As a child going through public education, from kindergarten to my senior year of high school, I noticed an undeniable trend with my instructors. In elementary school (six years) I had all female teachers, 11 in total. Once I got to middle school (three years), I had a few male but most female instructors: 3 male, 19 female. And then in high school (I only attended two years of before enrolling in college), I had more male teachers than I did female: 10 male, 7 female. This trend continued into college where I have an equal distribution of male and female instructors. I believe that this trend is not accidental but a manifestation of our society’s gender roles. As anthropology major, gender roles and how they interact with activities such as education are important. This essay will evaluate the history of education in the United States and Sambia with an emphasis on the anthropological theme of gender and then compare and contrast their intersection.
The first public school built in the United States, back in the colonial days, was Boston Latin School in 1635 [Boston]. The school most likely only admitted students who could already read and write, suggesting that home schooling was essential. However, from the mid-1600s to the mid-1800s, public schools were virtually non-existent, and the educational needs of America were satisfied at home through the purchasing of books [Peterson]. Parents felt that it was their responsibility to teach their children how to make a living, and how to live. And so the Bible was the most important influence on the lives of Anglo-American children. Early American education was based on the principle of voluntarism. Since women were not expected to be working outside of the home or bringing in incom...
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...sions/Churchwide-Organization/Global-Mission/Where-We-Work/Asia/Papua- New-Guinea/Mission-History.asp&xgt;.
Robert, Peterson. "Education in Colonial America." This Week in History. TJ ED, n.d. Web. 17 Nov 2011. .
Stockard. Ed. Globalization and Change in Fifteen Cultures. Sambia, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Change. Herdt, Stople. Belmont, CA: Eve Howard, 2007. Print.
Waldrip, Bruce G., Joe T. Timothy, and Wilson Wilikai. "Pedagogic Principles in Negotiating Cultural Conflict: A Melanesian example." International Journal of Science Education 29.1 (2007): 101-122. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 18 Oct. 2011.
Weiler, Kathleen. "The Historiography of Gender and Progressive Education in the United States." Paedagogica Historica 42.1/2 (2006): 161-176. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 18 Oct. 2011.
Gender, social status, and the region in which a child lived determined how much schooling a child would receive and where and how they would get it. Children of the upper class were either taught in private schools or by a tutor. They were taught reading, writing, prayers, and simple math ("Education") . They were taught using repetition from the Bible, a religion-based reading supplement called a primer, and/or a paddle-shaped (also religious) horn book ("Schooling"). The upper-class boys were taught more advanced academic subjects, and may have been sent to boarding school in England or another state. The girls were taught to assume the duties of a wife and mother and obtained basic knowledge so they could read the Bible and record expenses ("Education"). While the south had very few laws for education because of its population, the middle and northern colonies (and then states) had established guidelines for their citizens. Pennsylvania's Law of 1683 set a monetary penalty for any parent whose children could not read and write by age twelve, and who were not taught a useful trade. By 1642 the northern colonies had already mandated a public education or apprenticeship for children, one grammar school for towns with more that one-hundred families, and an elementary school for towns with more than fifty.
During early colonial America, schooling was not mandatory and it was primarily given to the wealthy Anglo-Saxon children (Carlson, p230). Children were mainly taught in the home or in a single room schoolhouse. Therefore, children of limited mental capability were not likely to be schooled. Also, in a non-graded schoolhouse, children of differing abilities did not pose problems.
The American school system is no stranger to criticism, but everybody seems to have a distinct idea of what should be done to improve it. It was not too long ago that we had no public schooling system at all. A man would change that forever, immortalizing himself as the “father” of American education. It was surprising to me that I had never heard of this man, especially considering I had finished my journey through free and compulsory education two years ago. The man who went on to change American education, was Horace Mann, the first Secretary of the Board of Education in Massachusetts.
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.
Jeynes, William. American Educational History: School, Society, and the Common Good. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2007.
Women in America do not have to worry about a terrorist group coming and taking their rights away. They have a government that protects them from these groups and makes sure they have the same rights as others. In the Middle East, especially Afghanistan and Pakistan, women are scared to speak too loudly. These women live in fear each day of their lives because if they make one small mistake it could mean their life. Yet, there are some people who are fighting for women’s rights, especially women’s education. Malala Yousafzai is a girl who fought for women’s education. At the age of eleven, Malala began writing a blog for BBC Urdu. The blog described how she was upset that women’s education under the Taliban would be forced to stop. Malala also appeared on national television talking about women’s education. She has become a symbol of resistance against the Taliban. Even after Malala was put on the Taliban’s hit list, she continues to speak out about what she felt needed to be said. Malala would give her life for this cause, and she almost did. On October 9, 2012, Malala was on her way home from her morning classes when a man walked on to her bus and asked, “Who is Malala”. When she said it was her he shot her. The bullets hit her head and her leg. The Taliban ordered for her to be shot because she was promoting western culture in Pashtun areas. In another case Mukhtar Mai stood up for women’s rights and was sexually assaulted by multiple men with orders from the tribal council. The tradition in Mukhtar’s tribe was that a woman who is sexually assaulted by multiple men should kill herself, but instead of committing suicide she fought for her cause (Samira 28-30). Although the Taliban restricts women’s education for religious reaso...
Different ideas were being expressed through The Second Great Awakening. The religious focus was now turning to God’s mercy and benevolence, which sparked other beliefs and ideas. People started believing that they could control their own fate. Worship services consisted of singing hymns and personal testimonies to make it more emotional. Many found religion as a soft comfort during the difficulties of this time period. Charles Finney was one of the most effective evangelists of the time. He entertained and edified, preached on conviction, repentance, and reformation (DOC B). The belief that parents could contribute to their child’s salvation led women to want to spiritually educate their children. Spiritually educating led to the belief that education was important. Schools were started to educate children while they were young. Many lower-class families had to go to high extremes to put their children in school. Children were needed to help work in the homes, but families saw that education was important, and they would allow their children to attend half a day or more of schooling (DOC E). Religion and education was becoming better known throughout society. America saw they needed to apply higher principles to gain benefits of the highest physical, intellectual, and moral education in order to be a gre...
Public schools originated in 1647 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and soon spread across New England. They began with an elementary school for every fifty families and a Latin school for every one hundred families. Their mission was to “ensure that Puritan children learn to read the Bible and receive basic information about their Calvinist religion.”1 By 1840, conflict was at a climax in New York City. The public schools had taken on a “common school” education that included a nondenominational course of religious instruction. This meant “students would recite a few basic prayers and read passages from the Protestant, King James Bible without commentary or interpretation.”2 This did not please the some 200,000 Roman Catholics within the city who had serious objections to Protestant “non-sectarianism”2.
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
In November of 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, I entered the world as the child of Abigail May and Bronson Alcott, about a year after my sister Anna had been born. In addition to Anna, I had two younger sisters, Elizabeth and May. At the time, my father “was one of the most respected and sought-after men in Boston” (Cheever 6). He had opened a progressive elementary school named the Temple School in which the basis of learning was through exploration of stories and poems by analyzing the meaning of the words; typical education of the time included primarily reading, writing, and arithmetic (“Education”). He and my mother were both committed to educational reform by way of progressive education, a similarity in their morals which brought
In his article, “The Gender Gap at School,” David Brooks scrutinizes common gender roles and introduces the idea that biological factors may play a role in human development. He begins his essay by analyzing the three gender segregated sections in any airport, which include the restrooms, security pat-down areas, and the bookstore. He goes on to explain that the same separation occurs in the home. Brooks includes a study given to nine hundred men and women who were asked to name their favorite novel. The study determined that men preferred novels written by fellow men, whereas women favored books written woman.
The androcentric view of history often fails to acknowledge the achievements of notable women who have made profound impacts that have revolutionized the way in which we see the world, as well as the universe. Although the modernized 21st century society is more apt to recognize the achievements of women with an equivocal perspective with men, it was not always so. During the early 20th century, women were consistently denied equality with men due to a perverse androcentric, male-dominated perspective that deemed women as subordinate and insignificant. This androcentric perspective limited the opportunities available to women at the time, leaving them only with domestic occupations that were deemed acceptable for women such as nurses, teachers or clerics. Very few women aspired for higher education, and even fewer achieved it. There were very few colleges that accepted women at the time, save for those erected for women alone. It is because of this, women rarely e...
Colonial education is way different than education now. Colonial education was when boys had more education than girls. It was the upper class children whose parents paid for them to go to school. Boys learned higher math, Greek, Latin, science, geography, history, fencing, plantation management, etc... They also could go to England for more education or stay and help run the plantation. Girls learned art, music, French, needlework, cooking, nursing, etc… But they didn’t get the choice to go to England. Colonial education is important to know about because it can let some people be more appreciative about how education now is fair. Colonial education was one thing, but present education is a whole different thing.
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...
The first all female schools began in the early 1800’s. These academies favored more traditional gender roles, women being the home makers and the men being the bread winners. The first generation of educated women was the result of single-sex colleges in 1873. Wendy Kaminer, an investigative journalist, states that “single-sex education was not exactly a choice; it was a cultural mandate at a time when sexual segregation was considered only natural” (1). Women of this time were technically not allowed to attend school with males. Feminists of this time worked hard to integrate the school system and by the early 1900’s, single sex classrooms were a thing of the past. In 1910, twenty-seven percent of colleges were for men only, fifteen percent were for women only and the remainders were coed. Today, women outnumber men among college graduates (Kaminer 1). After all the hard work of early feminists, there are thousands of people today who advocate bringing back the single sex classroom.