Reflective Research Paper

Women have always been viewed as the weaker sex, and society will continue to view them that way unless they do something about it. In the essay “When Bright Girls Decide that Math is a Waste of time”, the author Susan Jacoby discusses the problems women steering clear of math and science subjects because of the traditional view of a woman. She focused on what causes high school girls to focus on arts courses instead of STEM courses and what are the effects of it on themselves. The underlying discrimination amongst boys and girls, stereotypical thinking of parents and teachers that girls are not good at math eventually decreases the self-confidence among girls to solve science and math problems.

In a country that is striving toward gender equality, this is an important issue that needs to be addressed to avoid potential consequences for our citizens down the line. The educational system in the United States is seeing boys fall behind in their studies due to programs being aimed at girl’s success.

Schlosser. She carried out the study while on a post-doctoral fellowship at Princeton University, and will study the effects of gender in higher education lecture halls next. This is one of few studies of its kind to use scientific data to address the question of gender effects in school. Boys with more female peers in their classes show higher enrollment rates in both advanced math and science classes, but overall benefits were found in all grades for both sexes. Prof. Schlosser found that primary-school classrooms with a female majority showed increased academic success for both boys and girls, along with a notable improvement in subjects like science and math. In the middle schools, girls were found to have better academic achievement in English, languages and math. And in high school, the classrooms which had the best academic achievements overall were consistently those that had a higher proportion of girls enrolled. A higher percentage of girls lowers the amount of classroom disruption and fosters a better relationship between pupils and their teacher, a study of the data suggests. Teachers are less tired in classrooms with more girls, and pupils overall seem to be more satisfied when a high female-to-male ratio persists. Prof. Schlosser was inspired to the study by a “renewed interest on the effects of classroom gender composition on students’ learning, since a new amendment to America’s Title IX

Moreover, all though “experiencing gender bias … Was mitigated among participants who also had a supportive network of STEM peers” (Robnett 73), due to the small number of women in STEM, this may be a hard task to accomplish (this will be further analyzed later in the study). A male-dominant environment can be difficult for women to permeate, as explained through the Social Identity Theory. This theory states that those in a place of privilege, such as being in the majority, will work to defend this privilege—in this context, this could be seen as men subconsciously seeing women in STEM as a threat. Gender bias in physics and math intensive fields puts women at a disadvantage, and furthermore these “Stereotypes can lead to biased evaluations against women in so-called gender-incongruous contexts, such as in STEM fields in which men have historically been dominant (engineering, physics, economics, computer science, geosciences, and mathematics)” (Ceci et al. 1). Therefore, as can be seen, women studying and working in physics and math-intensive fields face the additional challenges of stepping outside of their prescribed gender roles, permeating a male-dominant environment, and facing a possibly unwelcoming

Most of this gender disparity starts early. As early as in grade school. Young girls are rarely motivated to take Math and Science. This can be problematic because studies show that a lack in intellectual belief can in turn inhibit intellectual growth. There is also that persistent unconscious bias that Science and Math are male fields while females tend to do well

Sexual bias still remains in schools today, even though there has been a great many changes in the past 20 years. Girls enter school in the first grade with the same skills and ambitions as boys, if not more, but classroom sexist conditioning results in lower self-confidence and aspirations by the time they graduate from high school. Even though, two out of every three teachers may be women, they tend to favor sexual stereotypes, recalling more positively the assertive male students while liking least the assertive females. Teachers call on boys more often, give them more detailed criticism, and praise the intellectual content of boys’ work more then girls’ work, while more likely praising girls for their neatness. Teachers also allow boys to shout out answers and take risks, but they reprimand girls who do the same thing for rudeness. Additionally, few educators encourage girls to pursue careers in math or science.

Since the beginning of human history there has been inequality between the sexes. Even though scientifically there is no assigned roles in both genders, humans have created the expectations of a perfect male and female. Throughout American history we have been able to conquer the boundaries of science, and mess with the balance of nature. You’d think that a country that thrives in science, would acknowledge the fact that your gender doesn’t determine who you should be, but we do. Most of the social standards that we have created are unfavorable to women. Social standards have prohibited the growth of women in the career fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.

According to the book the first lesson, “some inequities, including gender bias, simple fly below people radar. To make progress, people have to learn how to “see “subtle bias (291). This lesson points out that the influence of teachers show the biases. It highlights how powerful a little encouragement can play on students. Because early educational experience have an effect on them when choosing careers, eventually jobs they seek to work for. A great quote is given in the book when they say,” without training, without learning how to see bias, it is all missed (291). This quote tells us that teachers must first notice the bias in the class in order for students to learn equal opportunities and not to use gender biases. A prime example is the comparison when it comes to women in the world of math and science occupations. When we look earlier in the elementary school if teachers were to introduce women and younger girls to fields of computer science and engineering, then the reversing bias would increase the number of women in those fields. They are more likely to not choose those classes because they aren’t encourage to. In the book, teachers doesn’t always know when they are being bias. They may think, as they teach, they are simply practicing what year’s teachers, and educators taught. Teachers can reinforce gender by showing boy more attention and by simply drawing distinctions between

When you send your children off in the morning to go to school, no matter what grade they are in whither it be elementary, junior high, or senior high, you expect that they will receive the best education that they can get. They should be asked challenging questions, encouraged and called upon to participate in class, they should also be given as much help as they need to secede by the teacher. However, this is most commonly not the case. Parents and the children themselves are unaware of what is going on because gender bias is not a noisy problem. Most people are unaware of the secret sexist lessons that occur every day in classrooms across the country. In this essay I will use two essay's from the reader:

Parents also have a vital role in influencing the career path their children choose. Children look to their parents as role models and for approval, and parents attitudes and actions will influence their children. They also take into account what job their mother has as compared to their father. In many cases, children start to associate gender with particular jobs when they are very young due to their family life(Stitt, 1988). Stereotypes, like those, are brought forth to girls everyday, ranging from the traditional female jobs to males being more intelligent than females. One example is the fact that there aren’t as many women as men in jobs such as scientists and doctors. Girls often don’t question this idea because it is reinforced by so many people. These stereotypes sometimes get adopted by girls because of this constant reinforcement. Parents have the opportunity either to invalidate these stereotypes or confirm them by their actions and words. They must reassure their children that girls can participate in anything they want, including math and science activities or courses.

In this day and age, sexism is becoming a more controversial subject. With gender roles being portrayed in the wrong way based off of gender stereotypes, there is a lot to be changed. This shows that individuals are deeply affected by the gender stereotypes explained in textbooks given to students to study from. There are many effects including, students are taught to think a certain way. Females are specifically affected because they are directly treated unfairly. Lastly, males have been shown to be more favored in classroom settings. With this in mind, people are genuinely affected by the gender stereotypes depicted in scientific textbooks, whether it is realized or not.

The wrong perception of women in learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) holds them back from achieving their full academic potentials. Senior indicated that, "there is a stereotypical perception that women lack interest in technology and maths," (para 5). The attitude is harmful to the society and the education system. A quick observation would reveal that female gender performs at the same level – if not better – with males as long as they have the right tools and adequate teaching resources. Creating a narrative that women are disinterested in STEM

From the research I have read while there is a disagreement on when and how much of a gender gap exists in math and science, there is definitely an equity issue that needs addressing. There seems to be an abundance of information about equity issues and as a future teacher I feel that it is important to examine these issues. If gender equity issues exist in today's’ classrooms why do they and what can be done to help correct it.

Gender equity in terms of education is about the socialization of men and women and the results of this process on the life outcomes of the two genders (Husen & Postlethwaite, 1994). In the United States, the education system is required to treat males and females equally. There has been much research done to compare the genders in all areas. In the past, research has found that women fall far behind men in many areas such as math, and science, but men lag behind women in certain areas as well. Over the years, many provisions have been made with the goal of equalizing the treatment of girls and boys in public education. These improvements are proven successful as women, as well as men, are advancing in areas where they tend to lag

“It is early indeed that children show an awareness of the message that… females are generally less interesting and important than males are… The (often inadvertent) bearers of this message include parents, peers, and teachers.” (Lips, 1979, p. 128.) The absence of gender equity can be damaging to both males and females. Surprisingly most of the teachers and administrators are unaware of this problem. Organizations such as the American Association of University Women (“Gender equity,” 2003.) strive to create programs that will improve equality within schools. The purpose of this research paper is to identify gender equity issues in the classroom and explore strategies for teachers to incorporate equitable