Gender Equality in the Classroom

Analyzing the Classroom From the time we are about 5 years old and for some of us into our late 20’s and 30’s we are in a coeducational environment called the classroom. Ever wonder which gender has the leg up? The bias towards? The one most likely to succeed? My prediction is that boys from kindergarten through the collegiate level more often than not will have an advantage capturing the teacher’s attention and dominating classroom activities over women. From the way students are bred into the educational system to their biological tendencies boys tend to overpower girls in a classroom. This is why more often than not they will be acknowledged in a group discussion, opinions will be valued more, and command the flow of the room over their female counterparts. This disturbs the overall equilibrium of the classroom disrupting learning for both commons. Statistical data will be shocking to most on this particular phenomenon spread throughout the entire educational system. Through The University of Virginia there has been a study on teacher to student interactions ranging from kindergarten all the way through grad school. Discovering that boys are given more attention in the class room, various findings have been identified. Studies of classrooms ranging from kindergarten through graduate school (Sadker, "Sexism in the Classroom" 513, Hall & Sandler 5-9, and Sandler et al. 10-14) have shown that teachers are more likely to call on male students, even when female students raise their hands or when no one does wait longer for male than for female students to respond to questions give male students more eye contact following questions (thus inviting response) remember and use the names of male students ask male students more questions that call for "higher order" critical thinking as opposed to "lower order" recounting of facts coach male students to develop their thoughts by giving them more extended and more specific feedback on the quality of their