This week we were assigned to research gender issues in the school system.
REFLECTION:
While thinking and talking about gender in schools, it made me think of something actually positive about gender in schools that happened in my high school last year. There was this one girl - she was a junior - and she is very athletic, and she decided that she wanted to play on the boys football team. The coach said absolutely not, but being a gymnast she was pretty strong so she challenged the coach saying that if she could out-bench one of the boys, he would have to give her a chance. To make a long story short - she made the team! She didn't play too much, but everyone loved that she actually took a stand for herself and proved that she could actually go against the gender stereotype, showing that girls CAN do what boys do.
I read an article which talked about the steps in which children perceive gender and it all starts when they begin school because that is when they actually go out into the world and experience life. In elementary school is when they learn the differences between girls and boys in deciphering who wears what types of outfits and that girls like princesses and dolls and boys play sports. Once middle school comes around, is when you begin to see boys being encouraged to be outspoken and girls must be well-mannered and behaved. These issues can affect the places that students go to college and the jobs they pursue in the future.
Children in the school environment everyday learn and see their experience in the school different from how we analyze it because they're living it, while we're just observing.
While looking on youtube, I wanted to find a video of actual children speaking about the way that they perceive gender and different gender roles. It's crazy how much children pick up from just simply watching - I believe they aren't given enough credit for how much they actually know...
your story about the gymnast was very interesting and motivational, a similar thing happened to me. i was on the track team in high school and wanted to pole vault. most sprint boys were allowed to try it but if a girl sprinter wanted to pole vault the rule was we had to do 4 military pull ups. i wanted to vault pretty badly but once i figured out pretty much any male on the team could i was just more determined to do the 4 pull ups and prove to the coaches females are just as capable as males. i did the 4 pull ups in only a couple weeks. but i wasn't allowed to pole vault to protect me from injury as the season got more intense but needless to say i proved my point and that was good for me.
ReplyDeletei almost posted the same video on my blog. it really does show how much kids are aware of the gender roles in society. it really is kind of sad.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you showed that there are steps a child goes through when entering school and the world. They learn a lot from what they see and most people don't realize the amount of impact they have on a child and their learning.
ReplyDeleteGood use of the video. I used the same one in my blog for this section. Luckily I've come to find through my experiences with my Service Learning kids that not all children have these gender limitations so strongly ingrained in them
ReplyDeleteOmg i love the story about the girl in your high school. its too bad that she had to go to those lengths but im glad she made the team :)
ReplyDeleteI like your story from your high school. I have experienced similar things in my rec soccer league once i got to high school
ReplyDelete