For this assignment I chose to write about something that pertained to my major, which is secondary science education. I wanted to see whether or not female educators are discriminated against for the type of teaching they do (such as science or English) and if they are discriminated against by their male students. I also wanted to see if both female and male teachers discriminated against their students by favoring those of the opposite sex. Before reading my articles I made a hypothesis, if you will, that female teachers are less likely to be discriminated against by male or female students than male teachers. The reason I thought this was because in my personal experience female teachers are more understanding and patient. Now that isn’t to say that all female teachers are like this, or that all men are just the opposite, implying that they are not understanding and do not have compassion, because more often than not I believe that they do. I also thought that men are more likely to discriminate against their female students by favoring their male counterparts. The last part of my hypothesis is that females will be discriminated against for what types of classes they teach. I think that many people, not just students, associate certain classes such as science and math with men and authority. And that classes such as English are for women. Therefore I think that not only women but men as well will be discriminated against for the type of class they teach.
After finding several articles on discrimination against teachers I was really surprised by my findings. I found three things that are really important to what I was looking for. First I found that more often than not female teachers are discriminated against by both female and male students. Second, the readings stated that female teachers are more likely to favor female students as well as male teachers favoring the male students. And lastly I found that female teachers are not discriminated against in general for what type of class they teach.
It surprised me to know that female students were more likely to favor their male teachers as opposed to someone of the same sex. In the readings it did state that students who could connect better with a role model of the same sex had better grades than those who felt no connection with their teacher, or had a teacher of the opposite sex. As proof the articles stated that even though females perform better academically overall male students were more likely to receive better grades when with a male teacher. However it went on to say that many female students perform worse in classes with female teachers because they are less likely to ask questions and they simply did not feel as comfortable with the female teacher as they did with the male teachers.
It did not surprise me however that both female and male teachers favored their students of the same sex. I think it works both ways with the connection between student and teacher I talked about in the previous paragraph. If a male teacher has more boy students than girls I’ve personally noticed that they seem to be more laid back and not as strict as if it were an all female class. The same holds true for female teachers with female students. I found this conclusion almost contradictory. Why is it that even though female teachers favor their female students, those female students feel more comfortable with male teachers?
The last thing I found in my research that proves beneficial was that women educators were not discriminated against for the type of class they teach. In fact, in my research, it stated that when women taught science more students actually looked forward to it. The articles, unfortunately, didn’t make any reference to whether or not male teachers have this affect on their students.
In conclusion, my hypothesis was proven false. Female teachers are more likely to be discriminated against by both male and female students. However, I was correct in stating that men would favor boy students, but this is true for female teachers as well. And lastly both male and female teachers were not discriminated against for the type of class they taught. Today I don’t think gender discrimination in education is as big a deal as it was in the past. Even though things are not equal between men and women, we are definitely headed in the right direction.