Gender and Education --book--

Gender Bias in Education

While I was browsing the web, I found a lot of interesting sites, but I decided to narrow it down to the two websites that I have posted. The first website is just a description of a book that is titled Gender and Education. The second website talks about the Gender Bias in Education.

The reason why I liked the second web site so much was because it fascinated me that gender bias really exists in education.

One quote that I really liked from the second website was this,

"Teachers socialize girls towards a feminine ideal. Girls are praised for being neat, quiet, and calm, whereas boys are encouraged to think independently, be active and speak up. Girls are socialized in schools to recognize popularity as being important, and learn that educational performance and ability are not as important. "Girls in grades six and seven rate being popular and well-liked as more important than being perceived as competent or independent. Boys, on the other hand, are more likely to rank independence and competence as more important." (Bailey, 1992)

I never really thought much about gender and education before because it never really affected me but I’m sometimes in subliminal ways it does. Girls are known to be a bit neater and quieter than boys, I remember when I was working at the YMCA over the summer I would always hope to get more girls than boys because the girls in my option are quieter and listen better to directions. I know this may not always be true but I’m my experience it is.

Between Barack and a hard place

Tim Wise mentiond a lot of interesting things in his interview when he was discussing his book "Between Barack and a hard place". He made me take a step back and think; I concluded that he was right. Wise   argues that just beacuse we have a Black president, the subject of racial bias isn't totally gone. Just because Barack Obama is Black and is our president, it doesnt give Blacks more rights and doesn't take away the inequalities that still exist.

The main point that Wise was making was that until we stop talking about race, it will always be an issue. When civil rights are referred to as Black rights or as Gay rights or (insert word here) rights, it's creating a sense of exclusion. When people say "My president is half black...", I always think that he's also half white. Why is race the primary focus? Many people went out and only voted for President Obama because he is Black. Since when is that the best reason to vote for some one? I thought voting for our President would consist of looking at their politics and not their skin color.

Wise makes it clear that yes, President Obama is qualified for his position, but if he was a white man would the same result occur? This again reinforces the idea that it is actually a race issue. When it comes down to it, our own local elections are looking the same way. In Providence, Angel Taveras might be the first Hispanic elected into the position of Mayor. The word Hispanic is always the focus. Many people who fit into the minority category just voted for Angel Taveras because of his race. Once we stop looking for the categories a person fits in, we will be able to overcome the issue of discrimination on any level.


The link that I provided just talks about Between Barack in a hard place. I wasn’t sure what to find so I figured it doesn’t hurt to just look at more of Tim Wise's speeches.

Kahne and Westhimer **CALAIS MAINE**

 I really liked this article about service learning because I think it’s really important!!! I feel that everyone should do some sort of community service project at least once in their life. I feel that a real hand’s on experience is best. You get to see what’s going on personally. It definitely changes a person’s outlook on situations and life.  



About 3 years ago, I went to a small town called Calais Maine with a group from my church. We went with a group called youth works, and the point of the program is to get the youth out working for people who need the extra help. They may need help around their house or in a food pantry or even extra help at a day care. I was a part of the group that went to people’s houses and helped them re-paint the outside of them. Most of the people that live in this town are older and can’t do as much to keep the place looking beautiful. For the week that I was there I helped re-paint an elderly mans house, help a man clean up a camp that he has going for youth in the town. We went to the food pantry and cleaned everyyythhiinngg!!!!! And lately we went to a nursing home and spent some time with the people there.

This experience I had going to Calais really stuck with me and I’ve learned a lot about what the real world is like. I absolutely love helping other out; it just gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling that I’m doing something great! I try and share my experience of Maine with pretty much everyone so if you ever want to know more just ask!! Here are some pictures of my experience.

Video on the hidden secrests of Disney

i know this might not really have much to do with what i was talking about but i found a youtube video of Disney secrets and the theme park.


Disney youtube video!

Unlearning the myths that bind us

-- Omar wrote: "When we read children's books, we aren't just reading cute little stories, we are discovering the tools with which a young society is manipulated."

            --I feel this is a very strong quote. It really gets you thinking about your own childhood and what you remember about the stories you were told. The stories I was told was Cinderella and beauty and the beast and little mermaid. They are all stories about princesses and they are all white. That right their already makes younger children believe that all princesses are white. Not until recently did they add another Disney princess to the mix. Her name is Tiana and she is from New Orleans. I think it is a little stereo-typical that the one black princess is from the south.

But this quote just reinforces that its true and the media does try to manipulate us at a very early age and it enforces stereo types in us.

-- Brazilian educator Paulo Freire wrote that instead of wrestling with words and ideas, too often students "walk on the words."

        --This quote I didn’t fully understand.  I wanted to bring it up in my blog because I was hoping someone could shed some light on this for me.

I think that It could mean that student don’t take on what people say and what is being said to them and look at what’s being said here, but instead they just let it go in one ear and out the other. They almost pretend that they never heard or saw it. (I’m not sure if I’m on the right track but if anyone feels it means something completely different, let me know!)

--"True death equals a generation living by rules and attitudes they never questioned and producing more children who do the same."

            --I agree 100% with this statement. Everyone is made differently so why do we all have to act the same way? We live in an age where we all need to be active questioners and be ourselves.

If we continue to follow the same rules and have the same attitudes and never question anything, we will live in a world of gray. A gray world has nothing exciting about it. and I don’t know about you but this quote really has me thinking and I want to help try to make a change. J

Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community, extended comments from Alicia's blog

When I was reading the article I didn’t really follow it, I sort of wouldn’t get it for the fact I would zone out. But not until I read Alicia’s blog was I able to follow and understand it. She pointed out Carlson’s arguments right away which helped a lot.

Alicia said that the argument Carlson was making was, "that schools use their power of influence to keep gayness 'hidden', 'in its place', and not to be part of the 'normal' that is accepted in our society. He feels that it is a major problem for these children that are in fact homosexual, to go through school feeling they need to hide or stay 'in the closet' to be a 'regular part' of their educational journey. It begins in the schools, and remains in the eyes of the society, especially in the earlier years, to be socially wrong and unacceptable."

Then she goes into explaining how gayness really isn’t accepted in our schools. I never really thought about that before. I didn’t realize that it was that hidden back then. I wasn’t unaware that it was kept a big secrete from everyone, because it could financially hurt a person because no one would want to hire them if they knew they were gay. A quote from Alicia’s blog. “They were like the so called 'witches ‘of the past, treated like they had a plague or disease". Really helps show how these people were treated.

I really like how Alicia pointed out how Carlson argues that there are three main ways that our schools contribute to the 'invisible presence' of homosexuality.

1-the erasure of gayness in the curriculum
2-the "closeting" and "witch hunting" of gay teachers
3-verbal and physical intimidation of gay teachers and students

--this is very true and unfortunate.

Alicia even mentions how it’s still rarely discussed in today’s schools. Thinking back to my own high school experience I guess it’s true. The only time the word gay was ever spoken by a teacher, it was almost always when we were in health class and the subject wasn’t dragged on forever, usually it was a small blurb and then we moved on. In my high school we were fortunate enough to have a group called the gay straight alliance, so people did have some place to go and be open about that kind of stuff and not feel like they have to hide in the dark forever.