Sexism in Education [a Teaching Perspective]

[Background: I graduated from a university known and praised for its education program. While at university, I tutored 8th graders, interned for 10th graders, and student taught grades 9 and 10. Professionally, I taught English, grades 8-12 for four years, adding 7th grade my last year. I've taught acting, directed plays, and coached. I'm waiting to start a new position for grades 8 and 10 in the fall]

Intro

I'm writing this post because I was reading an article/blogpost of sorts talking about the effect of the push for self esteem in education in the 1990s, particularly on boys. It got me to thinking about my own experiences in teaching/with students, and how my students have possibly/probably been affected by kid/student-specific sexism. So, I'm writing this. It's a little tangential, and ultimately very "from the perspective of me as a teacher", but I hope it will be illuminating for anyone reading it.  Let's get into it!

In the US education system, it is a “known” fact that girls “are doing better” than boys. Their grades are better on average. They get in less trouble. They score better on tests. Currently, this is blamed on the femininity of education:

• Most teachers are female (therefore, boys cannot learn from them)
• As they are female teachers, they must teach in a female way (which boys cannot understand)
• Most schools work as a set of classrooms, where students sit and learn (and therefore, boys, being “naturally” more active and rambunctious, cannot learn in them)
• Schools require discipline and self control (boys, it is known, cannot excel at either).
• [This is paraphrasing what I learned at college, but sources are easy to find]

These assumptions are, of course, ignoring the (rather successful) education systems of yesterday that included mostly or all boys that were more strict/disciplined/rigid than school of today. Boys in the early 1800s were not learning five languages from "being kinetic learners". This also ignores that though most teachers are female, our subject matter is almost exclusively male. Male mathematicians. Male scientists. Male historical figures. Male writers. Male characters. Boys are excused from failing to learn from female teachers, but girls are expected to learn from predominantly male sources. This also ignores girls who are are kinetic learners, boys who are visual learners, etc etc etc ad nauseam. Learning styles are not sexed; we just want to think they are. Ignored also are girls with behavioral disabilities and learning disabilities, more likely to be overlooked because they are socialized to conform better than boys are (a source; this is just something I learned at college, along w/ the above, but a source for those of you interested in learning more). "Boys need recess!!!", ignoring that girls, too, 'need' recess, yet somehow they are able to function better with less.

This is meant in a joking way; yes, of course, there are many important dead white men. However, there are also a lot of other important dead and living people who curiously get overlooked. (source)

In short, every excuse is made for the boy. Of course he cannot learn from a female! (Let us not observe what effect sexism has had on his young mind, or why he (and his parents) think women are unworthy to teach boys.....). Of course he is more active than a girl and will get into trouble if not given outlets!!! (Ignoring that outlets are good for all children, and "boys will be boys" contrasted with "sit down and act like a young lady!!"). Of course of course of course. So, teachers are taught to work around these issues--not to challenge, no, never that--but to make room for them. To concede. Boys cannot learn from women, so reading books only about boys is acceptable to "even it out". Boys cannot be expected to behave, so we'll be more lax on them until it really gets out of hand, then we'll expel them because, well, what is there to be done? He can't learn his way out of these behaviors; he's a boy.

And teachers teach to these assumptions, and this is what their expectations and (more importantly) the expectations of parents are based on. Expectations for boys are low, but, after all "boys will be boys". 

"Students rise to meet expectations" is a mantra teachers know well. However, having expectations based on gendered stereotypes for your students is not just expected or accepted, it is taught at Universities. 

Effects of the Above as I've Experienced Them

At the end of the year, or semester, there is always at least one student who needs a desperate-Hail-Mary-Herculean-save for their grade [this means, me (voluntarily) staying late every night for a week or coming in up to two days after the semester has ended to rain difficult, boring, and strenuous work upon the student until they have chipped their way out the hole they dug for themselves] . In my class, invariably, this need comes directly from a student plagiarizing (usually accidentally) the research paper (10th and 11th grade) or completely failing to turn in the majority of work during the school year (all grades). 

Also, these students are boys. I have never had a female student need this. Why? Have I had female students plagiarize their papers? Absolutely. Have I had female students fail to turn in work? Yes. But why then, are they not represented among the desperate-end-of-year-oh-dear-god-please-let-me-pass-this-class students? Because they work. They are responsible. They do more with less urging. They feel less entitled--entitled to my time and trouble. They are more likely to send me an email or talk to me after class, "is this working?" "have you read my update yet?" They light the fire under (pardon the term) their own asses. They come in before school or after school or during my planning period. I don't usually have to call home for female students.

You go, hardworking, responsible student! Your future is bright! (source)

Parents are much more likely to intervene and make excuses for male students. At the end of the semester, the male students are not the ones coming to me, asking for me to help them save their grade. Their parents are, dragging their woebegone sons* behind them. Their sons, woebegone because they've had infinite chances to help themselves all semester but, unlike their female counterparts, have taken none of them. So, mommy (always the mothers, too) shows up in my classroom at the end of the year, asking what can be done. The son does not email or respond to my emails. His mother does. The son does not come in before or after school; his mother does. 

[*A note: Of course I also have male students who are responsible and care for their grades. They, however are not the focus. I am solely talking about the solely-male end-of-year-ers]

It's apparent to me through these interactions that while female students experience a more "sink or swim" attitude from their parents paired with higher expectations overall, male students are held to lower expectations and receive more help from their parents. This leads to what is called "learned helplessness"--when a student learns that if they just don't for long enough, someone will come along and save them. 

I could write a whole post just on this image. I apologize. (source)

This attitude does not get them far in my class. Above, I said the assignments are "difficult, boring, and strenuous". This is on purpose. Our normal assignments are meant to be challenging (but not difficult), interesting, and only as long as they need to be. I do this on purpose because the students I have needing bailed out at the end of the year are not stupid. They are lazy and spoiled. So, I make it a horrible experience they will never forget. Their moms always want to be in the room, too, I've noticed. They want to watch over their son's shoulder and correct him as he goes. That also is no-go. It's something the student must do alone so that he himself can decide, "I never want to do this again." I tell them all along, "You can do X, which will be simpler and more interesting, or you can not, and end up doing Y, which will be terrible and boring." When we get to Y, they're always surprised to find out I'm telling the truth. That's something else I've noticed with male students, the surprise. The shock.

Male students are most shocked to learn that yes, the rules do apply to them, also. Yes, they must actually turn in work to get a grade. Yes, if they bully a classmate, they will be called out on it. Yes, if they cheat, they must make up the work (and them some) if they hope to see a passing grade. Yes, they must use inside voices. Yes, throwing things out of anger is a punishable offence. (There are sometimes females students who are surprised, as well. Usually no more than two per class, who are star athletes/"popular", but with boys, it's more like.....30-40%) I use "shocked" because that's the word for it. There's always a steep learning curve for new classes as to what is acceptable in my classroom, but it's worth it.

Sexism and Teaching Materials

Until this previous April (I believe it was, maybe March?) I'd been happily teaching away, ignorant of the broken boundaries I was leaving in my wake. For each grade, I taught them from what we had. I  divided up the novels by approximate grade-level and selected pieces from the textbooks to supplement them. Sometimes, if necessary, I'd copy a novel for students, or find an e-version if what we had was not sufficient. I tried to balance out our reading where I could. It's hard to do, sometimes. For example, most American literary canon is writing by and about males. Alright, fair enough. Students need to learn about our culture, but I made sure to include poems by and about women, or myths about Native Americans, or news stories talking about the lives of this group or that. You get my drift. 

Now, where things get really outrageous. In the 8th grade year, all of our novels had female protagonists. Every. One. And the novels I assiduously copied chapter by chapter and handed out to students? Also female protagonists. It just worked out that way, and it didn't bug me because I knew their upcoming years would be rather male-dominated. It also worked out with their age. With each 8th grade class, I'd end up teaching a "gender" unit in which we'd eventually come to realize--wow! Boys can be smart! Wow! Girls can be strong! and so on. (I say "end up" because the unit was 'optional'. I'd teach it when I got tired of the sexism in the students: "girls are weak" "boys are stupid" etc. Sometimes it'd happen early, and sometimes late, but it always happened.)

Now, prepare to be shocked; they liked them. The students, male and female, liked the stories we read. They empathized with the characters and learned from them. They enjoyed the books. They asked questions. They ended up learning a lot about institutional sexism. They learned about femicide and sexism through culture and history. I didn't force it on them. I let them ask questions. Usually, the boys would ask the most questions.

Where last April and the broken boundaries come in: I was at a meeting with all the English teachers from my league, middle school and high school. We were sitting down to talk about maybe doing a league-wide novel reading with inter-school assignments/projects/experiences. It was very fun and exciting on a whole. True to form, there were only 2 male teachers in the room. After talking generalities, like which grade should have this? what time of year? we started talking books. Imagine my surprise when I learned from my fellow teachers:

1) Boys do not like books.

2) Boys will not read books with female protagonists.

3) Boys only enjoy non-fiction-type books, especially War Stories.

4) The best way to make this league-wide project work would be to cater to facts 1, 2, and 3.

I was aghast and a little dumbfounded. These were experienced teachers! I was the youngest and most inexperienced person in the room! And they all nodded their heads sagely, "yes, yes. It is known." Girl stories are special, are spice, and should be taught sparingly to avoid making the poor boys' brains melt.

Pictured: Good for everyone! (source)

Nothing to be said about female students and their interests. Nothing to be said about treating female stories like an "other". Nothing to be said about denying boys fantasy and whimsy. Nothing.

So, of course, I spoke up about my success teaching female-protagonist literature. Homeless Bird, about a child-bride in India. Where the Lilies Bloom, about a girl struggling to keep her family alive in Appalachia in the Great Depression. Bloody Jack, about a young orphan in early 1800s England who lies about her sex to join the Navy. Chinese Cinderella, about a girl despised by her family for being a girl who only wants education and love. Harriet Tubman. To Kill a Mockingbird. Antigone, North and South, Jane Eyre, The Pillow Book. Stories that included women/which I taught from a feminist angle, Romeo and Juliet, "The Lady of Shalott", Canterbury Tales, "The Goblin Market", the Scarlet Letter, and so on and so on. 

I had a realization in that moment. Boys "don't like" girl books because they are allowed to not like them. The books are presented in such a way that says, "we're only doing this because we have to. I know you won't like it," and so they don't. They are not made to understand or empathize with the female characters, so they don't. It's believed to be impossible, so why try?

Horrible. Stupid. Harmful. I've had male students openly weeping in class when we read Chinese Cinderella. Male students going online*, finding (illegal, but hey, fair use!) e-copies of Bloody Jack, turning them into PDFs to share with their classmates, and reading ahead because they just couldn't take the suspense. Senior classes voting to cover "early feminism" for their unit-of-choice. (and so on, and so on)

[*If you're like, whaaa? Why don't they just take their books home? Because we were a school with not-great funding, I tried to keep the books in the classroom as much as I could to avoid loss/damage. And I liked getting our reading done as a class/being all on the same page.]

Hunger strikes. Jiu jitsu. All that good stuff. (source)

I didn't even have to try. I didn't have to coddle or make promises to earn complacency. I simply said, "We're reading X now. It's a great story, about _______. Let's get started."

So, I shared these experiences with my fellow teachers. They were a little surprised, and responded in such a way as to imply that my students must be unique, and it would be Very Difficult to get their students to read anything out of the rigid guidelines of Male Protagonist, Blood and Death, if they'd read at all. (Perhaps they don't enjoy reading because every book they encounter in school is the same? All Macho-Bro-Going-to-War. Perhaps it gets old? Just a thought). Ultimately, we settled on to Kill a Mockingbird, a choice much supported by yours truly, but conceded to in an interesting fashion--'there's things for boys to enjoy, too!' 'it's not really a 'girl' book!' 'it's important!'...

Morality in Education

Teaching morality is a thorny bit. We are supposed to education students for what they should do or be: honesty is good, hard work is good, integrity is good. It's also apparent which criticisms are more common. "You need to work harder/study more!" doesn't get a negative or surprised reaction from students. They're used to this one. This is a common criticism encountered in schools.

In my experience, the one that surprises students rather a lot is "stop being sexist" or "treat girls like humans." Each class I get is taught this lesson, usually just once, in the first year I have them (though, of course, it continues as a thread the whole year, each year). After I had my first year at my past post, it was a lesson I taught to the youngest class each year. It could be sparked by different things.

• The boys are teasing a girl in the class. She looks upset. I ask what's going on. The boys say something like, "_____ likes/doesn't like ________, but she's a girl."
• The boys are teasing a boy in their class. He looks upset. I ask what's going on. The boys say something like, "_____ throws/runs/screams/likes ______ like a girl."
• The girls boys and boys are arguing and frustrated. I ask them what's wrong. The boys say something like, "Why do girls complain about their feet hurting when they wear high heels/their makeup/their clothes? They're the ones who wear them. They're stupid."
• The boys are teasing the girls in class, "Only the boys talk in class! What's the matter, girls, you don't know what to say?"
• Said by boys or girls, triumphantly or resignedly, "I've never met a girl who was as smart as boy."/"Boys are better at everything."

It's always a little jarring for me. They say these things openly, without much encouragement, to me, expecting me to take their side. This means they've been able to do this in the past. They've said these things, voiced these ideas, and been encouraged in them, or at least not discouraged strongly enough to dissuade them from saying such things in the future. What follows from me is a stern questioning session followed by a lecture at the end of which, the class concludes whatever was said was inappropriate, and insulting "girls" is not a good thing to do. They are usually quite shamefaced, and we don't have the issue again. (Which leads me to wonder, if it's that stinking simple, why don't more teachers do it???)

(source)

In rare instances, I overhear a particular student saying something more insidious, "if she didn't dress like such a skank" or, to a classmate, "you're a stupid bitch". This also earns an immediate callout, usually in the middle of a lesson or the middle of helping another student with their assignment. A variation of this exchange follows:

*Me: (in drill-sergeant voice, cutting through whatever noise is going on, pointing at offending student) "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Student: (shocked I heard them, shocked I'm calling them out, scrabbling) "Uh, I said (lie)/I didn't say anything/(shocked silence)."

Me: "No no no. What did you say? I'm not asking because I didn't hear you; I heard you. I'm asking so everyone knows."

Student: "Uhm uhm--I can't say it in school/I was just saying....(some excuse/minimized version)"

Me: "What you said was (paraphrased school-appropriate version w/ implication added). I am disappointed in you; you should know better. That is not okay. That is sexist**, and I NEVER want to hear it or anything like it in my classroom again. You shouldn't say it anywhere, ever. But if you say it in here, you don't want to know what will happen to you. Do. You. Understand?"

Student: "Yes/Yes, I'm sorry."

Then, I give a small lesson for the edification of the whole class exactly why whatever thing the student said was bad, and then we continue on our merry way. Happily, I've never had to do that to the same student more than once, nor have I really had to do it in the same class more than once. It's marvelously effective. 

Does it help them in their everyday lives? I'm not sure; I hope so. Does it change their minds about women in places other than my classroom? I'm not sure; I hope so.
I'm hopeful it plants the seed, and if nothing else, it shows the students what is Not To Be Tolerated, at least in my classroom. It shows students they're Safe from that kind of nonsense while in my room. And, over time, in the students I had for multiple years, I did indeed see changes in their attitudes towards women/sexism. Small changes for some, large changes for some, change nonetheless. 

[*This is a technique I learned from my brother, also a teacher.]

[** I also use this when students are being racist, homophobic, just jerks to each other, etc., and it works then, too, but our focus for this article is sexism]

 

(source)

I think it works for a couple of reasons. I think the students have not been called out on this before, so it leaves a big impact (hence the lack of repeat offenders). I think that, for the most part, students/young people are inherently good, but they repeat dumb shit they hear from other places; they don't have arguments or reasons for saying what they say, they just say it, (hence why the lecture works, and if there is any argument, it's easy to show them the other side of it).  It also works because I am a teacher, and they are my students. I have that authority, and I work hard to create a rapport with them. Our everyday classes are fun, creative, and very comfortable/safe, so when something like this happens, and the Disappointed Dragon Teacher comes out, they are affected.

(There's also a gentler version of the above I use when a student is being negative about himself/herself. It's a little less effective, because self-hate tends to be a little deeper entrenched.)

Conclusion

It saddens me that they make it that far, to my classroom, seemingly never having been taught the way to behave. It saddens me teachers are not taught to fight these problems. We're taught to ignore them or work around them. It saddens me that no matter the good impact of a teacher, it can be undone by a student's peers or family. 

So, what is to be done?

• If you are a teacher: hold students to equal expectations. Do not accept sexism in your classroom. Demand more.
• If you are a parent: hold children to equal expectations. Do not accept sexism from your children. Be involved in their education. What is their reading list? Talk to their teachers. Supplement from home; libraries are a wonderful thing. Demand more.
• If you are not a teacher or a parent: hold the people in your lives to equal expectations. Do not accept sexism from your acquaintances and friends. Have higher standards. Demand more.