Assess sociological explanations of gender differences in education (20 marks) Exams results for GCSE and A level have shown that girls are doing better than boys even in the traditional male subjects like maths and science, although boys are slightly improving, they are not improving as fast as girls are and this is dues to many external and internal factors. An external factor of why girls are achieving better than boys in education is because there is now changes in the attitudes, ambitions and roles of females in society. Sue Sharpe’s (1994) did a study on working class girls in the 1970’s and found that girls main priorities were love, marriage and family. She then did the study again in 1990’s and found that attitudes of females have changed as girls now believe a career and being independent is important. Sharpe’s believe this could be because of the changing attitudes of society in general towards women and the impact of feminism.
Critical Analysis In “The War Against Boys” the author, Christina Hoff Sommers, stated that times are changing and boys should “watch out” in school. She states that girls are starting to be more benefited in school then boys in the educational system, that girl aren’t considered the “second” sex anymore, and that girls are statistically better than boys in academics. I personally agree that times are changing and that boys aren’t getting any special treatment and girls are on the same level as boys, and that they also are better in school then most boys. This to me has a lot to do with that growth gap that there is between both genders, girls start developing at a much earlier age then us, thus letting them learn things at a much faster rate
The story that she told about her life and the challenges she faced are still some of the struggles that she deals with today. Having college-educated parents, unlike the other Latinos, exposed Tayana to better schools where she received a better education. Being around majority Anglo Saxons, and being Spanish was a disadvantage because she was often excluded from consideration for better and higher paying positions. She was a minority, and at times she liked that because she was smart and stood out and refused to accept the stereotypes that were set for minorities. Tayana grew up traveling overseas.
Part A: identify and explain two ways in which gender may affect a pupils experience of education (17 marks) Gender plays a big role in experience of education within the school system. One way that it does this is through is that girls valued romance more than education and so this had an impact on these girls as they were performing poorly in school, this was an interview done in the 1970s by the sociologist Sharpe (1976), he later did another interview with another group of girls in the 1990s and he had found out that they were more career orientated and this was said to be because of the different opportunities that these young girls were given due to new school systems, back in the 1970s males were given a larger amount of opportunities
Unfortunately, in thier adolescent years, girls and boys are influenced to take classes that are deemed appropriate for their gender. Most students in parenting or home economics classes are female. Males densely populate the agriculture and mechanic classes. Susan Jacoby wrote “When Bright Girls Decide That Math Is a Waste of Time” She speaks of how math and science are considered masculine subjects. Jacoby feels that this stereotype causes smart girls to under achieve.
“For Once, Blame The Student” The article “For once, blame the student” by Patrick Welsh expresses the idea that American students are falling behind academically not because of the common excuses themselves. I agree with the article and have seen through first-hand experience as a student that a large portion of American students have lost the internal motivation and determination needed to succeed academically, i.e. my 7th period. In “For once, blame the student” Welsh talks about the way students who have emigrated to the United States often do better in school than the middle and upper class American students. Welsh says the reasoning behind the emigrated student’s success is the self determination and motivation to do well in school, as well as hard work exerted by the students.
Since the early 1990’s, girls have begun to outperform boys at most levels of the education system. According to Pirie in Item A, the modular courses and continuous assessment found in education today has been seen to favour the systematic approach of girls, compared to the old O level exam which typically favoured boys. These changes within the education system are seen as the main result of gender differences in education, nevertheless, external factors such as the impact of feminism and changes in the job market may also have influenced the increase in girl’s attainment. Firstly, it may be argued that the way pupils are assessed has favoured girls and disadvantaged boys. Gorard found that the gender gap in achievement was stable from 1975 up until 1988 when it increased rapidly.
arol Gilligan—influential feminist psychologist and author—is worried. Gilligan's 1982 book In Another Voice (called "the little book that started a revolution" by Harvard University Press) electrified the pundit class with its premise that girls were fundamentally misread and oppressed by American society. The advocacy programs promoting equality for girls that resulted from Gilligan's call-to-arms have had an impact few would deny. In fact, they may have worked too well, as schools generally acknowledge that girls now outshine boys in grades and high level-course enrollment (even in math and science, says the National Center for Education Statistics) and outnumber them in formerly male bastions such as honor societies, debating clubs and
Knowledge is not always power because the more you know does not necessarily mean you understand what you have learned. In the short story “Everyday Use”, education seemed to make a rift in the relationship not only between the mother and the daughter, but also between the sisters. Dee was one to always try and outsmart her family members always seeking answers knowing no one knew. It was mama who eventually got the community together to help send Dee to school so her daughter would be happy and satisfied. The values of heritage seem to have been lost with the gain of knowledge when Dee has gone to college.
The SAT might have made sense when it was developed in the 1920s, when higher education was an elitist proposition and the college admission pipeline led a relatively homogeneous population of young adults into a similarly uni-dimensional set of colleges and universities (Creighton). Standardized testing is not good for all students because some students test better than others. There are some who have amazing GPAs and academically do well in school but might test very poorly. Parents have complained in the past to school administration that