written by Nancy DeFrates-Densch of Northern Illinois University

These Boys

Luke is a nine-year-old boy in fourth grade. You have heard him and a number of other students complaining about gender bias on the part of their teacher, Mrs. Jones. One day you overhear Luke being reprimanded by Mrs. Jones for an altercation he had with Annie, a female classmate.

"It isn't fair, Mrs. Jones," Luke said. "Annie took my homework and ripped it, and I get in trouble for taking it back."

"Now Luke," admonished Mrs. Jones, "you know Annie would never do that. You go apologize to her. I'll see you after school."

Luke walked away with a very angry look on his face muttering,"The girls never get in trouble. It's always the boys."

You have heard this from students of Mrs. Jones in the past, but have never really believed it. Over the course of the next three weeks you pay much closer attention to Mrs. Jones's behavior with special sensitivity to gender bias. You notice that girls receive higher grades than do boys, except in math. Boys are required to stay after school several times, girls not at all. When Mrs. Jones is on recess duty and there are altercations between boys and girls on the playground, the boys end up standing against the wall, while the girls walk away smiling. In class, the girls are used as models of behavior MUCH more frequently than the boys. Their work receives more praise as well. You examine what students have been reading over the course of the year. Their required reading thus far consists of "Little House on the Prairie," "Charlotte's Web," and "Little Women. (Check out "Classics for Young People".)

The only thing you notice that appears to favor the boys is the amount of attention received. They seem to receive much more of Mrs. Jones's attention. Upon further examination, however, you see that much of the attention is disciplinary in nature. (Check out "The War Against Boys".)

At one point you overhear Mrs. Jones as she is walking down the hall saying to a colleague, "These boys, I just don't know what I am going to do with them."

1		What are the issues in this case? (Check out "Gender Equity".)
2		What professional knowledge is necessary to deal with these issues?
3		What would YOU do to deal with these issues, on the basis of professional knowledge?
4		What additional information would help you?
5		On the basis of the ideas and information presented in your text to this point, discuss what you believe to be happening in this classroom and the possible influences on Mrs. Jones's ideas of gender. Cite research and theories of gender development.
6		What influence do you believe Mrs. Jones's behavior will have on her students? Why?
7		What should Mrs. Jones do at this point? Why?
8		If you were a student teacher in this classroom, what, if anything, would you do? Why?
9		What will you do in your own classroom to minimize gender bias?