An Educator’s Primer to the Gender War
Gender wars has been a very controversial issue in modern day society. The topic has become even more intense due to the beliefs that schools may hinder gender wars within their students. Gender wars is Some people believe that gender wars should be eliminated and the attention should be reared toward gender roles and the expectations being held by each gender in a social standard. The article “An Educator’s Primer to the Gender War” written by David Sadker discusses gender war in classrooms. The article also takes a look on report card differences between males and females involving grades and tests, academic enrollment, special programs, health and athletics, career preparation, family, and parenting.
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However, Anna Feminie, who is a principal had a unique approach to parents of boys who were dissatisfied about the lack of male images around the school environment. Although her approach was useful in getting parents calm, it was unsuccessful. The author states “Anna Feminie makes a big show of Men’s History Month. Almost magically, every March, a new crop of male figures materializes. Anna understands that Men’s History Month is a nod to political correctness, little more than a curricular side step. Luckily, most parents and faculty agree with Anna, and feel more comfortable with the well-known female names and images from their own student days. But all that may be changing with the increased emphasis on standardized state tests. New history standards put the traditional female front and center once again, and perhaps the end of Men’s History Month is in sight.” As we can see, Feminie’s approach to the situation was a success, however, when it came down to standardized test scores, the female scores prosper. Because of females standardized test scores being up to par, this overtook once again the shine and attention of the male images and their accomplishments. Although Feminie’s approach failed, I do appreciate and respect that she gave the young boys of the school attention and incorporating it in a educational matter. Putting on the show and allowing the parents to relate to it as well was a great way to show the young men of the school that they are just as important and notable as the females. Because females are getting a little more recognition for certain things, gives males a chance to work on the things they need to improve on such as their studies by perhaps beginning peer study sessions after school, tutoring, or even asking for extra assistance by a teacher in a specific subject they need assistance in. Most of these solutions will not cost anything in the
The Kaleidoscope of Gender: Prisms, Patterns, and Possibilities written by Joan Z. Spade and Catherine G. Valentine is a book about the sociology of gender and the construct thereof. The writers use a metaphor of a kaleidoscope to illustrate their interpretations of the topic. A kaleidoscope is a toy consisting of a tube containing mirrors and pieces of colored glass or paper, whose reflections produce changing patterns that are visible through an eyehole when the tube is rotated. Utilizing the similitude of the kaleidoscope, this collection presents gender as a result of always transforming patterns get under way by prisms that underlie change, both straightforward and complex, bringing about an extensive variety of possibilities. The book
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.
Gender Matters is a collection of various essays on feminist linguistic texts analysis, by Sara Mills. Mills develops methods of analyzing literary and non-literary texts, in addition to conversational analysis based on a feminist approach. The author draws on data from her collection of essays gathered over the last two decades on feminism during the 1990s. The essays focus on gender issues, the representation of gender in reading, writing, and in public speaking. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of feminists’ analysis of sexism in literature and the relation between gender and politeness. The article is informative for my research paper, as my topic is going to cover language analysis of the text and who women reading and writing differs according to the discourse analysis within linguistic, psychology, case studies audiences and surveys. The book would be helpful, particularly the last three essays that discusses gender, public speaking, the question of politeness and impoliteness in public speaking. Mills’ analysis is not complete without including the idea of global notions of both women and men, to see whether women and men write and read in the same way globally. Therefore, an update would enrich the book’s discussion section. Although, Mills addresses the class and race theme in language and public speaking, I will only look into the role of language that plays a part in doing or reducing gender in literary, non-literary texts and in conversation.
It seems that single-sex education perpetuates gender stereotypes and promotes gender bias among students (Taylor). Gender-separate education requires schools and teachers to create gender-oriented courses, facilities, and learning environment. As a result, sing-sex schools exacerbate sexist attitudes and “feelings of superiority toward women” (Guarisco). It is fair to argue that the best way to achieve gender equality is to promote rather than eliminate interaction among girls and boys. However, girls in the sex-mixed class receive less attention from teachers than boys, which may lead to gender bias. More precisely, boys always have disciplinary issues, such as interruption; teachers have to pay more attention to boys’ behaviors in order to proceed the lecture more smoothly. Girls may feel less important and supportive in male-dominated classes; boys may think that males are smarter and far superior than females. Single-sex schools can address both girls’ and boys’ issues of gender stereotypes directly and accordingly. Male students may be freer to engage in some activities they have not considered before in mixed schools. For example, boys feel pressure to follow some non-macho interests when girls stay around them; however, the all-boys schools eliminate their pressure toward gender stereotyping to pursue music, dance, and drawing. Single-sex schools would help boys explore and develop themselves. Also, girls in sex-separate schools show more confidence and power (Guarisco). They could receive full attention from teachers and express their opinions in science classes without worrying about the boys’ banter. They may realize that they are as important as boys. Hence, both girls and boys can be free from gender stereotypes and benefit from a same-sex learning
Jamestown, Virginia, is a crucial source of legends about the United States. Pocahontas, a daughter of an Indian werowance married an Englishman named John Rolfe and changed her name to Rebecca. In her article, “Gender Frontier”, Kathleen Brown underscores gender role and responsibility in both Native American and English settlers. Gender frontier is the meeting of two or more culturally specific system of knowledge about gender and nature. She also stresses the duties that they played in their societies prior to the arrival of the English people in the early colony in Virginia. Brown describes the difference values between Europeans and Native Americans in regards to what women and men should and should not do and the complex progression of
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.
In Susan Faludi’s “The Naked Citadel”, she analyzes the homosocial nature of men as she tries to discover the causes behind sexism and to find out “why men who oppose women’s progress are so angry” (Faludi, 72). The main subject of her reading is the all boys college named the Citadel and its vehement opposition to admitting a female into its ranks. The boys become aggressive and angry about the thought of an independent and unique woman becoming a part of their student body. The thought of it threatens the gendering society established within the Citadel where the boys rely on each other to establish their own gender identities. Gender identities rely a lot upon the shaky foundation of the social dominance of one sex over the other. In today’s
Imagine living in a time when your only role is to get married, bear children, and take care of your house and husband. Adrienne Rich proposes an ulterior idea in her essay “Taking Women Students Seriously” Women should not only question the gender standards but discuss the gender norms that society has created; by discussion and attention to the matter we can eliminate it all together. Women are not represented in school curriculums enough and have a large misrepresentation in society. Rich draws attention to: What women have working against them in education, how women are perceived in the world by the media and advertising, and the gender roles that society pressures young children to contort to. By striking up a discussion
“There is a double standard here that shapes our perceptions of men and women in ways that support patriarchy as a system. What is culturally valued is associated with masculinity and maleness and what is devalued is associated with femininity and femaleness, regardless of the reality of men’s and women’s lives”,( Johnson 64). In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, Betty’s mother was pressurizing Betty to make her husband read a poem at the wedding not just to act like he enjoyed the marriage but mainly because it was a tradition for men. When Betty said she didn’t care about it, her mother refused and still insisted that she should do it. Women are looked down upon when it comes to the assignment of gender roles and this is because of labels that the society has placed on the female gender. In a home, the father is always the head of the home, providing food and clothing for every family member but there are some women who like to be independent and would also love to work and make money and cater for the family. In the 19th century, women were told they were home makers and were not allowed to endeavor further in higher educational studies. Wellesley College was a college built to raise future wives and not future leaders meaning that society had already placed women below the ladder without any intention or thoughts of them climbing back
Bad Choosers By K. L. Casado The tired cliché has rung throughout the halls of maternity wards and law firms for years. "The Battle of the Sexes" as it is called; the everlasting struggle for supremacy among men and women. However, in the wider scope of events, how easy one's life is would ideally be more important than how supreme one is.
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...
Starting from hundreds and thousands ago gender inequality exists. Some would point out that there is not any gender inequality around us, but there are. For this paper, I am going to write about gender inequality. First, I would attach an argument from articles. However, I would object the articles and provide an explanation for my objection. Then, I would consider a response of my objection and reject the objection.
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...
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.
Society has stamped an image into the minds of people of how the role of each gender should be played out. There are two recognized types of gender, a man and a woman, however there are many types of gender roles a man or a woman may assume or be placed into by society. The ideas of how one should act and behave are often times ascribed by their gender by society, but these ascribed statuses and roles are sometimes un-welcomed, and people will assume who they want to be as individuals by going against the stereotypes set forth by society. This paper will examine these roles in terms of how society sees men and women stereotypically, and how men and women view themselves and each other in terms of stereotypes that are typically ascribed, as well as their own opinions with a survey administered to ten individuals. What I hope to prove is that despite stereotypes playing a predominant role within our society, and thus influencing what people believe about each other in terms of their same and opposite genders, people within our society are able to go against these ascribed stereotypes and be who they want and it be okay. Through use of the survey and my own personal history dealing with gender stereotyping I think I can give a clear idea as to how stereotypes envelope our society, and how people and breaking free from those stereotypes to be more individualistic.