On October 4, 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik into space putting into motion essentialist education reform throughout the United States. This single event symbolized inadequacy and widespread disillusionment in the foundation of our schools. Within a year the National Defense Education Act was passed by the U.S. Congress, stressing the importance of math, science and foreign language. In 1965 Congress followed up by passing the Elementary and Secondary Education Acts, focusing on aid to the poor and educational inequalities. Although America had lost ground in the scientific arena, some believed that the problem lay within schools’ socioeconomic system.
Given the Federal government 's’ renewed focus on educational reform, it’s hard to image that in 1973, as a female, required courses for girls were cooking and sewing, highly useful cross-gender life skills to learn, in spite of that boys did not take them. And while female electives consisted of Home Economics, Family Planning, and Child Development, I choose to sign up for woodshop. This earned me a visit to the principal’s office for trying to dupe the system. Why in the …show more content…
Woman have exceeded men in high school enrollment and graduation. Acceptance of female students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects’ has become mainstream, with boys showing only a slight edge in upper-level courses, like calculus. The largest gender test score gap according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, continues to be boys scoring lower in reading than girls. Today women are graduating college in previously gender segregated fields by substantial numbers indicating that gender inequality is ending. Some educators even feel that the gender inequality has gone as far as giving girls the edge over boys, however, the issue of equality after school for women in the labor market continues to be a
Given the Federal government 's’ renewed focus on educational reform, it’s hard to image that in 1973, as a female, required courses for girls were cooking and sewing, highly useful cross-gender life skills to learn, in spite of that boys did not take them. And while female electives consisted of Home Economics, Family Planning, and Child Development, I choose to sign up for woodshop. This earned me a visit to the principal’s office for trying to dupe the system. Why in the …show more content…
Woman have exceeded men in high school enrollment and graduation. Acceptance of female students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects’ has become mainstream, with boys showing only a slight edge in upper-level courses, like calculus. The largest gender test score gap according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, continues to be boys scoring lower in reading than girls. Today women are graduating college in previously gender segregated fields by substantial numbers indicating that gender inequality is ending. Some educators even feel that the gender inequality has gone as far as giving girls the edge over boys, however, the issue of equality after school for women in the labor market continues to be a