Transcript Lesson 1: Sociological Constructs and Theories

Lesson 6: Education
Introduction to Women’s Studies
Robert Wonser
Schools Socialize Us
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Like other agents of socialization, schools
tell us what behavior and feelings are
appropriate for which gender.
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Elementary School
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Much of gender we learn is unintentional and
largely “hidden agendas” in the school
curriculum
Boys and girls attend schools equally in the U.S.
Children are automatically and with little thought
segregated by gender. Why?
Schools help create the dichotomy of boys and
girls rather than reflect some “natural” distinction
among them.
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Widespread Inequalities
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There is widespread educational inequalities
based on gender, race, class, and age found in
systems of education everywhere.
Explanations for these inequalities include that
(1) educators rely on stereotypes about gender
differences,
 (2) schools provide teaching materials that promote
stereotypical views of girls and boys,
 (3)families and states favor the education of boys over
girls, and
 (4) standard beliefs are that students should train for
appropriately gendered occupations (e.g., boys for science
and girls for carework).

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 Class-,
gender-, and race-based
inequalities such as poverty,
heterosexism, racism and nativism
(hostility to immigrants) also
contribute to a “chilly climate” in
schools that impedes the progress of
many students, boys as well as girls.
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Treated Differently in K-12
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For boys:
Called on more
frequently
Boys speak up sooner,
more interaction w/
teacher
Boys demand more
attention
For Girls:
• Wait less time for their
answer before moving
on even though girls are
less assertive and like
to think about their
answers
• Girls become fringe
elements of classroom
action
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Treated Differently
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For boys:
When they speak out,
teachers comment on
their observations
Encourage to correct
a wrong answer or
expand a right one
For Girls:
• Teachers engage in
fewer complex
interactions
• Teachers respond
with a nod or brief
“okay” and move on to
the next topic
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Treated Differently
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For boys:
When they ask for
help teachers give
elaborate instructions
to the student as he
does the work
For Girls:
• When girls ask for
help the teachers are
more likely to show her
how to do things by
doing it themselves
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For Girls
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Teachers are more apt to comment on
appearance or clothing or girls. What about
comments on academic performance?
What does this indicate we value from our
boys and our girls?
Teachers are largely unaware of these
discrepancies and are usually stunned to see
them when they view themselves on
videotape.
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The Results?
Decline in girls’ self-confidence during
school years, especially adolescence
 Self esteem slightly declines for boys but
more noticeably declines for girls

 Boys
scores go from 5 to 4.8
 Girls’ scores go from 4 to 2.8
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Studies
Show
that at a
Younger
Age, Girls
are
Smarter
than
Boys…
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But girls
begin to
question
their
ability
because
of
gender…
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These
feelings
continue
into
college
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Taming Warriors in the
Kindergarten Classroom
Not only girls are harmed in schools
 Boys also find difficulties
 Boys’ socialization doesn’t prepare them
well for school
 They’re taught to be rowdy and
rambunctious—traits that require discipline
in school.
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Feminine Socialization
Females are socialized to play nurturing
and self-display games; mothers, nurses,
brides, princesses are easily incorporated
into school
 Ways of expressing themselves are within
the line of rationality, responsibility and
decorum of school.
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Medicalizing and Medicating Boys
in School
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Little boy can’t stop fidgeting? Ritalin!
Diagnosis for ADHD increased by 700% in the
1990s; of all prescriptions in the world, 90% are
to Americans
Boys are 3 to 10 times more likely to be
identified with ADHD
Girls may be overlooked for diagnosis because it
is marked by less disruptive, impulsive behavior
and more by disorganized, unfocused
performance.
Or…
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ADHD
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Women and girls with
attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADD/ADHD) are
not only less frequently
diagnosed than their male
counterparts.
ADD/ADHD girls and women
often require gender-specific
treatments to help manage
symptoms, succeed at
school and work, and have
successful relationships.
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Teaching Materials
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School books contain many gendered messages.
Studies in the 1970s found that more men and boys
were characters in stories and the subjects of
autobiographies and pictures.
In the 1990s, the ratio of women and girls had
improved but men and boy characters were still more
visible and more likely to be active and involved in
important areas of social life.
Women and girls were invisible in introductory
sociology texts for college students, relegated to
chapters on family and sexuality, and
underrepresented in chapters on politics.
A result is that most students are ignorant about
women’s contributions to ideas, social institutions and
history.
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How to Survive a shark
attack
How to Survive in a Forest
How to Survive Frostbite
How to Survive a Plane
Crash
How to Survive in the Desert
How to Survive a Polar Bear
Attack
How to Survive a Flash
Flood
How to Survive a Broken
Leg
How to Survive an
Earthquake
How to Survive a Forest Fire
How to Survive in a
Whiteout
How to Survive a Zombie
Invasion
How to Survive a Snakebite
How to Survive if Your
Parachute Fails
How to Survive a Croc
Attack
How to Survive a Lightning
Strike
How to Survive a T-Rex
How to Survive Whitewater
Rapids
How to Survive a Sinking
Ship
How to Survive a Vampire
Attack
How to Survive an
Avalanche
How to Survive a Tornado
How to Survive Quicksand
How to Survive a Fall
How to Survive a Swarm of
Bees
How to Survive in Space
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How to survive a BFF Fight
How to Survive Soccer
Tryouts
How to Survive a Breakout
How to Show You’re Sorry
How to Have the Best
Sleepover Ever
How to Take the Perfect
School Photo
How to Survive Brothers
Scary Survival Dos and Don’ts
How to Handle Becoming Rich
How to Keep Stuff Secret
How to Survive Tests
How to Survive Shyness
How to Handle Sudden
Stardom
More Stardom Survival Tips
How to Survive a Camping
Trip
How to Survive a Fashion
Disaster
How to Teach Your Cat to Sit
How to Turn a No Into a Yes
Top Tips for Speechmaking
How to Survive
Embarrassment
How to Be a Mind Reader
How to Survive a Crush
Seaside Survival
How to Soothe Sunburn
How to Pick Perfect
Sunglasses
Surviving a Zombie Attack
How to Spot a Frenemy
Brilliant Boredom Busters
How to Survive Truth or Dare
How to Beat Bullies
How to be an Amazing
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Babysitter
High School
Slightly more than 10% of all high school
students drop out before graduation.
 Boys drop out more than girls, Latinos
more than white or black students
 Girls are more involved in extracurricular
activities than boys
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Math and Science and Gender
Girls now outnumber boys in college
preparatory courses, especially Geometry,
Algebra II, Biology, and Chemistry.
 They are only slightly behind boys in
Calculus and Physics
 But ideas about gender still identify these
fields as masculine.
 As a result, women may be less likely to
recognize their abilities in these fields.
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Vocational Education
Young women remain clustered in a few
vocational education programs that
prepare them for low-wage jobs.
 Young men are likely to train for skilled
trades with median hourly wages of about
$30 an hour
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Title IX, No Child Left Behind, and
Single Sex Schools
Title IX, passed in l972, made it illegal for
schools that receive federal assistance to
discriminate against girls and women.
 There is a potential conflict between Title
IX and the No Child Left Behind Act, which
encourages schools to try same sex
classrooms.
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SAT Scores
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SATs are an important gateway to
higher education in the U.S. Women
are now the majority of those students
who take SATs, but men score higher
on average on the test (see Table 5.5).
Explanations for men’s higher scores
are that boys are better prepared in
high school, that the test is genderbiased, that the format of the test
coincides with masculine style of testtaking, that the test rewards guessing
(and boys are more likely to risk a
guess), or that timed tests reward
speed.
The purpose of SATs is to try to predict
which students will be successful in
college, but they do not predict well.
Women get better grades in college
courses on average and are more likely
to finish their degrees.
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International Comparisons on
Standardized Tests
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Boys and girls in many nations score about the
same on achievement exams when they have
the same background.
The biggest gaps in educational attainment are
between countries, not genders.
The highest math scores of U.S. students are
about equal to the average score of students in
the top scoring nations of Singapore, Korea,
Japan, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.
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Higher Education and Gender
In the past few decades, women have
made gains in education, especially in the
United States, which now has the highest
proportion of women attending college in
the world.
 Men are still more likely to obtain a
Doctoral degree, but even that gap is
diminishing
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The gender balance in many fields of university
study has also become more equal as women
enter fields once thought to be for men only,
such as business, law, and dentistry.
Similarly, men are more likely to earn degrees in
women-dominated fields such as nursing,
elementary education, and home economics
However, within fields, gender differences
remain. Women concentrate in family law and
men in tax law, for example.
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Race ethnicity and class intersect with gender to
create other differences in the educational
attainment of men and women.
In historically black colleges, women make up
70% of the student body despite efforts to recruit
men.
African American and Native American women
are a greater proportion of non-traditional age
students
Women have made the greatest strides in
surpassing men in college attendance in the
poorest households
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Global Rates of Literacy
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At the global level, girls suffer from discrimination by
governments, families, and schools.
Two-thirds of children not attending schools in the
world are girls, and 86 million of the 140 million
illiterate young people in the world are girls.
Low education levels among women are associated
with higher fertility, lower-paid jobs, decreased
income, and greater poverty, leaving women and
their children in poorer health, suffering higher rates
of malnourishment and early mortality.
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Unexpected Connections Between
Water and Education
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A major barrier to education for girls in poor
countries is the lack of access to water and
sanitation.
Carrying water is women’s work in many
countries, which can take up to four hours a day,
cutting into school attendance.
If schools do not have toilets, boys are sent into
the fields to pee but girls must wait all day until
they can return to their home or community to
find a toilet and when girls get their periods, they
must stay home from school.
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Gender and Teachers
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In higher education, women are clustered in the
lowest ranks of faculties, are lower paid, are more
likely to be in part-time or temporary positions, and
are tenured more slowly
They feel less supported on campus because of
sexist jokes, sexual harassment, and exclusion from
social networks.
Their students are more demanding and give them
lower evaluations, especially if they violate gender
norms. Gatekeepers such as journal editors rate
their research more critically than research done by
men.
Women are still the minority in many faculties
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Evaluating Professors
Some studies find that students have
higher expectations of women faculty, hold
women teachers to different standards and
evaluate them more harshly.
 Do you find this to be true in your own
experiences?
 I wonder what would happen if we did a
content analysis of
ratemyprofessors.com?
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Some scholars argue that schools are organized
to prepare students for future roles as docile,
obedient, and motivated workers in a capitalist
workforce.
Some argue that we learn these lessons through
the “hidden agenda” of schools: following the
rules, accepting the hierarchy of authority, and
working for external rewards (pay and praise).
The hidden agenda is gendered in complex
ways, helping schools to function as a “gender
factories.”
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