Hidden Lessons Analysis

American University professors David and Myra Sadker work together to expose gender bias in the education system. In the excerpt “Hidden Lessons,” from their book Failing at Fairness: How Our Schools Cheat Girls (1994), the Sadkers shed light on social injustices within the education system. They use examples from controlled simulations to show their audience how gender bias happens right before their eyes. Their argument says that there is gender bias in schools, but many teachers, parents, and students aren’t even aware of it.
Here, we will be delving into their exerpt to find inconsistencies within their research. We will point out flaws in their work that makes their research seem less like research and more like over the top speculation. …show more content…
They say that girls are treated like “second class educational citizens” in school because teachers don’t teach girls the same way they teach boys (par. 2). They argue that Teachers fail to give girls the same attention they give boys (par. 1). Is this because teachers are teaching the girls differently? Or because girls in class are unwilling to accept the help because of a different reason altogether? Rather than receiving hidden lessons from teachers, female students receive hidden lessons from other students. For example, from fear of being bullied, talked down to, or yelled at by peers for having opposing views of kids their age, girls may not want to accept the “helpful feedback” in fear of drawing attention the themselves (par. 1). Girls learn to talk quieter and participate less in class because they are afraid of the consequences from their peers. With that being said, this means that any student, male or female, could suffer from the same backlash too. From personal experience, I have seen more boys shy away from class discussion because they are afraid of another student’s, usually a girl’s, response. The issue isn’t in gender bias, but rather conflicting personalities. A shy person would learn to be passive when it comes to a student who isn’t afraid to shout in …show more content…
The classroom was a “segregated math group” that put girls on one side of the room and boys on the other (par. 12). The teacher knew she was being recorded but, it cannot be confirmed or denied that the student’s knew this two. The question that arises is did the Sadkers account for the change in behavior that resulted from the change in classroom setting? For example, the teacher, knowing she was being recorded for tv, acted differently with the students than she normally would act, causing her to want to put her best foot forward and appear good for the cameras. In an attempt to seem less gender biased for Dateline, she may have attempted to interact with the boy’s in her classroom more. Inadvertently, she would be giving less attention to the girl’s, therefore, appearing bias. Without seeing the teacher in her normal classroom setting and without being able to compare her teaching in the show to how she normally acts, they cannot say whether or not her behavior was amiss. The students behavior could have been altered as well. The kids, like the teacher, would attempt to be on their best behavior that day, especially if their parent’s told them to look good for the cameras. That would make the teacher look like she’s focussing on the other side of the class for no reason. This, along with many other variables, changes the data