In this paper I will compare and contrast the high school life of Watertown high with Newark high school back in 2004. The main focus of this essay would be the effects of social class, gender, and race. Throughout the book “Women without Class: Girls, Race and Identity” Julie Bettie, discusses social class, race and gender by her research in Watertown high school. Bettie spent a year interviewing with more than 60 high school girls, “I had come to know approximately sixty senior girls in multiple class- and race-organized cliques at the school I call Waretown High” (Bettie, 2003), as she was interested of learning more about women. She interviewed White and Mexican American girls from both working and middle class families, who were in their
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Bettie states that school success was made difficult for working class student due to class differences. Class differences was clearly seen in Watertown high. Bettie supported her research by reading “Mary Pipher’s 1994 bestseller Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls” (Bettie, 2003), Bettie argued that Pipher did not address class and race, nor did she pay attention to feminine in her book. According to Bettie, girls have more complex process of identity formation and they have sense of inequality but they don't express it in political …show more content…
She mentions, “I remember seeing different race of people, but i would see more girls than boys” She felt boys were more dominant in her school and they were given more opportunity than girls. “ Once my friend and I went to join baseball, there I remember the coach’s word as he said, “You got to be a man to play baseball”, our application was rejected and this made me feel, I wish i was a boy” This answer of her’s can be related to Betties quote where she states, “They believed that girls fought only when there was “a really good reason,” while boys would “look for anything to fight about” (Bettie, 2003) as Bettie tried to tell the differences between a boy and a girl when it comes to fight. After having a long talk with Tina, it is well understood that high school at that time did have a lot of gender differences, where a girl could feel left
Bettie states that school success was made difficult for working class student due to class differences. Class differences was clearly seen in Watertown high. Bettie supported her research by reading “Mary Pipher’s 1994 bestseller Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls” (Bettie, 2003), Bettie argued that Pipher did not address class and race, nor did she pay attention to feminine in her book. According to Bettie, girls have more complex process of identity formation and they have sense of inequality but they don't express it in political …show more content…
She mentions, “I remember seeing different race of people, but i would see more girls than boys” She felt boys were more dominant in her school and they were given more opportunity than girls. “ Once my friend and I went to join baseball, there I remember the coach’s word as he said, “You got to be a man to play baseball”, our application was rejected and this made me feel, I wish i was a boy” This answer of her’s can be related to Betties quote where she states, “They believed that girls fought only when there was “a really good reason,” while boys would “look for anything to fight about” (Bettie, 2003) as Bettie tried to tell the differences between a boy and a girl when it comes to fight. After having a long talk with Tina, it is well understood that high school at that time did have a lot of gender differences, where a girl could feel left