Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 26, 1993 TAG: 9312270287
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACKIE DeFAZIO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For years, independent researchers have documented gender inequities in our nation's schools. Last year, the release of ``The AAUW Report: How Schools Shortchange Girls,'' a compilation of that research, revealed pervasive gender bias in textbooks, testing and from teachers.
According to those studies - more than 1,300 of them - girls get less teacher attention, less praise and fewer constructive comments on their work than boys. When boys call out answers, teachers listen. When girls call out answers, they're scolded and told to raise their hands. Textbooks rarely include references to the achievements of women - and when women are included, they're generally in sex-stereotyped roles. Standardized testing, the gateway to colleges and scholarships, still remains by and large biased in design, construction and administration. And in school, girls are still discouraged from taking advance math and sciences.
Contrary to what Ms. Ravitch contends, girls don't get higher scores than boys in reading. Not only do boys outscore girls on the math SAT, they outscore girls on the verbal SAT as well. And although women are receiving more doctoral and professional degrees than they used to, the lion's share of those degrees are going to men.
The former education secretary claims that girls aren't the targets of discrimination in school, that students are accustomed to seeing women in places of authority, and that schools are, therefore, the least likely place to encounter gender bias. Just as women face discrimination in the corporate boardroom where their numbers are few, women also hit a glass ceiling in education where their numbers are many. Even though 72 percent of teachers are women, only 26 percent of principals are women and a meager 6 percent of superintendents.
Yet for years the education-reform debate has remained gender neutral. As an assistant principal and former teacher, I can assure that we'll pay dearly in lost potential if we continue to ignore girls in education reform. But there's hope. Contrary to what Ms. Ravitch argues, the Gender Equity in Education legislation pending in Congress will be a vital first step in ensuring that girls and boys are given an education free from gender bias.
The legislation encourages teacher training to address gender bias, the recruitment of female math and science teachers to provide role models for girls, and training and technical assistance to combat the increasing incidences of sexual harassment in our schools. Indeed, the legislation addresses one of Ms. Ravitch's suggestions by calling for additional funding for the Eisenhower math and science program.
We're in agreement on one thing. There's been great progress in improving the educational performance of underrepresented groups, including girls and minorities. Research shows that women who took eight college credits of math were able to close the wage gap with men. However, even with these improvements, the work place favors and rewards men. To earn as much as a man with a high-school diploma, a woman must have a college degree.
Waiting for gender bias in schools to go away on its own will deny our daughters the chance to achieve their full potential. We must act now and pass the Gender Equity in Education legislation, or more generations of schoolgirls will continue to be denied an education that gives them the opportunities, challenges and knowledge they'll need to compete and succeed in the work place of the future.
Jackie DeFazio is president of| the American Association of University Women
in Washington, D.C.
by CNB