Male students raise their hands in a staged photo at Clarke Central High School. Male and female students are often treated differently in the classroom, which can lead to differences in how students feel expected to behave. “High school is really where you solidify some kind of idea for what you want to do with the rest of your life, and it’s where your personality really starts to form,” CCHS senior and Women in STEM president Maggie DeMaria said. “If you’re always taught, ‘No, don’t talk in class’, (or that) you’re supposed to be the weak one, you’re not gonna go out and do the things that you want to do.” Photo by Naomi Hendershot
At Clarke Central High School and around the nation, differences between how male and female students are taught and engage in class can cause female students to have less confidence.
“If you’re always taught, ‘No, don’t talk in class’, (or that) you’re supposed to be the weak one, you’re not gonna go out and do the things that you want to do.”
— Maggie DeMaria,
CCHS senior and Women in STEM president
According to an article, “Gender Differences in the Classroom” from Educational Psychology, teachers interact 10 to 30 percent more with male than female students.
According to University of Georgia Institute for Women’s Studies Director Dr. Juanita Johnson-Bailey, how students of different genders are treated in the classroom can have long-term effects on their behavior. As a result, although the average female student has greater academic success than the average male student, the differences between how teachers interact with them can cause female students to participate less in classes and have a lack of confidence.
“If you just look across the research, women students tend to have higher GPAs, (and) they tend to have a higher rate of graduation,” Johnson-Bailey said. “But what I have found is that overall women students tend to speak less, to speak less affirmatively, even to write less authoritatively. Men tend to speak and write in a declarative way. Women tend to be more hesitant in the way that they write and in the way that they speak.”
CCHS senior and Women in STEM co-president Maggie DeMaria believes that these differences can also be seen in classrooms at CCHS.
“There is this idea that guys are supposed to be the talkative ones. They’re supposed to be the ones that get up and do the math on the board, and the girls are supposed to sit back,” DeMaria said. “That’s the way that the world has said that women are supposed to behave, (and) that’s what ends up happening because it’s so culturally ingrained.”
According to CCHS assistant principal Summer Smith, a former CCHS math department teacher, it can be easy for teachers to accidentally neglect female students in the classroom.
“(Teachers) have to watch out for girls and not let them downplay (their intelligence) to try to be cute for whoever.”
— Summer Smith,
CCHS assistant principal
“You tend to find yourself getting pulled to the voices that are louder, and sometimes that could be more male,” Smith said. “I think (the disparity) starts at upper elementary and middle school, and it has to do with girls seeking approval and not wanting to be too smart, or too whatever, if you’re in a situation that doesn’t honor smart female people. (Teachers) have to watch out for girls and not let them downplay (their intelligence) to try to be cute for whoever.”
According to Johnson-Bailey, another way teachers may contribute to gender-related differences in the classroom is through perpetuating the “learned helplessness” effect.
“What learned helplessness means is that when a young girl can’t solve a problem, we step in, help her,” Johnson-Bailey said, “But when a boy has a problem, we say, ‘Oh, you can solve that. Just give it another try. Just keep on going.’ So we’re actually programming the boys to be active in their own lives, and we’re programming young girls to reach out for help, to not act in their own lives.”
CCHS junior Ietta Veeder, a member of Strong Girls, an organization that aims to empower girls, believes that differences in classroom behavior rely more on the individual student.
“I think it really depends on the individual themself, and how their home life has been, how they’ve grown up, and then the people they’ve placed around them,” Veeder said. “Sometimes there’s a stigma that goes with male versus female, (that) females are more organized and responsible, and for the male, they’re more relaxed and go with the flow. I don’t think that’s true for all males and females within the classroom.”
To CCHS foreign language department Erica Schwartz, it’s female students who are more active in class.
“(Behavior)’s not always (the same) for all males versus females, but more often, it seems like guys are a little bit more reserved about seeming excited about a topic,” Schwartz said. “I think maybe sometimes guys don’t want to be seen as uncool for being into school versus I don’t think that’s something that girls worry about as much.”
A male student raises his hand while a female student sits quietly in a staged photo. Female students are often conditioned to be less confident or assertive than their male counterparts. “We’re socialized to be polite, to be nice, to play down our brilliance, our intelligence, and to stay in our place,” University of Georgia Institute for Women’s Studies Director Dr. Juanita Johnson-Bailey said. Photo by Naomi Hendershot
CCHS sophomore Alexandra Navas believes that less participation from a student can cause a lack of confidence.
“(If someone gets a question wrong or is shy) I know some people think ‘oh, she must be dumb or something like that’” Navas said. “Then that person might be scared to ask questions more and then could start being (less) social, which could have a big impact later in life because you really need to work on your social life to get good jobs and to just survive.”
The contrast in behavior and participation doesn’t stop when a student leaves the classroom. According to Johnson-Bailey, the differences can affect how students behave in the workplace.
“(These messages about how we’re supposed to behave) follow us throughout the workplace,” Johnson-Bailey said. “We have to do salary adjustments every few years because women salaries tend to lag behind, even if they have had the same accomplishments as men, because we’re not taught to negotiate. We are encouraged not to negotiate when it comes to salary and when it comes to knowing our worth.”
CCHS math department teacher Wilkery Jeanty has also observed that the way students conduct themselves in high school often affects their behavior later in life.
“I think from what I’ve seen (as students mature and become adults) they can be directly affected by their behavior in high school,” Jeanty said. “Their behavior can change, but with most people that does not change. From high school to colleges or in the workplace, (it) is gonna be about the same.”
Johnson-Bailey believes that one of the best ways to help female students gain confidence and assertiveness is by providing them with positive motivators.
“We all as women (and) as girls have a responsibility to believe in ourselves and to try to live our best lives, but I think that a lot of times it’s hard to do it alone.”
— Dr. Juanita Johnson-Bailey,
University of Georgia Institute for Women’s Studies Director
“We all as women (and) as girls have a responsibility to believe in ourselves and to try to live our best lives, but I think that a lot of times it’s hard to do it alone,” Johnson-Bailey said, “I think that’s why it’s so important to have positive messages for young girls in the media and (from) any organizations that they’re exposed to, such as family and school (or) church or the clubs that they’re members of. We have to put those positive messages out there.”
Veeder agrees that community mindsets, where girls can support each other and place emphasis on achievement, can be extremely helpful for female students.
“You become more confident in your actions and with risks, and you’d be more comfortable helping the student beside you with their class work. You’d be more comfortable around the group that you’re with, so in the classroom you could excel better,” Veeder said.
According to DeMaria, the Women in STEM club aims to create an accepting environment for members, as well as for the rest of the student body.
“(What) Women in STEM tries to do is to create a community of high achieving, high aspiring girls. We (can) continue to foster that community and make sure that there’s a community of people supporting each other,” DeMaria said.
From Smith’s perspective, creating an empowering environment throughout CCHS is an important next step towards gender equity.
“One of the things I like about Clarke County is that I feel like intelligence is honored, whether it is male or female,” Smith said, “(It needs to be all about) honoring excellence and achievement, whether it’s male or female, and providing safe spaces for people to be smart and to be who they are, and to applaud efforts and keep watch for the people who might be falling off the radar. Just (helping) girls feel more confident.”
Story by Natalie Schliekelman
Package by Ireland McCage
