Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 29, 1992 TAG: 9203290092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The boys were given blocks and trucks and plastic tools to play with.
"They got to do the fun stuff," Hairston said. "And we had women teachers. I didn't understand it. These were women teachers."
That was years ago at Forest Park Elementary School. But Hairston, 13, and Grogan, 14 - now classmates at Ruffner Middle School - think schools and teachers still have some sexist and stereotypical tendencies.
Hairston and Grogan were among eight Ruffner pupils - four girls, four boys - who sat around a table in a school conference room last week to discuss gender bias in education.
They were asked whether they've experienced the type of bias alleged in a recent study by the American Association of University Women: boys getting a more balanced education than girls; teachers paying more attention to boys; teachers pushing boys and girls toward stereotypical careers.
Most pupils said bias existed in their classes. The girls felt that teachers paid more attention to the boys. The boys didn't think so, but they said they saw a different type of bias.
Jamie Duncan, 14, said that the amount of attention a teacher pays to a pupil depends more on the pupil's personality than gender.
"Some of the teachers won't even pay attention to you unless you're a troublemaker," Duncan said.
"If you're shy you get ignored, not only by the teacher but by everybody," said Jeremy Baldwin, 12.
The pupils did agreed on one point: While stereotyping exists, it is less visible in middle school than it was in elementary school. These children said they expected it to level out even more in high school.
But it's still there.
Take gym class.
Even now, the girls said their gym teacher often gives the girls jump ropes to play with and gives the boys basketballs.
"That's real sexist," said Hairston, who sometimes would prefer to play basketball or dodge ball.
And then there's "the fun stuff."
Usually, said Theresa Mai, 14, teachers call on boys to runs errands that involve physical labor, like carrying books.
"Girls can do it, too. They're strong, too. They can carry books," Mai said.
And coaches who teach classes, like health, often call more on the male athletes in the class than the other students, Mai said.
Baldwin, the only seventh-grader in the group, said schools reflect society. Schools used to be sexist because society was sexist. That's changing, he said, but slowly.
"I think society's opening up. But it's only in second gear," Baldwin said.
April Boothe, 13, said it may be changing, but some teachers - particularly the older ones - still cling to some outdated ideas.
Boothe remembers once telling a fifth-grade teacher that she wanted to be a veterinarian. The teacher told her it was a difficult field and suggested she consider an easier field, like accounting.
"I felt like she was trying to tell me I shouldn't go out for that," Boothe said.
That was one of the AAUW's findings: Teachers pushed girls toward stereotypical female careers, and likewise for boys.
Yet, Boothe said, "It's not as bad as it used to be. I mean they're not pushing us to be housewives."
by CNB