School Girls

Peggy Orenstein

Context:
schools
girls/women
boys
curriculum
self-esteem
inequalities
life

Argument:
Orenstein argues that in classrooms that have both girls and boys, there is a hidden criteria or curriculum which affects how each gender views themselves. Boys tend to view equality as a negative thing, while girls have low self-esteem and think negatively about themselves.

Evidence:
"...boys perceive equality as loss"

"It disturbed me that although girls were willing to see men as heroes, non of the boys would see women that way"

"the hidden curriculum is all the things teachers don't say"

"because i include women, i'm seen as extreme"

"At that time i wondered how the boys,... would ever learn to see the girls as equal"


Other Stuff:
I thought Orensteins piece was pretty easy to read. I never thought of the curriculum as having messages that could have affected me! I like how all of the articles we read are about things i never thought of or knew before reading them. I remember being in 7th grade and doing a project about heroes and all the girls chose women and men and all the boys chose men. I never thought of it as anything until reading this.