The Role Of Gender Differences In Education

From a very young age I clearly understood that my gender was a girl, my race was White but my ethnicity was a mix of Irish, English, and German, I lived in an upper to middle class home, I identified myself as a hetrosexual female, and the language my family and I spoke was English. Along with these different concepts about myself, I was also exposed to culture diversity growing up, which I believe can relate back to my family structure. In some cases, these types of identities can be a struggle for individuals as they are growing up. The Sociology of Education (2012) explains each of these concepts by demonstrating the struggles children may face and examples to go along with them. In the recent decade gender and sexual orientation differences …show more content…
Ballantine and Hammack (2012) state that there are five different functions in education. The first function is Socialization (2012: 29). When a child is able to socialize in a school setting it helps them to learn to be productive members of society. Socialization helps children learn the right and wrongs, values, and role expectations. From a young age I learned that my role expectation as a student in school was to be respectful to my peers and teachers, work hard, study in and out of the classroom, and follow classroom rules. This role was enforced from a young age in order to instill the structure of how a student should perform in the …show more content…
For example this can be demonstrated in Jonathan Kozol 's (2005) article Still Separate, Still Unequal: America 's Educational Apartheid. Kozol demonstrates first hand how children within school systems in major cities feel as though they are being segregated once again. Kozol 's study showed that many Caucasian families are sending their children to a predominately white populated schools. Many of times the school is out of the way, but parents are making choices they think are necessary for their children. An example of this can be seen from an African American teacher at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Seattle. The teacher stated for Kozol that ninety five percent of the schools make up is either African American, Hispanic, or Native American students. The fifth and final function within education is Change and Innovation (2010: 30). This function states that new technology that is arising is challenging the students in today 's schools system along with their teachers and other staff members. Some people in schools system are still unsure of this particular change since it takes them out of their normal comfort zone in their daily task. Ballantine and Hammack state that “through education and research institutions we develop new innovations, but some innovations take time to become part of the fabric of