The Dark Underbelly of Reinhardt--Part 2

Sexism at Reinhardt is best described by someone other than me. I don’t plan to speak with any great air of authority. But I will present a few scattered observations and vignettes.

There is a term—feminization of elementary school—that applies to most of the grade schools we attended. As far as I could see, Reinhardt was run by women. When Mr. Gerber took me out to the playground for a man-to-man talk to correct my behavior, it was only because Miss Wilson and Mrs. Keeling told him to get his lazy ass out to do it.

I think Reinhardt was at the end of a Golden Age of feminized grade schools. It’s interesting to look at the women teachers whom you most admired and learned from in school—for me, Miss Wilson; Mrs. Willis, my 7th grade home room teacher; at Gaston, Miss Suggs, my English teacher, and at BA, Mrs. Braden and Mrs. Wilbanks. How many of this group of female brainpower would choose teaching today if they had it to do all over again?

That’s not to say all our women teachers were standouts. I remember a day in the 4th grade when I sat in a classroom with a teacher, I don’t remember her name [Cheatum?]. She was conducting a classification activity at the chalk board. She had several categories listed on the board and was brainstorming with the class to add entries. She accepted an entry and wrote it down, I don’t remember the specifics. But I knew it was a mistake: she was miscategorizing something and should have known better. So I raised my hand and said, “You ignorant bitch, that word shouldn’t have been written there. You are miscategorizing.” I really didn’t use the term “ignorant bitch.” I was very polite, and my comment really was very bright for a fourth grader. Her response? “Don, you are so smart. You should grow up to be a scientist.”

From various web sources.
David and Myra Sadker researched gender equity in the classroom for over twenty years, and in a 1989 investigation with Lynette Long they explored the progress of gender equity in classrooms since the passage of Title IX. In a follow-up book, Failing at Fairness: How America’s Schools Cheat Girls (1995), the Sadkers, drawing on numerous interviews with students and teachers, found that micro-inequities occur daily in classroom interactions. Included in their study, which investigated verbal interaction patterns in elementary, secondary, and college classrooms in a variety of settings and subject areas, are the findings that girls receive fewer academic contacts, are asked lower level questions, and are provided less constructive feedback and encouragement than boys — all of which translates into reduced preparation for independent effort. The Sadkers posit that this imbalance in attention, coupled with the quality and quantity of interaction, results in the lowering of girls’ levels of achievement and self-esteem.
Boys receive significantly more remediation, criticism, and praise than girls. Boys are given more time to talk in class.
Teachers are generally unaware of the presence or the impact of such bias. Only when they view video tapes of their own classes do they see (with surprise) their own gender bias. Both male and female teachers are guilty
Not only do boys get more attention, but they get precise praise while girls get neutral praise. Boys get follow-up questions that involve higher level thinking. When boys call out, teachers focus on their answers. When girls call out, teachers remediate their behavior (Sadker & Sadker).
There is little overt sexism by teachers. Teachers interact more with boys than with girls. Student behavior determines teacher-pupil interaction patterns. Teachers react rather than initiate. Learning environments are structured to be more effective for boys than for girls (Fennema).
When girls do well in math, they attribute it to luck; and when they do poorly, they attribute it to their lack of ability. When boys do well in math, they attribute it to their ability; and when they do poorly, they attribute it to lack of effort. Boys see their successes and girls see their failures as internally determined. Boys see their failures and girls see their successes as externally determined.

I thought it was hard growing up as a boy, but I guess girls had their own set of problems.