Lecture 5

Question 1

2 main roles that schools play in gender socialization

Answer 1

1. active participation in the economy (gendered according to paid and unpaid work)
2. active participation in civic life of the community (gendered according to roles, responsibilities and behaviors)

Question 2

4 main ways that schools PRODUCE gendered students

Answer 2

They learn what it means to be girls/boys by:
1. who teaches
2. what teachers teach
3. how teachers teach
4. how schools are organized

Question 3

History of role in gender in Canadian schools (18th Century)

Answer 3

• largely reserved for upper class boys and men
• girls were viewed as insufficiently intelligent, rational and able to learn
• some girls of elite status and who were religious became highly educated but this ‘idea’ was linked to being masculine

Question 4

History of the role in gender in Canadian schools (19th century)

Answer 4

• education expanded significantly, Canadian rulers saw education as the best way to assimilate the diverse society into a nation
• the confederation in 1867 made governments give more financial support to catholic and public schools
• near the end of the 1800s, most children were enrolled in school, but there was still controversy about girls being in school
• still a strong sense of the ‘separate spheres’ where men and women should fulfill very different things

Question 5

History of the role in gender in Canadian schools (20th century)

Answer 5

• 10% of Canadian university undergraduates were women
• by 1920, this increased to 25%
• around 1980 onward around 50% are women

Question 6

Formal education gendering process (4) preschool- university

Answer 6

1. preschool + kindergarten- classroom is divided by gender, usually sex segregated through the toys in which they play with
2. elementary schools- both are encouraged to excel in dif subjects, boys its mathematics and sciences, girls its language arts and social sciences
3. High school- gender intensification during this time (more rid than before), boys take more shop classes, weight lifting (practice hegemonic masculinity), girls take cooking, sewing, dance classes (practice emphasized femininity)
4. College/Uni- gender segregated and uneven, men take business, engineering, tech and sciences while women take marketing, languages, hr, humanities and social sciences

Question 7

The gendered school curriculum (2)

Answer 7

1. The formal curriculum
2. The informal (hidden) curriculum

Question 8

What is the informal/hidden curriculum of schools?

Answer 8

• values, norms and beliefs that arent deliberately taught but underlie the curriculum
• occurs through…
  a) teacher perceptions of students
  b) teacher treatment of students
  c) structure of schools

Question 9

What is the formal curriculum of schools?

Answer 9

• occurs through school based learning materials and textbooks
• males are casted as more important, active and primary roles, dressed in pants
• females are less significant, passive and secondary roles, usually wear dresses or skirts

Question 10

Performance of males and females in schools

Answer 10

In elementary school
- males are more likely to be sent to psychologists and diagnosed with learning disabilities
- receive lower grades
- more likely to repeat a grade
- more likely to be suspended
In high school
- males are more likely to act out
- fail or dropout
In post secondary
- females out number humanities and behavioral sciences
- males out number engineering and comp sciences
- equal amounts for biology degree
- slightly more females in undergrads
- but males out number females in ivy league schools