She has developed breasts and a vagina. He has a chest and a penis. Allegedly they think the same and are equal for all intensive purposes, hence the fight for gender equality and the feminist movement and the works. Although men and women are essentially equal on all accounts physically they are different. Men are usually taller, have more muscle mass, therefore stronger and other physical traits opposite women. Women are smaller, more agile, menstruate, give birth and are weaker than men among other physical traits. Yet for all intensive purposes they are equal.
As equal as men and women are, yet still we have gender segregated sports; “The Women’s World Cup versus The World Cup, Men 100meter versus Women, etc.” All of this is understandable to a society that strives for equality in regards to gender among other things. However in regards to academia, men and women are categorized into one unit. The Spelling Bee is not ‘Boys’ or ‘Girls’ but unisex. When it comes to scholarships based solely on academia in which ever specified field the division between men and women will be minimal.
According to the article by Restak this unisex grouping of boys and girls in means of academia is unfair to both genders. According to the very same physical components that separate men and women in physical activities, by these basis boys and girls should be separate intellectually.
It is not the case of boys being smarting than girls or vise versa but a case of learning differently. So would the resolution for this plight be to cause segregation of boys and girls for the sake of academia?
The answer to that is metaphorically a double edged sword. If placing boys and girls in separate schools in order to accommodate their collective learning will increase the number of person we have graduating high school, then this segregation may be just. Unfortunately this may not be enough because although collectively boys are learning style A and girls style B on an individual level there will always be in existence variants from the dominant group. In addition to that learning style factor this will create the issue of further gender inequality by separating boys and girls even further due to lack of continual social interaction.
For eight hours a day, five days a week boys and girls are forced to interact with each other in a unisex academic environment. As with any relationship more the more one is with another person the more understanding prosper from the relationship.
In Germany at approximately twelve years of age students undergo an assessment test that indicates the educational path that a student must go for the next six years and as such which school would be best suited to their intellectual style. This test decides whether the student has the brains for linguists and arts or science, whether or not they should enter into a technical school which would enable them to learn a trade by the time they graduate high school such as carpentry or any other, and then there is the option of an ordinary high school.
If the current academic regulation is failing our student here then maybe we should adapt something akin to that in Germany. It is understood that children may not know what their career path will be at twelve or even at eighteen however an assessment to indicates which learning style is best suited for the child would be in the overall best interest for everyone. This would not separate children based on gender and what is common for the overall classification but would enable boys and girls with the same educational stimuli to be adequately facilitated, while simultaneously learning how to relate to another gender socially.
“It is understood that children may not know what their career path will be at twelve or even at eighteen however an assessment to indicates which learning style is best suited for the child would be in the overall best interest for everyone. This would not separate children based on gender and what is common for the overall classification but would enable boys and girls with the same educational stimuli to be adequately facilitated, while simultaneously learning how to relate to another gender socially.”
ReplyDeleteThe stuff they do in Germany sounds pretty Ace. Also, it would eliminate the “boy vs. girls” and would still at least attempt to connect with a child’s learning capabilities and specialties. However, even if they were to separate what young girls and young boys learn they could still socialize them, such as having extended break times in which they would get to mingle, or teaching them on separate sides of the room and then when they are to apply what they’ve learned have them sit together. This could even open up the doors to get children to help one another by sharing what they have been learning and trying to understand what someone else has been. There are still ways to co-mingle sexes, as it would be bad to completely desperate them, as there’s already dissonance between them, but it is still a good idea to try and address teaching children different from another that learns different.
Naw meen?
I would be against any form of segregation when it came to education. If what Restak argues is indeed true, then yes, there are definitely biases against the success of both genders. However, I think it would be just as detrimental if it were required that the genders be separated; the problems that the gender binary create today would be prevalent in such a system. Although the goal is ultimately to provide the best education via the best method of teaching, much of what a child, or any student for that matter learns, occurs both inside AND outside of the classroom.
ReplyDeletePersonally, my suggestion would be to cut class sizes down to around 8 to 10 students per teacher. I realize that this is not necessarily feasible from an economic standpoint, but I really do believe in the powerful effects of personal instruction.
Okay, even if it would be better to segregate the sexes, the American school system is so ineffective, this would ignore all of the other problems within public education concerning students that have less resources, students that cannot speak english fluently and the general overcrowding of our schools because of a lack of funding.
ReplyDeleteYes, it probably would be more efficient if we gave students the education they needed and would take the most from, that is, not making people take four years of math classes when they are going into a more language heavy major or career.
My point being, we really need to fix a lot of things like you mentioned with the German schools of different disciplines before we even entertain the idea of segregating the sexes.