“Gender gap in education; I have some thoughts/ideas!*”
Vol. 1, No. 32, January 30, 2011
TITLE: “GENDER GAP IN EDUCATION; I have some thoughts/ideas!*”
INTRODUCTION
My book of the week is: “Male, female: The evolution of human sex differences (1998, now in second edition. 2010)” by David C. Geary. Hence, my topic this week is the perplexing problem of girls’ surpassing boys in educational achievement.
IT WORDS FOR ME!*
For today, my word/phrase(s) are: “Gender difference”, “Education”; etc.
Gender difference
“Sociology
Gender role theory
Gender role theory posits that boys and girls learn the appropriate behavior and attitudes from the family and overall culture they grow up with, and so non-physical gender differences are a product of socialization.…
Intelligence
Many recent studies have concluded that IQ performances of men and women vary little.[6][7][8][9] Other studies show a greater variance in the IQ performance of men compared to that of women, i.e. men are more represented at the extremes of performance, and less represented at the median.[8][10][11]”
(Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_difference
Education
“Education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another.
Etymologically, the word education is derived from educare (Latin) “bring up”, which is related to educere “bring out”, “bring forth what is within”, “bring out potential” and ducere, “to lead”.[1]”
(Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education
STUDY/STATISTICS
United States
2000 Census- 281.4 million: 138.1 million male; 143.4 million female)
(Source: US Census Bureau) – http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-9.pdf
“155.8 million The number of females in the United States as of Oct. 1, 2009. The number of males was 151.8 million.
Source: Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/2008-nat-res.html>
At 85 and older, there were more than twice as many women as men.”
Source: Population estimates <http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2008-sa.html>
(Source: US Census Bureau) – http://search.census.gov/search?q=cache:1hzVShsZdo0J:www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb10-ff03.html+males+and+females+2010&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&site=census&access=p&oe=ISO-8859-1
Bonus fact #1: Sex discrimination
“Gender and education, from a sociological perspective, refers to the idea that the educational system does not offer the same type of opportunities for upward mobility to both genders equally. This is a type of sex discrimination being applied in the education system affecting both men and women during and after their educational experiences.[1]
At all levels women are achieving higher representation and success. At the post-secondary level women are earning most of the degrees awarded.”
(Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_and_education
Bonus fact #2: “Forms of Sex Discrimination in Education
“Sex discrimination in education is applied to women in several ways. First, many sociologists of education view the educational system as an institution of social and cultural reproduction. The existing patterns of inequality, especially for gender inequality, are reproduced within schools through formal and informal processes.[2]
A recent study published in Time Magazine showed that when comparing young, unattached women against similarly situated men, women tend to earn up to 20% more than their male counterparts.[3]
Another way the educational system discriminates towards females is through course-taking, especially in high school. This is important because course-taking represents a large gender gap in what courses males and females take, which leads to different educational and occupational paths between males and females. For example, females tend to take fewer advanced mathematical and scientific courses, thus leading them to be ill-equipped to pursue these careers in higher education. This can further be seen in technology and computer courses.[4]
Also, cultural norms may also be a factor causing sex discrimination in education. For example, society suggests that women should be mothers and be responsible for the bulk of child rearing. Therefore, women feel compelled to pursue educational pathways that lead to occupations that allow for long leaves of absences, so they can be stay at home mothers.[5]
Furthermore, the idea of a hidden curriculum further adds to the discrimination of women in the educational system. The hidden curriculum refers to the idea that teachers interact and teach each of their students in a way that reinforces relations of gender, as well as race and social class.[6] For example, teachers may give more attention to boys, resulting in them becoming more social, whereas girls become quieter and learn that they should be passive and defer to boys.[7] Students are also being socialized for their expected adult roles through the correspondence principle of sociology through schools. For example, girls may be encouraged to learn skills valued in female-dominated fields, while boys might learn leadership skills for male-dominated occupations.”
(Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_and_education
S & R* NEWS ALERT* #1: ECAR on Gender-Submitted by Kim Michaud (Halifax Regional School Board) on March 19, 2010 – 3:15pm.
(Source: ECAR) – http://www.educause.edu/Resources/TheECARStudyofUndergraduateStu/187215
S & R* NEWS ALERT* #2: “America’s Education Gender Gap” by Bill Costello
“In American schools, boys are underachieving and girls are excelling. This gender gap in academic achievement is evident as early as kindergarten. The longer students are in school, the wider the gap becomes.
Boys are more likely than girls to earn poor grades, be held back a grade, have a learning disability, form a negative attitude toward school, get suspended or expelled, and drop out of school.
The education gender gap is affecting colleges, the workforce, the marriage rate, and the fatherlessness rate in America.
Women outnumber men in college by four to three. Four decades ago, men outnumbered women in college by four to three. The tipping point occurred in the late 1970s. Not only are men less likely than women to go to college, they’re also less likely to graduate once there.
Among 25-to-29-year-olds, 33 percent of women have earned at least a bachelor’s degree compared with just 23 percent of men. This is the first generation of women to be more educated than their male counterparts.
This shift means that women will increasingly get the highly paid jobs while men will experience a drop in earnings. This is already happening. Men in their 30s are the first generation to earn significantly less income than their fathers’ did at the same age.
As jobs that require little education increasingly shrink, more and more men will become unemployed. In the current economy, unemployment is higher and rising faster for men than for women.
As the ratio of college-educated women to college-educated men continues to grow, increasingly fewer college-educated women are able to find men they’d like to marry.
Many of these women are choosing not to marry at all rather than marry men of lower education who are likely to earn significantly less than they do.
This is not to say that college-educated women and less educated men never get married. But these marriages tend not to last. Marriages are more likely to end in divorce when wives earn more than their husbands.
This is increasingly becoming a problem. Thirty years ago, wives earned more than their husbands in 16 percent of marriages. Now it’s 25 percent and continuing to rise. At the current rate of change, by 2050 nearly half of the married women will earn more than their husbands.”
(Source: Washington Free Express) – http://wafreepress.org/article/100906_education_gender_costello.shtml
I have two daughters. I wanted them to be independent. I recognized that a good education would give them that. I am happy to say that they both have achieved university degrees and today, they each have an excellent job.
S & R* CHOICE ANECDOTE* #1: Battle of the Sexes
“Much of this talk about feminism is nonsense,” Beatrice Webb was told one day. “Any woman would rather be beautiful than clever.” “Quite true,” she replied, “but that is because so many men are stupid and so few are blind!”
[Sources: Daily Express, Oct. 14, 1947; ananova.com, Sept. 2003]
(Source: www.anecdotage.com) – http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=2492
S & R* CHOICE ANECDOTE* #2: Battle of the Sexes
“In September 1973, Bobby Riggs (once the world’s top-ranked tennis player) challenged Billie Jean King, the reigning women’s champion, to a historic ‘Battle of the Sexes’ match. “I want to set Women’s Lib back twenty years, to get women back in the home where they belong,” Riggs declared, adding that women are prettiest when they are barefoot, pregnant, doing housework, and taking care of the kids.”
(Source: www.anecdotage.com) – http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=4649
S & R* CHOICE ANECDOTE* #3: Superior Sex
Nancy Astor devoted much of her career to the battle for women’s rights. While some of her colleagues in the House of Commons supported her, many were offended by Lady Astor’s attitudes, particularly her opinion that it was unnecessary for her – as a member of the … sex – to prove herself before her male colleagues. “I married beneath me,” Astor once explained. “All women do.”
[Trivia: “I think God made woman foolish,” Helen Keller once remarked, “so that she might be a suitable companion to man.”]
Astor, Nancy Witcher Langhorne, Viscountess (1879-1964) American-born English politician, British MP [noted for her frequent run-ins with Winston Churchill]
[Sources: Davis and Weaver, Dictionary of National Biography]
(Source: www.anecdotage.com) – http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=543
S & R* QUOTE #1:- Sidonie Gruenberg
“Home is the place where boys and girls first learn how to limit their wishes, abide by rules, and consider the rights and needs of others.”
(Source: Wisdom Quotes) – http://www.wisdomquotes.com/topics/education/index3.html
S & R* QUOTE #2:- – Gloria Steinem
“The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.”
(Source: Wisdom Quotes) – http://www.wisdomquotes.com/topics/education/index3.html
THE AUTHOR: David C. Geary
David C. Geary is a cognitive developmental psychologist. In 1986, he graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of California at Riverside. He was on faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso. Now at the University of Missouri, in Columbia, he is a Curators’ Professor and the Thomas Jefferson Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences. He is a respected author with many articles/chapters published. He is a lecturer/speaker in the United States, Canada, Europe, etc. This gentleman knows what he is talking about!
SERIES/COLLECTION
Books
They are:
- “Children’s mathematical development” (1994/sole-authored);
- “Male, female: The evolution of human sex differences” (1998, now in second edition. 2010/sole-authored); and
- “The origin of mind: Evolution of brain, cognition, and general intelligence” (2005/sole-authored),
- Sex differences: Summarizing more than a century of scientific research (Ellis et al., 2008/co-authored).
Book chapters
Several are:
(Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_C._Geary
THE BOOK:”Male,female:The evolution of human sex differences”(1998, now in 2nd edition 2010) byDavid C.Geary
Dr. Geary confirms some of our suspicions, notably: (a) That girls tend to earn better grades in school than boys; (b) That it is more probable that more men will earn degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; (c) That men are more likely to be injured in accidents and fights than women; etc. He comes to these conclusions through formal and informal means. He came up with an evolutionary model to explain human sex differences. He looks to the animal kigdom for clues. For him, on account of female choices and male-male competition, etc., there are typical selections by gender. In the current update published in 2010, Geary went further. He considered fatherhood/parenting, gender typical behavior in mating, factoring in culture, genetics, hormones, etc.
CONCLUSION
1. Treat children equally regardless of gender;
2. Eliminate all barriers between boys and girls, particularly when it comes to early learning; in this regard,
5. Make the education of your child a priority; in this regard,
5.1 Show interest in his or her schooling;
6. Pay attention to grades, pointing out the positives and asking your child for greater effort as regards the negatives.
I have to go now. I am going to give a sharpened pencil and a fresh practice book to a youngster and watch him or her do great things. If you are with me, please do likewise.
Take it out for a spin and tell me if you agree.
And that’s my thought of the week on books, what’s yours? *
ALP
“Books are life; and they make life better!*”
CREDITS
-Web Tech: richmediasound.com
The above is a new media production of Valente under its “United Author*” program.
*TM/© 2011 Practitioners’ Press Inc. – All Rights Reserved.