Failing at Fairness: How America's Schools Cheat Girls - Hardcover

Myra Sadker; David Sadker

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684195410 ISBN 13: 9780684195414

Publisher: Scribner, 1994

Synopsis

Chronicles studies that show how gender-biased education, often propagated by well-meaning teachers, affects the intellectual and social growth of girls and instructs how teachers and students can avoid this trap. 100,000 first printing. $60,000 ad/promo. Tour.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Myra Sadker teaches at The American University (Washington, D.C.).

Reviews

Gender bias in the classroom from elementary to graduate school is the subject of this comprehensive examination by two professors of education at American University in Washington, D.C. As educators and parents, the Sadkers argue that "sexism sabotages girls at school," using studies, statistics and anecdotal histories of female students to demonstrate how girls and women are cheated out of opportunities to excel academically and deprived of chances to build self-esteem. While the Sadkers emphasize the educational shortchanging of girls, they see boys paying a price also, particularly those who do not fit gender stereotyping. This important study is a timely resource, since gender equity is currently an issue in fair-testing concerns of such standardized tests as the SAT for college admissions and scholarships.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A telling investigation by the Sadkers (Education/American University) of why girls metamorphose from intellectually eager first-graders into socially compliant high-school and college students who score 60 points below their male peers on SATs and achievement tests. As a result of usually--but not always--unconscious gender bias, it seems that neither girls nor boys receive their educational due. The Sadkers have been examining gender equity in the classroom for some 30 years and--with the help of some refined observation techniques--have been able to track the behavior that sends girls' self-esteem plummeting. Classroom videos reveal teachers--even those who consider themselves sensitive to issues of gender--praising, challenging, and paying attention to boys far more than to girls. Boys excel in showmanship, waving hands wildly to get attention; girls retreat, becoming quieter, learning to hide intelligence and scholarly skills in order to be popular. Meanwhile, textbooks and standard visual displays--even those revised in the light of feminist pressure--show few if any role models for girls. Interviews with students uncover that boys would literally rather die than be girls, while girls find boys' lives attractive in many ways. Sexual harassment also becomes an issue in high school and college, when girls find they often have no recourse when they are touched, grabbed, or called ``bitches'' by male classmates. The authors include a sympathetic chapter on the pressures boys feel growing up in a world where women are creating new lives, and where men are resentfully reliving the old roles (``Today's school boys are learning lines from a play that is closing''). Powerful evidence that girls give up their intellectual potential as gender bias is perpetuated in the classroom. (Charts; illustrations--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

For 20 years the Sadkers (both education, American Univ.) have researched gender bias in American education and have presented their findings in workshops and numerous articles, books, and government publications. Failing at Fairness pulls their research together and provides a detailed overview of the hidden sexism at all levels of American education today and historically. The Sadkers use examples and statistics and cite over 400 books, reports, and articles to illustrate their claim that girls are systematically shortchanged by the educational system. The chapter bibliographies supplying citations to primary sources are particularly valuable, since some of the Sadkers' premises and conclusions may be a bit overstated. Nonetheless, Failing at Fairness is a thought-provoking book on an important topic. As such, it is recommended for libraries with collections in education, women's studies, and parenting. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/93.
- Carol R. Nelson, Ball State Univ. Lib., Muncie, Ind.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This book lends itself to strong adjectives. It's "unbelievable" that so much bias still exists in educating girls and women, that educators contribute so much to it, and that it begins so early. The sexism the Sadkers describe is frightening in its power to erode female confidence and performance. The Sadkers chronicle studies of textbooks, methods, tests, and behavior that show how girls are called on less and admonished for behavior that boys are allowed. They are still encouraged to be passive, compliant, and frivolous; they may be ignored, insulted, and threatened by classmates and instructors. Incidents cited here by women, girls, fathers, mothers, and teachers argue for assertive, even aggressive vigilance to identify and stop behavior that says girls are less valuable than boys. The Sadkers offer some relief to teachers and parents by showing that awareness accomplishes much and by citing tested counter techniques to be used in the confrontation of sexism. Virginia Dwyer

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684195410
• ISBN 13: 9780684195414
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352