It is not a big secret that America’s quality of education is sub-par. According the article, “US 17th In Global Education Ranking; Finland, South Korea Claim Top Spots” by Amrutha Gayathri, it’s obvious from the title alone that the United States is falling behind. Without change, the United States will continue to be behind in education. An issue that currently plagues the American education system is gender bias. Gender bias in schools has been addressed in laws, but it still persists in American schools, such as Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the U.S. code Title 42, Chapter 21 regarding Civil Rights. Both laws attempt to discourage gender bias through the illegality of gender discrimination. Title IX addresses bias in federally funded educational and athletic programs in schools and colleges within the United States. Title 42, Chapter 21 of the U.S. Code prohibits discrimination based on gender, age, race, religion, and other characteristics within a number of settings, including education. Despite these laws, gender bias is still prevalent within American schools. A proposed solution to gender bias is gender segregated classrooms, which has proven to be a popular alternative to co-ed classrooms. Leonard Sax, author of “Six Degrees of Separation: What Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences,” is a leading proponent of single-sex schools. Single-sex schools are not without critics though. Jaclyn Zubrzycki’s article, “Single-Gender Schools Scrutinized,” claims that single-sex environments “are not inherently beneficial for boys or most girls.” When considering both Zubrycki’s and Sax’s findings, it would seem that the ideal solution to liberate the American education system of gender...
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... teachers to believe that boys are more intelligent than girls. Scantlebury found that teachers who do believe boys are more proficient than girls in mathematics, are more likely to reframe and breakdown questions “into a series of simpler questions” in an effort to assist the student to attain the answer. No such luxury is given to females in math classes. Teachers are more likely to restate the question and ask another student to answer; typically the student teachers selected to answer the question was a boy (Scantlebury). It’s clear that in classes which are perceived to be male oriented, teachers are willing to work more in-depth with males. Interestingly, Scantlebury found the opposite to be true in “subjects perceived as feminine.” Teachers spend more time with female students than with male students in subjects that the teachers believe are female oriented.
He discusses the differences between boys’ and girls’ behavior in academics, “girls suppress ambition, boys inflate it” (432). Kimmel believes that girls do better in some academic areas, and males do better in others. He provides a logical explanation for rising test scores of girls compared to boys. Kimmel states, “Girls are more likely to undervalue their abilities, especially in the more traditionally “masculine” educational arenas such as math and science. Only the most able and most secure girls take courses in those fields.
“97% of everything you know about yourself and about your country comes from the male perspective” (“Miss Representation”).That is according to NBC news anchor Carol Jenkins. This is an indirect example of sexism in our society. Sexism has changed since the 20th century. We’ve gone from women strictly being classified as housewives to women being discriminated against in leadership positions. Much of the discrimination that women face is closely related to issues surrounding body image. What we cannot forget in the year 2014 is who control the ideas that we have about women and leadership: the media. The misrepresentation of women’s power and influence in the media cause many women to have low self-esteem about and can cause them to feel as though they do not deserve a spot at the decision-making tables. Sexism has been around since the beginning of America, in many different forms, but the impacts have increased with the power of the media. One of the ways the media has discriminated against women, is the way they portray women in the workplace.
There is a long history of single-sex schooling, in which males and females attend specific classes or schools only with members of their same sex. This separation of genders may be done for educational purposes or in combination with other factors, such as social interactions that occur between male and female students. There is some support for the idea that single-sex schooling can be beneficial, especially for outcomes related to academic achievement and more positive academic aspirations (Lee, 2008). Although, there are many benefits of children attending single-sex schools, evidence shows that sex segregation can also gender stereotyping and legitimizes institutional sexism (Kennedy, 2000).
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.
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.
Implicit bias has negatively impacted our society, whether we realize it or not. Efren Perez(2016), a professor at Vanderbilt University, defines implicit bias as “an umbrella term for a variety of attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and stereotypes that we all carry to some degree. They tend to be automatically triggered, hard to control and can often influence what we say and do without our awareness” (para. 3). This has a negative impact on society because it can influence our viewpoints on important issues such as immigration, politics, and civil rights no matter how unbiased we think we are. Pérez(2016) explains “our mind picks up on patterns that we see in society, the media and other places and forms snap judgments before we have time to process all the information in a more deliberative and controlled manner” (para. 4). While we may not always view ourselves as prejudice or racist, implicit bias lies beneath the surface of our conscious and affects how we make
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).
Gender discrimination is the action of being treated worse than others, simply because of your gender. It can occur once or continually over time, by the opposite or same sex. It is an illegal practice here in the United States, based on laws enacted in 1963-4.
Some boys around the age of seven, are reported to believe that their male peers are better at math than fellow female students. As for girls at this age, believe that both male and female students are equally capable in math, until the age of 10. This is where female students begin to believe that males students are better in the math areas. However, during adolescence years, boys begin to agree that girls and boys are equally good at math, as girls continue to state males are more successful in math (Saucerman and
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 temperatures are warm, while boys perform better in cooler classrooms.
Students are more focused and therefore have better test scores in single-sex classrooms. Although stereotypes are formed because of separating genders, a study in the 2009 British Educational Research Journal concluded that in single-sex classrooms, girls achieve more in math and science while boys achieve more in English (Kwong). Stereotypes have been developed early on of what girls and boys are more proficient at. Naturally girls are better at English; boys, math and science (compound sentence: elliptical construction). Single-sex classes encourage girls to pursue more in science and math and boys in English because it takes away gender stereotypes. If a boy and a girl are in the same science class working together, the girl becomes the scribe to write down data while the boy is doing the experiment (Kwong). Math and scien...
The proponents of single-sex education argue that boys and girls have differing needs and that their styles of learning are different. Education which respects personal differences must take this into account. ( Mullins 124) Single-gender schools seem logical, than, to a public that accepts that gender differences are real and likes the idea of expanding choices. (Silv...
Gender bias has a long history and continues to occur in the workplace today. Research indicates that women remain significantly disadvantaged and mistreated compared to men in the workforce. How do the disparities of hiring, promotion, and salaries affect women in the workplace?
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.