Gender and Education

(Hyperlinks)

Discrimination continues to be present in the classrooms.  Studies have shown that gender discrimination in the classroom can lead to affect children’s learning abilities.  Sometimes teachers
tend to used gender to discipline children; they classify girls as being neat, and boys of being tough and strong.  There is stereotype of how boys and girls do in school, according to people girls are more likely to do well in school than boys, which is a stereotype that people still use today.

After reading so many articles about gender and education, I found very interesting stuff that made me think a lot about how we as future teachers have to learn so much about how to treat students in the classroom in a way that we don’t make students feel as different from the others. I found an article that talks about the common types of gender inequality, the effects of gender inequality, and how to prevent gender inequality in the classroom.   http://www.suite101.com/content/the-problem-of-gender-inequality-in-the-classroom-a237111

I found another article that talks about efforts to create a better environment for girls in the
education system, and why gender inequality continues to flourish. This article shows interesting researches that define who gets more attention in the classroom, according to gender.  All these
issues of gender inequality affect students abilities and how well they do in class.  Since they don’t get motivation from teachers, they tend to not take school seriously.  

http://www.essortment.com/all/genderequityed_reog.htm

I never thought gender inequality could affect children so badly.  I believe everyone should be treated equally because at one point or another we are all the same.  In class, I would like to discuss ways of how to prevent gender inequality in the classroom. I found every interesting video about “school gender gap.”  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZPmXfSc0Rw

Brown vs. Board of Education and Tim Wise video

The Brown vs. Board of education website, talks about how people of color had to fight back in the days for equal rights.  Back then, there was racism all over the place, pretty much the same way as there is in today’s society. However, educational resources were denied to children’s, but parents were brave enough to stand up and fight for their children’s rights.  They just wanted equal opportunities regardless of race, but injustices and discrimination dominated the society.

According to Tim Wise, racism still present and will never end if we don’t work together and try to ended.  As he discussed, there still evidence of racism and discrimination.  He talks about how a person of color can be as wise, intelligent, and capable to do certain jobs, as Barack Obama, but because they didn’t graduated from a prestigious university or have the ways to show their intelligence, there’s no way they will be taken seriously by others.  Racism is one of the mayor ways, why people of color face challenges, some people thought
that because Barack Obama was elected president, racism would end but as Tim Wise said, “there is a lot of work to be done.”

 He also gives examples of stereotype between people of color.  According to a survey, in 2008, most people characterized black individuals as just wanting to live from welfare.  “Between Barack and the hard place” is related to “The Brown vs. Board of education” because both of them stressed the importance of equal opportunity and the consequences of racism.

In class, I would like to get to talk more about this issue, because racism is something that’s around us, every single day of our lives. I found this video that shows how people of color were treated back then and everything they went through. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTGHLdr-iak

In The Service Of What? The Politics Of Service Learning By Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

Response to Alicia’s blog
Alicia said,

The article by Kahne and Westtheimer made me really think about the classrooms that I have worked in, and the class that I am working in at the present time. This article is about service learning, how we go about doing it, who's responsible for the education that is taught, and different ways that we can go about teaching the process.  While reading the example that is given by this article about Mr. Johnson's class, I related to the students, and the parents. They explain that the school that the students are going to be working in are in a poor neighborhood. The students that are doing this service learning project are from a middle-class area.Some of the parents were upset, and
worried for their child's safety. The students were beginning this project, with stereotypes already at play in their minds.

I related to the parents for a number of reasons. Myself, as a parent, worry about my
child in all that he is doing, daily. If he told me that he was involved in this assignment, would I be upset and concerned, I say probably yes! I think that the parents that were really against this should have done their research on the school and the area before coming to a conclusion. I feel that the phrase, "You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover", relates to this topic. They could have even visited the school to check it out, and then make a decision.

 I can relate to the students in the same sense that I felt when I began my VIPS assignment. It is in an urban, low income neighborhood. I was not quite sue what to expect. I worried that some of the
children would not want to give me a chance and try to expand their knowledge in Music, because they may not care about school at all. I also worried about their behavior, and how that would affect my interaction with them during class time. The students from this article came to a realization that they were wrong about their assumption on the School, and the children they were working with. They found the pupils to be very polite and interested in them and the learning that the student teachers had planned to teach them. There pre-notion of the environment was entirely wrong, and they realized that. I found this to be true in the VIPS, service learning program that I have been working in. The children are sweet, well mannered, and love having me come to their class. I came to the conclusion that for now on, I will try my best not to stereotype a situation, before I have the 'hard facts' to which I would be dealing with. Diversity is not a problem, it is a just a different environment that I was not use to. It has been a great experience for me this far, and I have become much more open mind to new adventures.

This is a great example of the article in the discussing of 'Charity vs Change'. We need to realize that we have to be open minded, and not pity the youth that we work with, but try to help and understand were they are coming from.We need to help in the 'change' of their lives, and realize the positive things we can do to help improve and fulfill their lives. Sometimes change is a great thing in our lives, or that's what my Grandmother always tell me. some people have a difficult time with change, in any form of the word, myself included. How can we move forward and better ourselves if we do not evolve. I think that is what the authors of this article are trying to express.
           Which is a better way to provide service learning in a meaningful way? In the examples given in this article, I feel that each student took some form of knowledge with them after the project, just
in different ways. They discuss  "Serving Those In Need", which the student worked in a community service project. This project was for a government class, and they state that it was surrounding democracy and citizenship. They help out in different areas of the community, to provide a 'service'
that would help people.

The other example was a form of service learning program 'Homeless Here and
Elsewhere", which the authors describe the form of social, legal, and political standpoint. These students did a great amount of research while in fact helping those who are in need. They actually investigated, write articles, and really try do understand the cause, not just use a "band-aid', as we
read about in Jon Kozol Article. I really feel that this is a wonderful form of helping out the community. I also feel that any act in any form that a person provides to help and care about others is spectacular! I found myself wanting to volunteer and help an organization, to better them , and better myself. I have helped out in the cause for the fight for leukemia for children in the past years. Did I visually see an impact, no, but I knew that I was a 'dent in the glass of the foundation.

I totally agree that the student’s were already beginning the project with stereotypes.  I know that parents always worry about their child safety, but there’s no reason to be judging people from a lower class neighborhood, just because you have never experienced their life style.  Sometimes we let ourselves get influence by what other’s say around you, but at least when you don’t know somebody you should give them the benefit of the doubt or like Alicia said, the parents should at least visited the school and then make a decision.

It’s true! We have to be open minded, and not judge most part of our society, just because they seem different from us.  We just need realize that they come from a different place and try to help them as much as we can, because those people are the ones that need help the most.  We should get involved in the community in order to move forward.  There’s people that need help desperately, but sometimes we don’t try to help them, because of how people talk about them and the reputation they have gain from those who don’t even know where they
come from.

I think that it’s a great idea that educators continue to get their students involved in service learning. We as students, get experience about how our jobs as future teachers, will be, and issues that we will confront later on.  By service learning we not only get involved in the community, but we also learn about ourselves and how by doing little things, we can change the lives of others.

 I found this article that talks about the impact of service learning in the classroom and the community. http://www.jstor.org/pss/420868.  I would like talk more, about this issue in class, because is something that most of our community is go through and we don’t even realize it.   

Unlearning the Myths that Bling us by Linda Christensen (Quotes)

According to Christensen, every child has been “handle” by the media.  The media teaches them stereotyping of different cultures, gender, and influence the way they think,
act, or behave.  She explains that it is very important to take actions towards this issue in order to make a difference. 

“Because we can never look like Cinderella, we began to hate ourselves. The Barbie syndrome starts as we begin a lifelong search for the perfect body.  Crash diets, fat phobias, and obsession with the male realistic becomes commonplace.  The belief that a product will make us rise above our competition, our friends, turns us into addicts.”   

            This quote is so powerful. Sometimes we do not realize the damages we do to ourselves when we get influence by others.  Millions of people die because of excessive diets; sometimes the media lead us to become someone people will like to see, not someone who will feel comfortable about him/herself.  In my opinion, I believe some of these issues will not be happening if we didn’t consider the media as a big part of our lives.  There are people that do not care about what others think about them, but not everyone thinks the same way, there’s people that care about what others think, which t leads them to become obsessed with the way the look.

“Justine, a senior in Christensen’s contemporary literature and social class, said, “It can be
overwhelming and discouraging to find out my whole self image has been formed mostly by others or underneath my worries about what I look like are years of being exposed to TV images of girls and their set roles given to them by TV and the media.  It’s painful to deal with; the idea of not being completely responsible for how I feel about things today is scary.”

After years of not recognizing that the way she looked, was basically created by the influence that the media had on her, Justine feels disappointed about herself. She realized that the way she feels about herself it’s not the way she will probably feel, if it wasn’t for all those years of letting the media influenced her.  This quote made me think about the ways the media influenced our childhood.  I remember how as a kid we pretend to be a TV character because that character was pretty, famous, rich, etc. even though we think about this issue at all; at one point of our lives, the media will manipulate us.

“The impact of racism begins early. Even in our preschool years, we are exposed to misinformation about people different from ourselves. Many of us grow up in neighborhoods where we have limited opportunities to interact with people different than our own families….consequently, most of the early information we receive about “others”—
people racially, religiously, or socioeconomically different from ourselves—does not come as a result of firsthand experience. The secondhand information we receive has often been distorted, shaped by cultural stereotypes, and left incomplete.”

            This quote made me think a lot, because sometimes it is so easy to judge someone we do not know just because we let ourselves get influence by what the media says about him or her.  Often what we see on TV is not real, but since the media is such a big influence in today’s society, we believe everything they say.  We do not realize that we need to get to know
the person first, before making any judgments. 

We are all being manipulated by the media. It will be great if in class, we try to
come out with ideas to stop letting ourselves get influence by the media. This
link shows how the media tries to controls our lives. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/13871/media_influence_in_our_society.html

Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community by Dennis Carlson (Argument)

This author, Dennis Carlson, argues that since public schools encourage students to build and maintain a society of respect, public schools use authority to maintain gayness hidden in the school community.  He is concern about those children’s that are basically force to hide their sexual orientation in school, because they are afraid to come out of the closet and be discriminated and not
be treated as “normal” by others.  

Dennis was concern that society classified gay people as being associated with diseases because homosexuality was just, not allow.  He was upset about the way schools system worked.  Many teachers were fired back them to keep them away from the students because according to some people, gayness was “contagious.”  Teachers were afraid to come out because it will cost them their job. However, the author not only blames the schools, he also blames the society and the way we live.

These gayness issues prevented several great teachers from the teaching career.  Some people do not realize that discriminating homosexuals could bring consequences.  Carlson gives some example of how discrimination affects gay youth.  “For Example, it is now estimated that up to one third of all adolescent suicide victims are gay, approximately one-quarter of all homeless youth in the united states are gay, and dropout and drug abuse rates among gay youth are likewise high.” It is so sad that some people ignored those problems and think that hiding them would be the solution.  I agree with Carlson that these abuses are allow because gay teachers and students are in a environment that does not allowed them to stand up from themselves and express whom they really are.    

I found an interesting wed site about the consequences of rejecting gay teens and much more..      http://www.healthyplace.com/gender/gay-is-ok/gay-is-ok-sitemap/menu-id-1426/