For this week’s sociology blog, we
were required to read chapter 7 entitled, Structural
and Social Inequalities in Schooling. A few things stood out to me in this
chapter.
One of the first was the difference between males and females in terms of standardized testing on mathematics and science. The textbook states that there is no sufficient differences in test scores however, girls are "less confident in their perceived ability" (pg. 194). Personally, I am terrible at math compared to the next person however I do find myself believing that I am more "terrible" than in reality I am. For example, coming into university I took three mathematics courses in my undergrad and did well. However when asked how I am in terms of mathematical abilities, I always just tell them its never been something good at. Perhaps some of this is also attributed to how girls are socialized to believe that they are more inferior to males in terms of these abilities. That is why as future educators it is important that we remind all of our students that they can achieve proficiency / greatness and can aspire to great things regardless of gender and more so the important thing is that success is dependent on effort.
Another thing that stood out to me in this chapter was the section on immigrants. More specifically, children of immigrant parents and how that relates to educational expectations and aspirations. Being born in Canada but having both my parents as immigrants (thus making me a second generation). I can feel the effects of these "expectations." The textbook talks about this concept of "will ambition" of immigrant parents who "push their children to succeed even more" (pg. 208). I know in my own personal experience, I have grown up hearing my mom (more so than my dad) talk about how they want to see me and my brother do well, and how they moved here to give us a better life and better opportunities than they had growing up.
One last thing to highlight upon, something that I found kind of shocking was the statistic that "70% of LGBT students reported hearing homophobic or transphobic comments in school daily" and even more so "10% indicated that they had heard such comments from teachers on a daily basis" (pg. 218). Although people are free to believe and think what they want and in no way do I want to push my own opinions on someone - personally, on the issue of sexual orientation I am completely for equal rights and support those who are of any orientation in their right to love whomever they want. With that being said, it saddens me to hear that 10% heard these comments from a teacher - someone who is supposed to make the classroom and school a welcoming place for all students.
Question: Growing up sexual education occurred in grade 3 and 5 as far as elementary was concerned. But thinking on a more secondary-senior level, I have heard that only the issue of aids is covered in regards to same-sex encounters. Do you think by subjecting this to one issue adds to the idea of "wrongness" - in other words do you think if we talked more about LGBT relations, it would lead to a more normalcy belief (i.e. Decrease stigmatization)?
One of the first was the difference between males and females in terms of standardized testing on mathematics and science. The textbook states that there is no sufficient differences in test scores however, girls are "less confident in their perceived ability" (pg. 194). Personally, I am terrible at math compared to the next person however I do find myself believing that I am more "terrible" than in reality I am. For example, coming into university I took three mathematics courses in my undergrad and did well. However when asked how I am in terms of mathematical abilities, I always just tell them its never been something good at. Perhaps some of this is also attributed to how girls are socialized to believe that they are more inferior to males in terms of these abilities. That is why as future educators it is important that we remind all of our students that they can achieve proficiency / greatness and can aspire to great things regardless of gender and more so the important thing is that success is dependent on effort.
Another thing that stood out to me in this chapter was the section on immigrants. More specifically, children of immigrant parents and how that relates to educational expectations and aspirations. Being born in Canada but having both my parents as immigrants (thus making me a second generation). I can feel the effects of these "expectations." The textbook talks about this concept of "will ambition" of immigrant parents who "push their children to succeed even more" (pg. 208). I know in my own personal experience, I have grown up hearing my mom (more so than my dad) talk about how they want to see me and my brother do well, and how they moved here to give us a better life and better opportunities than they had growing up.
One last thing to highlight upon, something that I found kind of shocking was the statistic that "70% of LGBT students reported hearing homophobic or transphobic comments in school daily" and even more so "10% indicated that they had heard such comments from teachers on a daily basis" (pg. 218). Although people are free to believe and think what they want and in no way do I want to push my own opinions on someone - personally, on the issue of sexual orientation I am completely for equal rights and support those who are of any orientation in their right to love whomever they want. With that being said, it saddens me to hear that 10% heard these comments from a teacher - someone who is supposed to make the classroom and school a welcoming place for all students.
Question: Growing up sexual education occurred in grade 3 and 5 as far as elementary was concerned. But thinking on a more secondary-senior level, I have heard that only the issue of aids is covered in regards to same-sex encounters. Do you think by subjecting this to one issue adds to the idea of "wrongness" - in other words do you think if we talked more about LGBT relations, it would lead to a more normalcy belief (i.e. Decrease stigmatization)?
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