THREE MOST IMPORTANT STRATEGIES FOR ACHIEVING GENDER EQUITY IN EDUCATION
[The following question was posted and publicly archived on EdEquity, a
U.S. government list-serv for discussing all forms of educational
equity. The replies were variously posted back onto EdEquity or sent to
me privately. They range from suggesting a sense of humor to suggesting
a sense of futility; some seem suited to internal, and perhaps
middle-class conditions; others seem portable to any situation around
the world. These were all the responses; that does not make them a
reliable sample. Some of the posters are active posters; others were
heard from for the first time.?Linda Purrington, <lpurring@earthlink.net> ]
-----Original Message-----
Subject: [EDEQUITY] strategies for achieving educational equity
Hi, I'm looking for responses from this list to the question "What three
strategies for achieving educational equity do you consider most
important today?" I would like to include some of these responses, duly
credited, in an international conference paper on this subject; I will
contact you off list for permission to quote.
Thanks very much!
Linda Purrington
Title IX Advocates
lpurring@earthlink.net
Subject: [EDEQUITY] Educational equity is assessing children's.....
From: "Bauman; Raquel" <rbauman@lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us>
Boys and girls must see both of their parents in school. Boys and girls
must be made aware of the fact that both male and female roles are
integral to the survival of the human race. Boys and girls must be
given the opportunity to excel and for this to happen educators must
more effectively assess children's strengths and weakness and must be
prescriptive in the educational opportunities that are provided to all
children regardless of their socioeconomic status.
"Bauman; Raquel"<rbauman@lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us>
Subject: [EDEQUITY]More strategies for achieving educational equity
From: "Bauman; Raquel"<rbauman@lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us>
Once again, thank you for the opportunity to comment on this matter. If
it can only be three strategies. . . Make them the following:
Find ways to drive home the point that girls who have babies are usually
the ones left alone to bring them up. Find ways to have them experience
caring around 15 pounds of sugar or flour 24 hours a day for one week,
help them calculate the costs of dippers and formula for one year, help
them calculate what a person with a high school diploma earns compared
with what a college educated person earns.Make certain that boys know the
important role that fathers play in children's development.
Demonstrate to both boys and girls that knowing things about art and
technology and literature, and science and history is fun. Knowing
things makes a difference in people's lives, differences that are
practical, and spiritual. Let students know that we want them in our
schools.
We want to determine what they already know so that we can affirm it and
facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge. We want them to know that
learning something fast does not mean that one knows it better than
someone who learns more slowly. We want students to know that there is
no teaching unless there is learning.
"Bauman; Raquel" <rbauman@lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us>
Reply from Nancy Gruver:
Subject: [EDEQUITY] Include students in the discussion of gender equity
The most important strategy is involving students in discussion, policy
creation and decision making in relation to educational equity. It
keeps the work closely tuned to the direct needs of students and it also
expands the human resources (by including the students) focused on
creating equity.
Nancy Gruver
New Moon Publishing
PO Box 3620
Duluth, MN 55803-3620
nancyg@newmoon.org
Reply from Herb Dempsey:
First I consider the effective use of investigation to be the best first
strategy: Just because someone is angry does not make their lack of
planning my problem. They may be characterizing their problem as THE
problem. I need to define the problem and decide if larger picture makes
the local slice representative. I need to ask if this is a PROCESS or
TASK problem. Are the facts available and how can I get them and, in
either case, how do I corroborate the allegations? Are the facts a
result of the inability of two folks to get along or are they still the
facts after I turn over the same rocks?
Second I consider the effective use of collaboration or confrontation as
the best second strategy: For problems that are of the PROCESS
persuasion perhaps I can work with some folks and achieve the equitable
resolution. If I am in Cuba and the facts are still there after I rule
out the people problems will I be able to survive confronting the people
or will I need a way to finesse confronting the issues of
task-within-culture? The TASK may be simply that the numbers have
different meanings and I will need to realign them to mean whatever I
say they mean in a way they can't mean anything else. "Equal" may not be
"equal."
Finally the third strategy I must use is persistence: I just finished a
telephone conference and a conversation that started years ago. The
local school district 1) hasn't achieved equality and 2) long ago
promised they would. They didn't promise me. They signed a contract with
the Federal Office for Civil Rights that they would. I am simply trying
to get OCR to enforce the agreement. OCR has closed out the case and the
local district has stopped working to meet the conditions of the law.
Now I must start over. I must prove everything I had to prove the first
time; investigation, an attempt at collaboration and eventual
confrontation, and, now, that I am NOT going away.
Millions have been spent and millions more need to be spent. Oh, did I
mention that the target has changed? Now the OCR, which has proven it is
not part of the solution, is the problem.
From: ARCHERK58@aol.com
[The three most important strategies are] Role Modeling, mentoring, and
clubs/summer camp programs for Middle School girls exploring technology,
math, and science.
Subject: [EDEQUITY] Achieving educational equity by looking at classism
From: "McKevitt, Susan" <SMcKevitt@ed.state.nh.us>
I believe one of the most critical strategies for achieving ed. equity
is addressing issues of class and the role it plays for students,
teachers and the culture itself. Because class is not a 'protected
category' the same way race, gender, national origin etc. are, it
receives little or no overt attention. However, it plays a huge role on
student achievement and teacher expectations, if I may paraphrase Dee
Grayson's originating work [GESA]. A wonderful and distressing research
article by Jean Anyone of Rutgers University in 1979 entitled "Social
Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work" details how schools were [and
still are?] set up to ensure that some people are the worker bees, some
are the managers and others are the owners and entrepreneurs. I believe,
as do many social justice workers, that the pillar that holds up the
trailers of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc., is class.
In a class based society, to address this sacred cow would be tantamount
to treason. Yet educators are confronted with its impact every day.
Today's teachers name it as the tension between the "have's and the
have-not's" and wonder why there aren't more trainings on how to address
that dynamic. When I tell them that the continuation of class
distinctions is the bedrock upon which our American economic system is
based, they look confused as if somehow keeping some people from having
equality is in variance with the American principles of 'all men [sic]
are created equal' and 'liberty and justice for all'. Mix this in with
the most recent educational mantra of 'all children to high standards',
it is no wonder educators are confused. 'All' doesn't really mean 'all'.
[George Orwell's doublespeak is alive and well in the 21st century].
Some students, teachers know, are never going to make it. Others will
make it to a degree and others are going to be just fine. What is not
stated is that the latter group is going to be just fine in a middle or
upper class construct of what constitute success. What is not spoken is
that schools are working from middle class rules yet house students from
poverty, working class and the middle class. (The owning class goes to
private schools so they don't have to mix or deal with the 'other'). And
the rules of each of these classes are not the same all the way around.
What is also not spoken about is the fear teachers as a group, have of
Being radical innovators. In a class based society, having a group of
disenfranchised people (i.e., the poor), keeps the middle class from
being too innovative, from questioning too much, from pushing too hard
when the contradictions reveal themselves. After all, there is always
the threat of the middle class (and that includes more than teachers of
course) losing their status and joining the disenfranchised class to
keep the middle class pretty compliant and unquestioning. All of these
and many more factors are at play in our educational system. After all,
educational systems, no mater what country, have as their primary
assignment the replication of the controlling culture. Given that I this
country, education was the sole right of the rich, male, Caucasian
originators of our current system, it makes sense that most of the
struggles we wage as 'civil rights advocates' is to first open those
doors to the rest of us, and, once in, to mess around with the
prevailing structure to make the education we receive relevant to all of
our lives. Ruby Payne's work on this is really quite wonderful. I used
it in a workshop for another middle class group of people, psychiatric
social workers, most of whose clientele were people in generational
poverty. (Once again, the wealthy being able to separate themselves away
from the rest by affording to access private mental health treatment,
leaving the poor to heal in public)
Coursework in college, certification requirements for teachers and
professional development workshops on class, that include where we each
have come from, how that has impacted our point of view of the world and
how we as educators see and behave towards students in our classrooms, I
believe are critical and key to moving the equity agenda. Without
acknowledging the existence of class, its inherent inequality, and its
huge influence on everyone, we will never run out of the need to do
equity work.
In additional to Ruby Payne's work, Julian Weisglass, through his work
in EMELI (Equity In Mathematics Education Leadership Institute) has some
wonderful models for addressing this very issue, in a way that is
honoring, enlightening and freeing for all. He can be reached at UC,
Santa Barbara at: 805/893-3026.
Hope this is helpful.
Thanks for asking.
Susan McKevitt
Administrator
Bureau of Career Development
Department of Education
101 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301
Phone: 603-271-6613
Fax: 603-271-1953
Email: smckevitt@ed.state.nh.us <mailto:smckevitt@ed.state.nh.us>
Subject: [EDEQUITY] A sample of strategies for achieving educational
equity
From: "Beth Meyer" <Bethm@etr.org>
Hi, my name is Beth Meyer and I coordinate the Young Women's Leadership
Alliance, an after-school educational equity program at three high
schools in Santa Cruz, CA (we are a WEEA grant recipient). We are only
in our second semester of the program and have very limited evaluation
data to back this up, but from my experience, I would say that a really
good strategy for achieving educational equity is to involve the
students in identifying and educating the school and district about
these issues.
We spend 15 weeks with these teen women giving them skills to think
critically about equity issues in their school, do a survey research
project on the equity issue that they are most concerned about and do a
social action project to educate the students, faculty and/or
administrators at their school. The response from the schools so far
has been overwhelmingly supportive. One principal asked the young women
to present their research findings at a faculty meeting. Overall, the
young women are listened to and respected by their peers and adults.
They are creating awareness about these issues on many levels.
Beth Meyer, MA
Young Women's Leadership Alliance
ETR Associates
PO Box 1830
Santa Cruz, CA 95061-1830
phone (831) 438-4060 ext. 218
fax (831) 438-9651
Subject: [EDEQUITY] Educational equity adequate funding.....
From: "Erin Trahan" <erintrahan@hotmail.com>
Here are my thoughts about three top strategies (in order) to forward
gender equity in education (in the US):
1. Publicly funded national and state infrastructure
(There are good people doing good work all across the country but there
is no clear organization for an "action plan" for gender equity. State
efforts, if any exist, are fragmented and rarely connected to a national
agenda.)
2. Sound data disaggregated by gender
(In Michigan there is a contingent of us who "know" of the inequity but
we have no recorded data that reflects this. Much of this is due to the
lack of infrastructure -- there is no system in place to collect the
data consistently).
3. Public education about current status of gender equity and rights
afforded by Title IX
(Way too much misinformation out there. If we had accurate data
collected by a "legitimate" and well-respected public body, i.e., all
state departments of ed[ucation], then a good plan to educate the public
about the realities of inequity and legal rights could actually make a
difference. As it stands, unfortunately, I think a lot of public
education efforts are done with good intention but somewhat in vain.
(don't hate me for that last statement!)
Erin Trahan,<erin@girlscoalition.com> (W 617 536 8543)
From: Lynn.Shaw@phoenix.edc.org, <LynnJShaw@aol.com>
Subject: [EDEQUITY] Educational equity adequate funding.....
I have been thinking about this and [think that we need to provide] 100%
access or exposure of young women to options, adequate funding and
enforcement of existing laws.
Lynn Shaw, Ph.D.<LynnJShaw@aol.com>
Reply from Peggy:
Here are my 3 overarching strategies for achieving educational equity:
1. Increasing my own and others' personal understanding of and valuing
of difference as a positive aspect of not only of survival, but also of
growth. We must not only tolerate difference; we must embrace it.
2. Increasing our ways of effectively communicating with each other
with compassion and sensitivity is crucial. There are systems to help
learn how to do this.
3. A sense of gentle humor (especially directed at oneself) and
humility needs to be cultivated among ourselves. We are part of a great
family and have the same kinds of problems that all large families do.
What we need to remember is that what we ourselves do teaches more than
anything that we may say. Just as in any family, we copy from each
other and we know who "walks the talk." Our gentle self-directed humor
and humility can keep us aware of our place in the human family.
Well, that's it. Take care and good luck with your paper. I'd like a
copy of it if you'd send me one! As a final aside- tell someone today
how very much you appreciate them. You never know what may
happen.... Peggy
Linda Purring
<lpurring@earthlink.net>
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