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From: Annette.Klinefelter
Date: Mon Apr 23 2001 - 10:03:36 EDT


<aak@lclark.edu>
Subject: [EDEQUITY Girls Dialogue] Opening Statement by Annette Klinefelter
Sender: owner-edequity@mail.edc.org
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Reply-To: edequity@mail.edc.org

EdEquity Dialogue: The Voices of Girls
Greetings! My name is Annette Klinefelter and I am the Director of the
Girls' Initiative Network, a coalition of girls, young women, and adult
supporters in Portland, OR. We provide leadership development programming
and localized public education campaigns focused on building community
capacity to meet the developmental, social, and institutional needs of
girls and young women.

The Girls Initiative Network was born from the visionary leadership of an
exceptional group of women, the Multnomah County Board of County
Commissioners, responsible for the governance of the largest municipality
in the state of Oregon. Acknowledging the need to empower and support
future generations of politically active women, the MCCB allocated funding
for the largest, most comprehensive community coalition of girls and adults
in the country. It is administered through the Center for Professional
Development at Lewis & Clark College.

Responding to the Voices of Girls
Thankfully, my job allows me to genuinely hear and honor the voices of
girls. Yearly, I meet with hundreds of girls, hearing about what it is
like to grow up as a girl today. Honest and frank commentary from girls
ages 8-12 from across Multnomah County paint a fascinating picture about
girls. This picture shows what we know to be true about girls, that girls
are incredibly resilient, capable of facing adversity successfully when
they have hope about their possibilities in life. This picture also shows
something else we know to be true about girls, they are strongly influenced
by their relationships, especially their relationships with their peers and
families. Much is evident in this picture, they have a lot to say about
growing up female. Let them weave the tale and let us listen. There is so
much we have to learn about cultivating school cultures that will affirm
the possibilities of girls. Thanks to WEEA for providing such an
opportunity.

Resiliency
National studies show girls are outperforming boys in virtually every
category academically. More girls are graduating from high school with
higher accumulative GPA's. More girls than boys enroll in college and
graduate school. Yet girls continue to fall behind in technology, math,
and science. What are girls saying about education? What factors are
shaping their educational experiences?

Girls and Education
Statistically, girls appear to be doing very well academically. More
importantly, girls ages 8-12 exhibit a great deal of optimism about their
educational potential, 93% aspiring to attend college (Girls Speak Out,
2000). What are the challenges girls face on their educational paths?

The relational realm as prevalent
According to girls I talk to, the primary inhibitor to their educational
success is their pre occupation with relationships. All children spent a
considerable amount of time each day, an average of 6-7 hours a day, 5 days
a week, for the majority of each day. In this time, girls are interacting
with one another and their male peers in some very interesting ways. For
many girls, their educational experience is a complex interface of
relationships with peers, teachers, and families juxtaposed with concerns
about educational success. Given that social hierarchies of girls, even in
elementary school, are driven by intense desires to belong, it is not
surprising that the school day is consumed with keeping oneself in check,
dictating ones behaviors by the probable responses of others.

According to the Girls Speak Out study, girls speak about needing to
navigate peer group hierarchies in which the "cool" kids, distinguished by
their appearances, material possessions, sexual maturation, and sexual
posturing, dominated. Statues and popularity, in these girls opinions,
require the ability to attract boys with looks and expensive clothing-along
with a certain degree of emotional callousness.

What results for girls, is an educational environment perceived as
competitive and hostile. Anxieties associated with fears of exclusion make
school very difficult for many girls. Over half of girls involved in a
Portland, OR school retention programs associate their frequent absences
with depression and fear relative to social exclusion and isolation. Many
girls are also victims of harassment and violence at the hands of other
girls. Many girls report frequent acts of aggression. They express
concern about teachers and administrators who do not take these incidents
seriously.

In short, many girls are distracted at school, finding it difficult to
concentrate on learning when in the midst of taunts, probes, and threats of
alienation. The social realm is critical to the educational success to
girls. We must hear from girls about these experiences and how they are
impacting their perceptions of themselves and their possibility.

Other educational barriers

ˇRelationships with male peers
Girls in the Girls Speak Out study associate teasing and bullying with
boys.Specifically, the most hurtful dimension of teasing for girls appear
to be appearance-based.

"some boys rate my body and my face and make fun of my eyes and the color
of my skin." (4th grade girl, Girls Speak Out).

ˇStress and anxiety associated with standardized testing

"I know I got all of it wrong. I am dumb." (1st grade girl, Portland, OR)

"I have tests each day this week. I am really nervous. I can't sleep at
night. I don't want them to move me to a lower math class (3rd grade girl,
Portland, OR)

ˇFrustration with out dated teaching modalities
Many girls I talk to, find the academic realm to be boring and dull, yet
they continue to thrive relative to boys. Again, they find themselves
engaged primarily by the social realm. This does not mean, however, that
they don't think a lot about how learning should be made more interesting
for them.

If there was one thing we could change about school, we would throw out
the text books and make learning interesting and fun ( 15 6-8th grade
girls, April GIN activism workshop).

ˇParental attitudes towards school, especially mothers, shape girls
attitudes towards school

It is evident that girls who have moms who value education. Girls whose
mother's were themselves alienated socially during their educational
experience are likely to raise daughters distrustful of peers and teachers.

My mom says nothing is more important than my education because I am going
to college (3rd grade girl, Portland, OR).

Let this be the beginning of a dialogue with girls about their educational
experiences- a collective brainstorm of solutions for change that will
serve to support girls on their chosen paths, that will affirm their
possibilities and reinforce hope.

 Annette Klinefelter
<aak@lclark.edu>



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