Do the concepts explored in the reading resonate with you, from your experience as a student or from your experience trying to support your students and the classroom community during your practicum? Reflect upon those resonances (or lack of resonances)
I can resonate with the ideas of "unpromising boys/promising girls" in a teaching setting through coaching. To give context, to become a hockey coach in Canada, you need to be certified through Hockey Canada; to become certified you need to take a course and then submit practice plans, as well as be evaluated. During my course I remember an instructor talking about the difference between coaching boys and girls and that "coaching girls is easier because they mature earlier than boys", and while this is physiologically true, it always sat uneasy with me. There was a connotation that boys wouldn't be easy to coach because they couldn't be mature. At the end of the day, a kid is still a kid, and after coaching both girls and boys teams, there was no significant difference that I could point out; each acted their own age, which was expected.
This also bled into my teaching as during my practicum I got to work with a class that had some disruptive students. When talking with my SA, they made a note that there were certain students in the class who, when under assessment, did very well, but during class time were disruptive. Most of these students were boys, but they did it to fit in with the "cool kid who didn't try in school". Often times, students are very focused on their social standing and will emulate the emotions and actions of someone who they want as part of their social circle. Even those the students were intelligent and could show it, they acted as if they were not, and tried to convince others that they weren't promising students.
Another experience I had with more generalized ideas of gender stereotyping came when I volunteered at an elementary school. I remember one week there we had a presentation from Women in Engineering UBC to dispel myths of gender stereotyped jobs. We often associated certain fields and jobs to certain genders. This can happen as early as children 5 - 7 years old and can have profound effects on their education journey. When we stereotype by gender and treat students differently due to their gender, we are hampering and limiting their growth as an individual. Below are 2 videos that highlight the effect gender stereotyping can have on education.
As a student, I found that the idea of promising/unpromising came more from racial stereotypes more than gender stereotypes. There is a belief that "all Asians are good at math" or even "the smartest students are Asian", which sets unrealistic expectations and can often be mentally taxing on students who do not fit these stereotypes. If an Asian student wasn't strong in math, they could be subjected to bullying from peers; I've seen instances where adults have said "but you're Asian, you should be good at math". This is damaging and can really hurt a students perception of themselves. As teachers, we need to be conscious of all forms of stereotypes and make sure our students feel comfortable in the classroom environment. Some students will be stronger than others, that's going to happen in any class, but we shouldn't treat students differently solely based on things like gender or race.
Below is a video on how we often put people in boxes, yet we aren't all that different. Instead of segregating ourselves due to differences, we should love and accept each other for what makes us unique.
Wow, yes, so many of the points resonate with my experience as well - Gendered assumptions of "maturity" (whatever "maturity" is meant to mean? Sometimes I think when people talk about kids as being "mature", they really mean "compliant/obedient" .. which isn't always a characteristic that will serve the child well later in life). And, STEM .. ugh, e.g. many years ago I had a male Physics 11 student who was a wonderful artist, but not such a wonderful physicist (wonderful kid - very sweet -- but, the poor guy absolutely didn't love physics, and was not doing well in the course, and didn't enjoy it). In a parent-teacher meeting, his dad expressed his concern, and, seeming to forget that he was speaking to a female physics teacher, said, "But he MUST pass Physics - Boys should do Physics!" (the dad wasn't blaming me -- he was asking advice on how to help his son -- but he seemed to catch himself when the "Boys = Physics" thing came out of his mouth, and it occurred to him that I am not a boy). Ultimately the dad did seem to accept that his son had other interests and skills, but it was a difficult process for their family. I always wondered if perhaps failing the course was the only way this boy could finally be heard/seen as "not a physicist" -- it seemed like a very gentle, non-aggressive/confrontational, unspoken, form of rebellion and form of asserting his "voice".
ReplyDeleteAnd oy, oy, oy, the "Asians = math" thing -- That is a very heavy expectation for kids to carry, and it's pervasive in society and in schools! And, the flipside, does "not Asian" = "not-math"?
When I hear that stereotype I also remind people (including my students) that Asia is a HUGE continent. Typically they really are stereotyping Chinese and Korean kids who are relatively new immigrants or International students, and whose families are stressed in ways that many people who migrate from their homeland to a place where they don't have prior connections are stressed (looking to education in math/science as an imagined safety net for a secure future). Reality is so much more complex that race/gender, but messages throughout society do seem to like to fall back on the simpler stereotypes. Really wonderful insights (you got me thinking! Well done)