Gender Segregation In Education example essay topic

Segregation in Education: Gender LITERATURE REVIEW Many people think only of African Americans when the phrase segregation in education is spoken, but how often do we think of women? Women have gone through tremendous struggles to receive the same rights as men to an equal education. The following pages will explain many aspects of the history of the women's struggles for desegregation, accomplishes made for desegregation, and the affects of sex or gender segregation still present in today's educational system. In the early colonial times, women's roles were very defined. Men and society expected women to have children, raise those children proper, and be the best homemaker of all time. In the beginning, women were educated for the sake of family and society: the new republic needed educated mothers to produce reasonable, responsible male citizens.

(Kaminer 1998) They were taught knowledge so they could pass that on to their daughters. Most of this knowledge included the skills on how to be the best homemaker to her husband and children. Women all over the world and throughout centuries have fought numerous battles for every accomplishment that has been made. One such accomplishment is the following. The first women received a baccalaureate, a high school leaving exam, in 1861. (Bess is 2000) This feat started a chain reaction of events throughout Europe and Asia.

The first female University was opened in Japan in 1900. The push for educational equality and desegregation in the United States began in the early nineteenth century. In 1819, Emma Willard attacked the segregated school system of New York. (Salomone 1986) New York's state government ignored her, so she opened one of the first female seminaries. The major impacts on women's segregation in education took place in the middle twentieth century. This was the time that many of the newly formed women's groups or leagues found their voices.

Many of the energies of these groups were directed towards discriminatory issues in the educational system such as, academic admissions, instructional offerings, guidance and career counseling, athletics and employment opportunities. All of these battles for desegregation were, in a sense, won with the Education Amendment to the fourteenth amendment of the United States Constitution. The fourteenth amendment not only laid open the new guidelines for civil rights, but also for the rights of women in education. Title IX, of the Educational Amendment of 1972, was the law that began to serve as the primary tool for defining equal educational opportunities for women students. (Salomone 1986) What are the affects of segregation and desegregation of gender in education? There have been many.

Today's educational system still has hundreds of public and private single sex institutions. At most of these institutions, the student's parents choose this options, but is this the best solution for our children? There are advantages and disadvantages to single gender classes and schools. Eliminating classroom distractions from the opposite sex benefited certain students academically, particularly girls; single-gender classes were sometimes more comfortable places to learn.

(Schroeder 2001) There was some evidence single-gender classes exacerbated teasing and disruptive behavior in boys, cattiness in girls. Could the separation of gender in today's school actually help females rather than harm? According to popular feminist wisdom, coed schools are detrimental to the self-esteem of girl; they discourage rather than inspire girls' achievement, particularly in math and science. (Kaminer 1998) What about boys are they segregated in education?

If girls fair better in gender segregated schools, than why wouldn't the boys. Boys school graduates show a more humanistic and sensitive approach to the world around them. (Hawley 1996) PERSONAL REFLECTION I think many of the issues I read about were common knowledge to me. Being an education major, you hear of all the different types of segregation within the education field. When I look back at the accomplishments women of the past made, I am in awe. They did so much for the women of today.

They turned the world of women's educational segregation upside down. The colonial times were a very distinct period for segregation. When I think of women in colonial times, I think of birthing. They were thought to be so inferior to men that they didn't need the reading and writing education men received. The only reason they were taught, if they were lucky, was to be a good teacher to their children. Maybe this was the start to women being dominant in the education field.

I know there are many different types of segregation in this world. I also know that many of us don't think of gender segregation in education. I choose to focus on mainly women because of their mass struggle. I believe that women have always been and always will be equal when it comes to the amount of education one needs.

When I think of the idea of single-gender schools I have mixed feelings. I went to the everyday normal coed high school. When I think of some of the issues the girls and I went through because of the opposite sex, it leads me to believe single sex schools could be for the better. Many school aged girls are often more worried about their appearance for a certain guy rather than their academics. I think if you eliminate that worry during the school days, then you may receive higher academic marks. In high school, I took a class that ended up being all girls.

It had been a hard subject for me since middle school. Well, I found this class to be much easier than all the previous courses I had taken. I don't know if this was because it was all girls and I felt more relaxed around them or if it was just an easier course. I believe that women will always be segregated in one way or another in the education world. The education world always reflects the world around us. In the present day world, we still have segregation and discrimination in various aspects of everyday life.

Such things as the workplace and occupations are segregated. People think women can only do certain jobs or they think women should be the educators and men should be the administrators. How can some schools become desegregated when the higher areas of education are still segregated? Most women are expected to stay educators but as teachers not principals or superintendents. Our nation still has a long way to go when it comes to desegregation, but we have traveled a milestone since the colonial times.

Women are not always thought of as inferior. Many views of today's world find women in equal positions. Lets just hope it only gets better as time goes on.

Bibliography

Bessie, Sophie (2000, June).
One Battle after Another. Unesco Courier, 18-20 Hawley, Richard (1996, January).
Boys Schools Reconsidered: Good News in Troubled Times. USA Today, 76-79 Kaminer, Wendy (1998, April).
The Trouble with Single-Sex Schools. Atlantic Monthly, 22+Salomone, Rosemary C. (1986).
Equal Education Under Law. New York: St. Martins Press, Inc. Schroeder, Ken (2001, October).