Ronaldo Bong C. Francisco Jr.

BSEd II (Bachelor of Secondary Education) Assignment in Educ 101 (Social Dimensions of Education) Essay:

Gender in Education

"Sitting in the same classroom, reading the same textbook, listening to the same teacher, boys and girls receive very different educations."
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Sadker, 1994

The gender wars in education are heating up again. Too much of the current dialog on the education of girls and boys has the sound of a prizefight. In one corner are those who say that boys, not girls are shortchanged in school. In fact, they say, the attention paid to girls has harmed boys. In the other corner are those who contend that boys are fine and that girls are the ones with the real problems. The bell rings and the two sides come out swinging, each with its own set of statistics to prove not only that their side is the truly shortchanged, but that it is the fault of the "other side." I have learned hard enough to know, through living in a society with gender bias influences not only in our educational system but in almost aspect of the community, there are more than two sides of a story, more than just his side and her side but lest we forget the right side. This view of the seemingly endless strings of discrimination in education expounds and emphasizes the concept of gender equality. World bodies have defined gender equality in terms of human rights, especially women's rights, and economic development. UNICEF defines gender equality as "leveling the playing field for girls and women by ensuring that all children have equal opportunity to develop their talents." The United Nations Population Fund has declared that women have a right to equality. "Gender equity" is one of the goals of the United Nations Millennium Project, to end world poverty by 2015; the project claims, "Every single Goal is directly related to women's rights, and societies where women are not afforded equal rights as men can never achieve development in a sustainable manner." (UNICEF, 2008) To my fellow gentlemen, I assume that you are all divided in response to this composition. Some of you may strongly oppose the idea, some half-hearted and some in full support of having a gender-friendly culture in the arena of education. But I pray that you have an open heart and mind to understand how the plague of gender discrimination is immensely affecting the system and value of education of our youth. YES, the youth! The ones who represent our heros label: Hope of the Fatherland. And let me ask you this: How can the youth be possibly the hope of our land, our country, if their education is troubled by how society judges them by gender? And NO, that is not a rhetorical question. Education is widely recognized as the gateway to economic security and opportunity of both men and women. World figures in literacy relate a sorry tale. Of the 130 million 6-11 yearold children not in school - a majority - 60 percent are girls. The figures only go to show how in most regions of the world, specially the developing societies, gender bias impinges on girls' education. (Learning Channel, 2009) The foremost factor limiting gender-equitable education is poverty. Economics plays a key role when it comes to coping with directs costs such as tuition fees, cost of textbooks, uniforms, transportation and other expenses. Wherever, especially in families with many children, these costs exceed the income of the family, girls are the first to be denied schooling. All this despite the fact that education is one of the best investments a society can make. An educated woman has the skills, the self-confidence and the information she needs to become a better parent, worker and citizen. An educated man has the skills, the determination and valuable input he needs to become a family raiser, employee and civilian. What we need today are trends to break out of the culturally determined patterns of education as they will serve as the keys to better employment opportunities to both sexes and also to offer brighter career possibilities that look beyond way beyond the traditional pale of jobs set up for our dear men and women by this freakish gender-biased society.