Never did I realize throughout school any form of gender bias between boys and girls. I went to a high school where it seemed to me that girls and boys were treated equally, were given similar opportunities, and were held to the same standards. However, looking back, the top 2% of my graduating class were comprised mostly of girls, and as a boy, I was severely outnumbered in the advanced placement classes. Teachers also did not treat me with the same level of seriousness. I was a typical guy, and as a result, I was in the principal’s office much more often than my female colleagues.
The question is why? According to Kleinfeld (1998), “teachers think girls are smarter, like being around them more, and hold higher expectations for them.” As a result, girls get higher grades in school, do better than boys in standardized tests of reading and writing, and get higher class rank and more school honors. (Kleinfeld, 1998). This has led many to believe that there is a gender bias in schools. As a teacher, I disagree with Kleinfeld. I never made a generalized assumption that any gender or race was more capable than another. Expectations and accountablity were universal concepts for my students. Thus, in my case, I believe my frequent journey to the principal office was not a result of gender bias, but because boys simply enjoy starting food fights and orchestrating pranks more than girls.
My opinion seems to be confirmed by what occurred at the David School. Through the individualized attention provided by the David School, the boys featured in the movie were emboldened by their successes in choir and the school newspaper. These successes are not unique to boys; both boys and girls are energized when they feel like they are doing something important, fun and rewarding. Similarly for me, teaching government allowed each student the opportunity to explore and develop their individual political beliefs. Both boys and girls were excited to talk about and explore their viewpoints.
The bigger isssue that I see in my district and others is continued disenfranchisement of minorities. According to Kleinfeld, “The myth that schools shortchange girls is dangerously wrong because it has diverted policy attention from the group at genuine risk—African American boys . . . .This is the group that scores lowest on virtually every educational measure.” The data presented by Kleinfeld (1998) and Mead support the conclusion that girls do better than boys, but that those differences are minute compared to those between White and African-American students’ performance.
Regardless of gender or race, equal educational opportunities need to be presented to all students. As educators, it is our responsibility to provide additional support to those who are in need or at risk. As an eduacator, I attempted to reach both males and females by providing visual, tactical and auditory learning techniques throughout my lectures. While some data deomstrates that girls and boys learn differently, all students benefit from different teaching styles. Therefore, I believe teachers do not need to teach males and females differently.
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