I found this chapter very interesting as truthfully, I haven't thought about gender stereotypes related to education. Perhaps due to my upbringing, I didn't see this directly addressed in any way as I was growing up. I remember one of the advanced track math classes I was in during high school only had girls enrolled, and most of the boys were in the regular track. This chapter was really enlightening to me in showing this country-wide issue, and I can see that it is a definitely something important to be aware of as an educator.
I was somewhat confused with the information in the chapter. At the beginning, it opened up saying that the gap between male and female math performance has narrowed or closed, but then later it was talking about the major difference in performance. It also is evident there is controversy in the research, some saying the gap is due to ability and others proposing other factors. However, I did find it very interesting that the studies on p. 198 were showing females who had a mindset of inability in math due to their gender were the ones who performed lower. It seems there are some grounds for self-fulfilling prophecy for what students believe about their gender and ability level.
As an educator, the piece of the chapter that was most compelling to me is the debate on p. 197 surrounding what teachers are expected to do in terms of gender role education. Personally, I feel uncomfortable with teaching gender roles because I do believe since it is a sensitive topic, I would like to leave it to the family unit to discuss. My question to you is: What do you feel? Is it our responsibility as educators to teach gender roles OR is it our right to decide what we want to do?
My take on that page was different than yours, I think. To me the four talking points that they gave were the different suggestions for how we, as teachers, should approach the role of gender in our classroom. I agree that we should not have to teach that in the younger grades since my stance is that children decide for themselves. However, as students become older some of them may have questions as to their gender and expectations. Those need to be addressed in a health class with a teacher trained in how to discuss them in a positive manner.
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