Posted on 08/27/2006 9:05:00 PM PDT by Pharmboy
WASHINGTON — For all the differences between the sexes, here's one that might stir up debate in the teacher's lounge: Boys learn more from men and girls learn more from women.
That's the upshot of a provocative study by Thomas Dee, an associate professor of economics at Swarthmore College and visiting scholar at Stanford University. His study was to appear Monday in Education Next, a quarterly journal published by the Hoover Institution.
Vetted and approved by peer reviewers, Dee's research faces a fight for acceptance. Some leading education advocates dispute his conclusions and the way in which he reached them.
But Dee says his research supports his point, that gender matters when it comes to learning. Specifically, as he describes it, having a teacher of the opposite sex hurts a student's academic progress.
"We should be thinking more carefully about why," he said.
Dee warns against drawing fast conclusions based on his work. He is not endorsing single-sex education, or any other policy.
Rather, he hopes his work will spur more research into gender's effect and what to do about it.
His study comes as the proportion of male teachers is at its lowest level in 40 years. Roughly 80 percent of teachers in U.S. public schools are women.
Dee's study is based on a nationally representative survey of nearly 25,000 eighth-graders that was conducted by the Education Department in 1988. Though dated, the survey is the most comprehensive look at students in middle school, when gender gaps emerge, Dee said.
He examined test scores as well as self-reported perceptions by teachers and students.
Dee found that having a female teacher instead of a male teacher raised the achievement of girls and lowered that of boys in science, social studies and English.
Looked at the other way, when a man led the class, boys did better and girls did worse.
The study found switching up teachers actually could narrow achievement gaps between boys and girls, but one gender would gain at the expense of the other.
Dee also contends that gender influences attitudes.
For example, with a female teacher, boys were more likely to be seen as disruptive. Girls were less likely to be considered inattentive or disorderly.
In a class taught by a man, girls were more likely to say the subject was not useful for their future. They were less likely to look forward to the class or to ask questions.
Dee said he isolated a teacher's gender as an influence by accounting for several other factors that could affect student performance. But his study is sure to be scrutinized.
"The data, as he presents them, are far from convincing," said Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, which works to advance the progress of women.
Greenberger said she found Dee's conclusions to be questionable and inconsistent. More broadly, she said, boys and girls benefit by having male and female teachers as role models.
"I don't think there are many parents or students, looking back over their educational careers, who haven't been inspired by a teacher of the opposite sex," she said.
"And many have had very unhappy experiences with teachers of the same gender that they are. We have to be careful of too many generalizations," Greenberger said.
Student success cannot be narrowed to the gender of the teacher, said Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers' union.
Experienced teachers, good textbooks, smaller class sizes and modern equipment all influence how boys and girls do in class, Weaver said.
"Students benefit by having exposure to teachers who look like them, who can identify with their culture ... but this is just one variable among many," Weaver said.
Dee said his research raises valid questions.
Should teachers get more training about the learning styles of boys and girls? Should they be taught to combat biases in what they expect of boys and girls?
In the nature-nurture debate, he said, teacher gender belongs.
"Some people will react strongly to this," he said. "But I've taken pains to explain that we need to be cautious about drawing policy conclusions. As provocative as this all might seem, I really haven't gotten that much negative feedback."
PH--there's an evo angle here, I just haven't figgered it out (thought you all would find this interesting, but did not mean for you to ping your lists).
I've learned from both.
I wonder if he control for what subjects the teachers taught. If there's gender bias there (e.g., wood workshops are more likely to be taught by male), then his results would be problematic. I hope his study look at the same subjects.
I teach in a low-income, primarily black neighborhood in the Deep South. I find that the boys will pay a lot more attention to me, but then they take it a lot harder when I punish them. However, I really don't think the girls do worse. I do think though, that many of these single-mother boys need a man in their life to teach them what it is to be a man.
They REALLY do!
Will they ever learn that you can't control the thoughts and fantasies of anyone, at any age?
If you think somebody sucks (a teacher for example), then it is your God-given right to think that in your head.
Interesting....I'm female and all my students are male except for one female. They had the option of choosing another teacher/class. They chose mine, which makes this doubly interesting to me.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa---I'm in shock. Are they talking about,.... dare I say it,........ gender segregation!
Agreed, I think it is because male teachers tend not to take a lot of crap from students where as women tend to be more patient.
"leading education advocates"
s/b
"NEA spokespersons"
I agree. One of my 7th grade teachers was a knock-out.
I'm a male teacher. No need for complicated explanations, either. Boys need male role models and girls need female role models. I taught the supposed "class from hell" - 25 fourth-graders, 21 boys - and within the first week I demonstrated beyond a doubt that I was the alpha male in the room, and the boys willingly, even eagerly, fell in behind. The same boys had driven the female third-grade teacher to distraction with their usual mix of mischievious behavior and non-stop movement. Being male myself, I understood what was going on and made sure that the students moved around a lot, had chances to laugh out loud, and be boisterous when it was connected to learning. (The test scores shot through the roof, too.)
I can see the same thing in my son. He loves his mother, of course, but he studies and copies my behavior and models his opinions after mine. (He's eight years old; that'll change soon enough.) Boys need the guidance of men.
On the other hand, now that I'm teaching high school, I have to confess complete confusion about the motives and actions of the girls in my class. For instance: we were looking at hunter-gatherer people in my World History class and went on a field trip to look at the local foodstuffs in the environment. We gathered stuff and the girls in class decided that they wanted to have a tea party with some of the herbal teas we collected. I would have never in my life thought of such a thing. Hunting and fishing I get.
I would put this article in the heap of information indicating that the "all gender differences are culturally derived" I was fed in the 1970s is crap.
Good comment...I agree completely.
I get that...lol... However, my students test much higher than the other teacher, which I neglected to mention. And my guys tell me I'm the "coolest" teacher they've ever had. I never have a problem with them. Of course, I teach something they like. Think that might be it? I thought I'd just throw in some stuff for discussion.
I just think it's a good and proper bias to have, a natural caution that we're born with: that the opposite sex has much to offer, and much to be desired -- but it is very dangerous and can hurt you terribly.
Both males and females are right to be wary of each other. That's why boys and girls play separately, then slowly come together as they mature and find trust.
But keep up the great work!
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