Socialization And Discrimination Of Gender Within Our Education System

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:

Socialization, Gender, and Education as a social institution have all been topics that have been heavily discussed in the classroom. Each of these sociological aspects of society help create ideologies and norms in particular as to the role gender plays in the household and in the workplace. From the extended interview on Adam Belaid, it has become evident that the education plays the largest role in socialization. In particular, the public educational institutions that have been founded on the principals of the state. Particularly, educational institutions and their effect on its students views on gender. Through an analysis of the interviewee, Martin’s “Becoming a Gendered Body: Practices of Preschools”, and Bowles’ “Education and Inequality” it is evident that the educational institution plays the greatest role in the socialization of an individual.

Studies show that gender inequality is rampant in schools. Boy and girls are treated differently by teachers and different expectations exist for their behavior and performance. The textbooks and other materials used in schools often reinforce gender stereotypes (Conley, D. 2013). Per class discussion, in order to understand why it is that women appear to be doing better in college than men today, it is necessary to start with the transformation of gender roles and stereotypes. Historically, societies have maintained patriarchal structures and this has signified gender inequality. For centuries, women were viewed as being (physically and intellectually) inferior to men and this limited their possibilities in terms of education and professional development. During the second half of the twentieth century, however, this conceptualization of gender roles started to change. Essentially, women became empowered and they made advances in terms of inclusion and equality. Women have also been able to take advantage of benefits conferred to them by a social establishment that continues to be patriarchal.

Gender bias, also known as sexism, is a full of attitudes, laws, taboos, preferences, and behaviors that differentiates and discriminates against either sex. These may be a position of which male dominance and female subjugation in the modern society. It could also be a form of sexual stereotypes between men and women, these are commonly experienced in employment versus other positions. A final place that discrimination is faced is the academic environment, the female to male ratios are not in sync in certain programs and courses because of this and it is pressuring men and women to not go into certain fields and do what they love and please. Most advertisements on Television, magazines, newspapers, online ad’s, use a charged sexually image with a female as the star. Women are to be a pleasure for men, and nothing else. Many people have different opinions on genders and sexuality and that is okay, but sometimes you just need to keep them to yourselves.

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.

In sexism, gender bias has existed throughout history and still exists today. Gender bias is frequently called sexism or gender discrimination. “A study by four researchers, Kelly Jones, Cay Evans, Ronald Byrd, and Kathleen Campbell, analyzed videotapes of teachers while they taught the students in the classroom, then they had the teachers watch themselves on the video while pointing out the gender-biased attitudes, languages and behavior; most teachers were surprised to see how they gave their attention on one gender over the other and the unintentional gender bias happening in the classroom” (A World of Gender Bias, 2015). Researchers recommended methods for the teachers to use when having to do an activity to decrease the stereotypical behavior

Throughout time, societies have treated individuals differently based on their gender, and for the most part our contemporary establishment believes that disparate treatment is unwarranted based on the ideal that equal treatment should be given to all. However a gendered approach, although argued to be possibly more empowering, is not the entirety of the problem at hand. Educational success is a quandary that requires a comprehensive multifaceted approach. Karen Stabiner a

Myra and David Sadker, are experts in the field of education and sexism in schools, published the opinionated article “Hidden Lessons” as an expert from their book Failing at Fairness: How Our Schools Cheat Girls (1994). The research describes subtle way gender bias is woven into the classroom. Males seem to monopolize teacher time and attention, this might explain one of the reasons why girls shy away from male-dominated fields of study, but it does not prove this type of behavior will affects female’s choice of study in education or career fields chosen later in life.

When a child enters school, educators can either continue to reinforce patterns of gender stereotyped behaviors or they can look to break the gender behavior expectations. Unfortunately for the educators that are trying to disrupt society’s gender expectations, attitudes and values about appropriate gender roles are entrenched in school curriculum. In elementary schools with mainly female teachers, some may look to reinforce maternal roles and obedience. In some classrooms, boys and girls are often treated differently when receiving feedback and encouragement in their work (Gollnick & Chinn, page 87). In the classroom, boys sometimes control conversations when answering questions. Resulting in teachers praising boys for their academic responses

Moving on, to gender roles in education as Sadker once said “ sitting in the same classroom, reading the same textbook, listening to the same teacher, boys and girls receive very different educations.”(1994). People who Identify as female have been treated differently sense day one, as state din the article; “Teachers socialize girls towards feminine ideal. Girls are praised for being neat, quite, and calm, whereas boys are encouraged to think independently,

When a student does not fit in with traditional gender stereotypes, or displays characteristics typically related to the opposite sex, he or she is often given damaging labels. Sometimes students will label classmates without thinking because they have been exposed to such remarks previously but have not been provoked to think about their consequences further. Teachers must call on their students to start thinking rationally about gender stereotypes. Highlighting positive role models of both sexes can motivate students to dispute gender stereotypes. Teachers can use examples of males and females doing jobs that aren’t often considered “traditional” for their gender. For example, teachers may discuss that there are many successful female athletes, soldiers, and doctors as well as male nurses, teachers, and artists. Teachers should talk to students about what challenges these individuals may have encountered to make such achievements. Teachers should encourage students to look back at experiences from former generations, and should discuss stereotypes that were at one time believed to be true, but have since been diminished to create a

To say every girl is the same and every boy is the same is ridiculous. Every single person is different. Single gendered classes could bring up so many different issues with students, schools and families. Imagine you are a 8 year old student, a girl, and your family takes it upon themselves to put you in a class filled with the same gender. They didn’t ask what you’d like, as if your opinion on the topic didn’t matter. Let’s also say you don’t like the class because you don’t get along with the other girls. You don’t dress in pink, you dress in blue. You don’t like all the same things they do. You don’t paint your nails. You don’t have long glorious hair. All your friends are boys. So now you’re forced into this class with not a single boy.

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

Are girls more prone to be victimized in the school setting? Are boys given special treatment over their female counterparts? According to Shruti Raina, a research scholar from the University of Jammu, there is an overwhelming amount of gender bias in the

From the time kids are placed into school, they are taught sexism without even knowing it is being taught. From the first day a child starts school, their minds are so fragile. Their teacher is one of the most influential people in their life, their job is to teach and mold the child into the person they will grow up to be. A lot of the worksheets that teachers give their students are focused around the idea that gender is socially and historically constructed; meaning that society has this idea