Chapter 7: The Issue of Gender in Elementary and Secondary Education

Abstract

During colonial times in New England, schools were for male students only; yet 50 years after the American Revolution coeducation had become the norm in public elementary education. This change emerged gradually and with little public discussion. In rural communities most parents did not think it worth the prohibitive cost to educate boys and girls separately, and the one-room, coeducational school district was typical, viewed as a natural extension of male and female participation in the family and church (Hansot & Tyack, 1988).In contrast to the rural one-room school, the high schools of the nation's urban areas were larger, more bureaucratic, and structurally further removed from the model of the family. In these schools, coeducation generated more controversy; parents and educators worried not only about the sexual involvement from such close contact during adolescence, but also about the need to prepare boys and girls for their different roles in the largely segregated world of work. In response to such concerns, the curriculum was consciously designed to meet the "different needs" of female and male students. For example, girls were required to take courses in homemaking to prepare them for their designated roles as wives Myra Sadker and David Sadker thank Elise Lindemuth and Jackie Sadker for their research assistance. Susan Klein, author of the administration section, thanks the following colleagues for supplying information: Women arrived in 1619 (a curious choice if meant to be their first acquaintance with the new world). They held the Seneca Falls Convention on Women's Rights in 1848.During the rest of the 19th century, they participated in reform movements, chiefly temperance, and were exploited in factories. In 1923 they were given the vote. They joined the armed forces for the first time during the Second World War and thereafter have enjoyed the good life in America. (Trecker, p. 252)Trecker found that one text, in its discussion of the frontier period, allocated five pages to the six-shooter and scarcely five lines to the frontier woman. In another two-volume text, there were only two sentences allocated to the women's suffrage movement, one sentence in each volume.at UNIV OF MICHIGAN on June 13, 2015 http://rre.aera.net Downloaded from Educational materials teach far more than information and a way of learning. In subtleoften unconscious-ways, the tone and development of the content and illustrations foster in a learner positive or negative attitudes about self, race, religion, regions, sex, ethnic and social class groups, occupations, life expectations, and life chances. Inadvertent bias, as often the result of omission as commission, can influence the impact of educational programs.

REFLECT – A Teacher Training Program to Promote Gender Equality in Schools

“…Moreover, teachers were found to attribute girls' unexpected failure more to low ability and less to lack of effort than boys' unexpected failure (Fennema et al, 1990). Regarding classroom interactions, boys were found to receive more praise and critical feedback from teachers and to be given more time to talk in classrooms than girls (Sadker et al, 1991). Therefore, it is not surprising that teachers' gender stereotypes relate to their students' academic self-concepts.…”

Preservice teachers’ beliefs about high-stakes testing and their working environments

“…We examine these beliefs based on variables of gender, ethnicity, general test taking anxiety, and past experiences with high-stakes testing. We know that educational experiences vary widely by gender and ethnicity (Alemán, 2018;Bailey & Graves, 2016;Sadker, Sadker, & Klein 1991;Saw, Chang, & Chan, 2018;Valenzuela, 1999), especially as it relates to highstakes testing (Nichols & Berliner, 2007;Vasquez Heilig & Darling-Hammond, 2008). Thus, we include gender and ethnicity in our analyses along with prior experiences with high-stakes testing to explore how those lived experiences may relate to beliefs about accountability and high-stakes testing as well as preferences for future working conditions.…”

Comparison of students’ metacognitive skills by gender on chemical bonding in chemistry

“…textbook issues and on-line homework) (Fleming, 2012). In gender scientific discipline with regard to the reading, male students are thought of higher in science and science and that they thought because the best leader" (Sadker, Sadker, & Klein, 1991).…”