male, but only after “proving” ourselves to the teacher. Additionally, I had a male teacher who would interact with the male students as if they were on his level, but when a female would come up to the front of the classroom to ask him a question he would roll his eyes and proceed to ignore them (me!) completely. To say the least, it was unprofessional of the teachers, and quite frustrating from the students’ perspective.

On the opposite end of the argument, I have seen sexism directed towards boys in classroom settings. Girls are often seen as hardworking and studious, while boys are just fidgety with a short attention span. In some cases this is true, but I have known my fair share of girls that don’t study and don’t pay attention in class while the boy next to them has completed every assignment and extra credit opportunity that has been offered, shows up to class early, and takes notes dutifully. I have seen males fall into the whole “girls are more prepared” or “girls have better handwriting” routine, not because it has been in their experience but because that is what they have always been told. They expect that they won’t do as well as girls in a creative writing or poetry class, comforting themselves only in the fact that they anticipate to get A’s in their math and science classes (unlike their female counterparts).

Besides the sexism that is applied towards males in classroom settings by themselves and their peers, I have seen teachers who treat male differently for several reasons. The first reason is just because the student is male and the teacher has a preconceived notion about the student, whether or not that judgment ends up being true. The second is when teachers are trying so hard to treat females with the respect in the classroom that in the past was only reserved for males, that they neglect the males completely. I had a teacher that was so focused on treating the women in the class with respect, that he treated the men in the class like complete morons. He would praise the females on their work, telling the males in the class that their work was not up to par with the girls, and that they were not equal as students. He would call the males dumb and ugly, and was a much harder grader on a few of them that he deemed particularly unworthy due to their stereotypical “maleness”.

I think that sexism in schools is absolutely heartbreaking, whether it comes from the students or the faculty. If we could put aside gender altogether and just look at what type of learner the student is, then the school system would be a better place. We should evaluate students on an individual basis –looking at their preferred learning method, their attention span, as well as their strength and weaknesses. If this were done then the school system would be fulfilling its obligation to the students –to give them the best education possible. What a day it would be if advocates for females and advocates for males would unite and work towards a common goal—supporting not girls or boys but students.

Jaime Estrada

I agree with some key issues listed in the Newsweek article, but I disagree completely with others. When it comes to education, I mostly subscribe to the Conservative philosophy. I also believe, the problems in schools mentioned by Feminists have generally ended.

As a student, as an adult or child, I never experienced favoritism by teachers toward girls. The students were rated by how smart they were, and not by their sex. Its true most boys go through a rebellious period; like some say, “boys will be boys.” Following the Conservative ideology, order and discipline should be standard in the classroom. The teacher set the stage for learning. As I think back on my educational experience, the classrooms where the students were disruptive or not learning were the ones where the teacher did not have control.

The article mentions that boys are not only physically, but also biologically different than girls. This is true, but I also do not believe that this is a good enough reason to teach them separately. The boys have much to gain in learning how to interact with girls. However, I do believe in other things mentioned. The lack of supervision and discipline at home is a major contributor of how the child behaves and learns in school. The mother in the article is quick in blaming the “system” for her child’s low grades. “My son has fallen through the cracks.” The article also mentions she is a divorced mother. Unfortunately, in today’s society it’s very common to have a one parent family home. Typically the parent is stressed, over-worked and lacks the time to properly supervise the child’s academic progress. They also expect the school to teach the children good morals and values when this responsibility falls on the parents.

I have experience this with my own family. I have nephews and nieces who have graduated college, and others who have not. The ones who graduated college come from a two parent family who stressed the importance of a good education. The ones who did not, have a one parent family. These parents did not apply pressure to succeed; this is partly the reason why we have a high drop-out rate.

The Newsweek article points out statistics showing females rapidly out pacing males in academic standards. In the 1950’s this was the complete opposite. Now the important issue should be to treat both sexes equally, with discipline and encouragement.

Teachers need to focus on all their students and not just the male ones or the female ones. In an ideal world everyone would be treated equal. It seems that before the feminist movement girls were left in the dust and now boys are being left behind. Instead of focusing on the differences of the sexes we should be looking for ways that we can work together. The unfortunate thing about calling attention to the falling of our boys in school is that we might make the same mistake again and start to focus on the boys and not the girls. We need to find the balance between the extreme.

When I was in the sixth grade I was put in an experimental all girls’ math class. I did preform slightly better than in previous math classes. Maybe schools that are trying all male and female classes are on to something. I don’t think that all classes should be divided up this way because boys and girls do need to work together. But, when boys and girls are in the classroom together, especially in junior high and high school, it is hard to focus and teachers may play favorites. I am sure it’s hard for a teacher not to focus on a student who preforms well and behaves correctly. I don’t think that girls are the only ones favored. I have had both male and female teachers and I have seen favoritism played in classrooms regardless of the sex of the student. I can’t think of any particular teacher who focused on a girl or a boy just because they were a certain sex. Teachers just need to be hyper aware of how they come across to their students and their parents and be equal in all matters.

I personally didn’t notice girls being treated differently than boys in school. We had more classism issues. I attended catholic school and we were a poor family. When I got to high school it was different. Santa Clara High School was a big basketball school. The boys, no matter what sport, always had the nice uniforms and up to date equipment. Us girls were supposed to know our place and be happy to be in the shadows. I always knew it was unfair! I tried to not let it bother me but it always has.

I can honestly say that I have not experienced any feminism in school. I can’t recall any sort of feminist act from any of my grade school teachers or college professors. For example, last semester I took a Math class at V.C., the professor, Mr. B. was very strict with all students. One day one of the guys in the class told the professor he had missed class, and a quiz, because he had basketball practice, he was in the basketball team, the professor told the student he couldn’t make up the quiz because he knew the rules and they applied to all students.

I don’t understand the concept of teachers focusing on any particular gender. I believe that if you become an educator your main purpose and goal should be to teach all your students regardless of gender.

I have not experienced any feminism in a classroom at this moment. As growing and attending elementary school, every student was equal. The Teachers would pay more attention to the students who most needed their help, but it was never a girl preferred over a boy, or vise versa.
I fee that as a teacher and a student, you should not have a preference between genders. As a teacher you should value each student individually. I just do not think gender should be an issue when it comes to one’s education.

I have not experienced any feminism in a classroom at this moment. As growing and attending elementary school, every student was equal. The Teachers would pay more attention to the students who most needed their help, but it was never a girl preferred over a boy, or vise versa.
I fee that as a teacher and a student, you should not have a preference between genders. As a teacher you should value each student individually. I just do not think gender should be an issue when it comes to one’s education.

When I went to school in Mexico, I remember that my teacher never favored girls, never left the boys behind; they treated all of us equally. Even in those times were women where supposedly inferior, were they got married, stayed home to clean, cook and to take care of their children, teachers never favored any of the two sexes. I remember that they helped the ones that need more help, and more attention, without discriminating anyone.

It is mentioned in the article that boys are biologically, developmentally and psychologically different from a girl, well it is true but it doesn’t mean that boys need to be educated differently and separately. I think the problem starts at home; parents don’t discipline, supervise there children correctly and don’t understand them either. Boys are stronger them women; they are more impatient.

Sometimes socioeconomic problems at home can lead a child to be depressed, it could be that they have just one parent, or the economy at home it’s not so good. Especially boys at the age were they can start working they chose to work to help at home, its when these young men give up school.

I work in a hair salon, and lots of children, teenagers go to the salon; I usually ask them how they are doing at school, if they graduate from high school, and what they going to do afterwards. Some of the answers were, especially from the males, that they will start to work to help their family or not continue to go to school simply because they did not like it, they rather have more money now even if they do not like the job as long as it pays well. In society now, like before a women’s job and profession was at home, I believe boys are more of a position in which they need to work to help their families and the sad thing is that they start having a family to young, so they work to support their own children.

When I was working in a Junior High School in my hometown, I notice that the teachers were paying more attention to the students that were interested in learning; they were not favoring either the female or male. To me the problem in class was the lack of interest from a teacher to help the troubled students; they did not want to deal with them.

It’s not only at home, or schools that boys are behind in education, it’s also society that puts them in this position. We need to change this; we need to learn how to deal with this situation, how to help our children. As a teacher our job, goal is to educate our students no matter what gender they are.