Jill Borthwell - Blog 6

This chapter was about socialization in the schooling process. The first portion of the chapter that caught my attention was the portion on streaming (167). This idea of streaming is the action of splitting students up into ability groupings (167). Streaming directly affects socialization and can generate negative labels such as “slow” (171).

The other portion I found interesting was the section about dress code. I went to a private Christian high school and we all had to conform to the school standards of dress. I like how Robson explained that dress code can sometimes be a contentious topic as sometimes the rules are not enforced fairly and can target particular groups (147). This was the case in my high school. The girls had to wear skirts and the boys had to wear a collar shirt with a tie or we could wear a school golf shirt or sweatshirt and black dress pants. It the text it states, “dress code works to contain women’s sexuality”, this was definitely the case in my school (175). This also pertains to the issues of gender. One of my close girlfriend was continuously called to the office and told to change her tops as they were “too tight” and she was told she had become a “distraction” to the boys. Her tops were not any tighter then the net girl, but she had extremely large breasts and a tiny waist. So even by abiding by our schools dress code her sexuality was not “contained”. Gender is a subject that always generates complexities and issues. The idea of gender in school is no different. This chapter talks about “learning gender” in schools, and how these certain stereotypes form the students perceptions of themselves and others. The idea that girls are best at English language arts, music and art classes and boys are best at science and math is a stereotypical view. The gap between males and females in subjects like math and science has narrowed greatly but issues still do exist (177). There were many things mentioned in the text, but I am going to leave it at that for today.

Discussion question: How to students “learn gender” at school?