Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 12, 1992 TAG: 9202120358
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From the Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SCHOOLS CALLED BIASED AGAINST GIRLS
American public schools are shortchanging girls in everything from the way courses are designed to the attention teachers give students, the American Association of University Women charges in a report to be released today.This furthers inequities that hinder the choices girls make as adults, according to the report, which pulls together two decades of research. Among its findings:
Teachers give girls significantly less attention than boys.
While the "gender gap" in math is declining, girls still are not pursuing math-related careers in the same proportion as boys are, and a large, and perhaps growing, gender gap persists in science.
Curriculums often ignore females or reinforce stereotypes.
Most standardized tests are biased against girls.
In addition, the study found indications that black girls fare even worse than white girls in classroom interaction. Although black girls try to initiate more teacher contact than any other group, they are frequently rebuffed and usually receive less encouragement.
Further, the report found that sexual harassment of girls by boys is on the rise, in part, the authors say, because school authorities tend to dismiss the incidents as "harmless instances of `boys being boys.' "
Noting that most of the workers entering the job market by the turn of the century will be women or minorities, AAUW officials said the inequities must be reversed if the United States is to be competitive in global markets.
"It starts in preschool, when girls get less teacher attention, and lessons focus on the developmental needs of boys," Alice McKee, president of the AAUW Educational Foundation, said of women's difficulties in rising to key leadership positions in business, the professions and academia.
"`Women and children are swelling the ranks of the poor, at great cost to society. Yet our education policy-makers are failing to address the relationship between education and the cycle of poverty," McKee said.
The study follows an AAUW-commissioned poll last year which found that in general girls, unlike boys, do not emerge from school with the same degree of confidence and self-esteem with which most began their education.
Among the group's recommendations were strengthening enforcement of a 1972 law banning sex discrimination in federally funded education programs; better training of teachers, counselors and administrators to avoid gender bias; revamping of courses to expand opportunities for girls; and the elimination of sex stereotyping in matters ranging from discipline to textbooks.
As for standardized tests, researchers found that when college scholarships are given based on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, boys are more apt to receive them than girls who get equal or slightly better high school grades. Further, of boys and girls with the same math SAT scores, the girls do better in college.