Introduction
The image this essay will be based on, is direct and to the point. But there is many social connotation hidden in the layers of the this image.
It was important it was on a chalkboard as this simply piece of equipment has become an iconic symbol that represent education all over the world. Be it in a 1st world society or a impoverish 3rd world country.
The chalkboard is a recent innovation in the grand scheme of things but has quickly become a staple focal point in many classrooms across the world.
A cheap and durable substitute for costly paper and ink, soon this cheaper method cause a great shift in pedagogy, now a group of students can be taught collectively. Student would religiously copy from this board and study the undisputed information as gospel. Very rarely is information written by the teacher questioned or mistrusted by student.
Thus when a the text “50 / 50” in cooperating the pictograms of the standard western sex symbols on the chalkboard, with the Mars symbol ♂ (often considered to represent a shield and spear) for male and Venus symbol ♀ (often considered to represent a bronze mirror with a handle) for female, derived from astrological symbols, denoting the classical planets Mars and Venus, respectively. It proposes an important question that should be questioned and probed by every country. Is there gender balance in our education? This essay will be tailored to focus on gender related challenges found in the Irish education and how we should never overlook any gender.
One of the most widely known problems is that students tend confirm their subject choices according to traditional gender roles, which was confirmed in the findings of the 2017 research projects done by the European institutes for Gender Equality (EIGE). This paper will be exploring the problems faced by children undergoing the transition from primary into post primary education. It is at this time the results of years of social conditioning really becomes evident as many young adultness express extreme anxiety when it come to this stressful process of subject selection (2). This subject choices come at such an important stage child develop. The self-identity is being explored and with the new information given to the student through there subject matter can really mould and develop the type of person they will like to be. Though this issue is no way a recent discovery, as it has been on the radar to educators and government officials for many decades. Society has entering into a time were discussion and times of action has arrived.
Among the most frequently talked about topic is about girls’ collective failure to study physic and chemistry at the same rate as boys. The implementation of STEM into the Irish curriculum in 2016 was great step for many students, partially the girls. Even in it review report one of the key goals stated is to integration of girls into the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects. As stated by a survey commissioned by Microsoft that focuses on 11- 18 year old girls across 80 post primary schools. The finding state that girls in Ireland become interested in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects around the age of 11, but then start to become less interested from age 15. The study also found that over half of girls can see themselves in STEM related careers, but a third do not understand how it is relevant to their lives. The research also found that 60% of girls reject the idea that boys have a natural aptitude and superior skills in STEM. However, perception remains an issue, with 44% of the girls saying they still picture a man when they think of a scientist, engineer or mathematician.
But I fear with such a large on the STEM subjects I fear that we will overlook a problem that has been failed to be addressed. Boys and their involvement in the Arts and Humanities. Why are girls the only ones constantly pathologised? This narrative makes out that girls are the only sex effected by social pressures. Let’s take a new perspective and assume the boy are the odd ones out. Why do they crowd into just these few subjects? On average young males tend to crowd the stem classes with a 60% or higher dominating these subjects.
Looking across the Leaving Cert higher level classes girls dominate in more than 10 subjects, including English, Modern Languages and Art. (3) Girls make up more than 80% of art students – yet when was the last time you heard a politician imploring teachers to tell boys they can be ‘just as creative as the girls’. Looked at this way, the question we need to answer is less “Why do few girls choose physics” and more “Why do so many boys only choose physics and maths related subjects”
Sadly, few people question gender disparities in other subjects. This is in no way undercutting the importance of female integration in the scientific subjects as it is no lie that these subjects led to more opportunity and lucrative jobs for the people who take them and it’s important that they feel the freedom to select other subjects and not to confirm to the group. So, if a male student enjoys the Arts and Humanities why do they feel the need to confirm to the pressures of society. Why isn’t this deemed a ‘problem’.
Vocational education presents an even greater problem. Few things are more perplexing than when you attend college perspective night and sitting across for you is a male student desperately wanting to study childcare and having his eyes plead with you to lie as his father asks, “Tell me, how many boys normally take this subject.” This father is only one of the many parents that pressure their children into confirming to certain ideals. As the saying goes they didn’t lick it off the stones. This behaviour has been taught by confirming to the social norms and values of the current time but mostly the time of the last generation and the generation before that. We human are reluctant to change and this is any more evident than with social views on boy and masculinity.
Some scholars argue that gender socialization can act as a mechanism of social control which defines and sanctions behaviours and attitudes about gender. Gender norms guide and restrict people's understanding and actions about what it means to be a male or a female as defined by culture. Researchers have found that extreme pressure to conform to traditional gender norms results in negative consequences for both men and women in society. For instance, boys who display femininity are often subject to severe social sanctions to reinforce norms of heterosexual masculinity. Some scholars explain that this is due to the coercive system of homophobia, defined as the fear and hatred of homosexuality.
This conceive behaviour ‘Boy Code’, as Dr William Pollock identifies it, from a very young age boy adopt this behaviour. This is the idea that masculinity demand the men harden up and never to be seen complaining is a dangerous problem to late go unchecked.
In the classroom, this aptitude came be seen in everyday scenarios: when boy struggle to keep up with the class, they don’t seek help for the teacher – they act out. Teachers natural reaction to this disruptive behaviour is to take disciplinary action and as this situation continues to repeat itself, frustration and depression begins to dominate the child’s experience of school. Tragically, Pollock also notes, between the ages of 10 and 19, boys are far more likely to take their lives than girls. Over the last 20 year the figure has drastically multiplied.
Theme Applied
The tree expectations of masculinity in the classroom and how it creates an unbalance education.
• BOYS WILL BE BOYS-We're taught that boys' testosterone levels make them "naturally" more aggressive, when in truth a boy's behaviour is shaped more by his loved ones than by nature.
• BOYS SHOULD BE BOYS-Society expects boys to hide "weak" emotions like fear, hurt or shame behind a stoic mask, and only anger is an acceptable emotion. In fact, there are many diverse and healthy ways to express oneself as a male.
• BOYS ARE TOXIC-We believe that unless they are kept under strict controls, boys are dangerous to society; actually, boys are empathetic and caring with a strong desire for justice