Education

Education

1. History

   • 1880s: Biological Essentialism is accepted. Elite women kicked out of universities. Seen as less intelligent, more physically delicate. Believed education caused sterilization. Women distract men from their studies. Women become more like men, coarse, loud, vulgar. Oberlin the first to re-admit women. Women had to be quiet, sit in the back, did all the laundry and cooking for all students.
     • 1920’s: Great Depression. Women’s education disappears.
       • 1936: Education to the age of 16 becomes mandatory to get kids out of the work force during the Great Depression.
         • 1972: Title 9- No discrimination in school based on sex. (Still differences in funding)
           • 1980’s: Women are 50% of all undergrads.
             • 2018: Women are 60% of undergrads, 40% of graduates.

2. Elementary School

   • Preschool to 4th grade
     • Socializing children to do education. Girls socialized to be passive. Teachers aggrivated more easily with boys.
     • Teacher-Student Interaction is different in content and attention.
       • Content: Boys more precise feedback, encouraged to find the answer, praised for intellect. Girls more vague feedback, told what the answer is, praised for congeniality.
       • Attention: Teacher engages boys, more likely to be called out. Boys encouraged more. Boys more likely to be diagnosed with behavior problems. Girls more likely to get in trouble for calling out.
     • 4th to 6th Grade
       • Boys 90% feedback on academic performance. Girls 20% feedback on intelligence. Boys learn if they’re smart they can get ahead. Girls learn if their well behaved and hard working they can get ahead.
       • Sex segregation: reifies structural arrangement that boys and girls are opposites. Prevents basic cooperation. Reinforces and amplifies gender stereotypes. Continues into adolescence and adulthood.

3. Secondary School

   • Prestige
     • Girls: Attractiveness. Through being stylish, wearing makeup, and being sexually knowledgable. Threshold effect: very fine line of sexually knowledgable and slutty.
     • Boys: Attractive, athletic, physical/verbal fighting skills, humor, large, risk-takers, defy norms of politeness.
   • Tracking
     • Boys overestimate abilities, Self confidence increases.
     • Girls underestimate abilities, Self confidence decreases. Doubt themselves more. Stop speaking in class.
     • Teacher/student interaction and expectation puts boys in STEM and girls in Language Arts.

4. College

   • Subject differences
     • Women: humanities, nursing, psychology, social work.
       • Men: STEM, computer science, architecture, business.
   • Men: more talking time.
   • Women: Microaggressions
     • Referred to as girls, interrupted more, taken less seriously, comments on physical traits, demeaning comments
   • Men called on more often
   • Two barriers to grad school: Lack of role models, sexual harassment