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Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it. On that note, a very good morning to one and all present here. Today I, Tamanna Sharma will be speaking against the motion "Gender roles are a no-issue at school."
A classroom is a place where students are civilized into behaving in certain ways. Children arrive at school with early gender socialization patterns that often influence the life of the classroom. Gross motor skills develop at the same average rate for boys and girls. As a group, both sexes can run, jump, throw a ball, with about equal ease. However, boys participate more actively in formal sports! This is because of expectations and support from parents, peers, and society already imposed by the early years of elementary school.
Research by Erden & Wolfgang in 2004 has found that teachers do sometimes respond to boys and girls differently, perhaps unknowingly! While boys are praised for correct knowledge, girls are praised for "good" or compliant behavior! Studies found that in classroom discourse, boys frequently raised their hands- sometimes impulsively, without even knowing the answer! Conversely, girls tended not to raise their hands as often. They were overlooked frequently when they did, with preference given to a male student. Boys outnumber girls in team sports, girls outnumber boys in performing arts. When girls exhibited boisterous behavior, they were reprimanded in ways that boys who routinely exhibited the same behaviors were not. One study described third-grade school girls as suffering from "over-control", even when they did not understand a concept. Research demonstrates a decline in middle school girls' willingness to express individual opinions that have even the slightest possibility to create a genuine conflict with their peers.
According to a recent Harris poll, though large groups of both boys and girls report experiencing harassment, girls experience sexual harassment of varying degrees, far more than boys, at a ratio of 60-to-40! Girls are also more likely than boys to feel "self conscious," "embarrassed," and "less confident" because of an incident of harassment.
Looking through the lens of gender, much of the formal curriculum is "womanless." We neither learn about women nor notice their absence. There are images of women, but only those few who could reach this pinnacle of importance on white male terms. My esteemed jury, I would like to pose this question- why is the merit of women decided based on whether they accomplish visibly significant tasks as defined by white men? This is problematic for curriculum development because it overwhelmingly tells girls and women that, if they are only good enough on criteria external to them and their experience, they will be important enough to be studied by young boys and girls.
In conclusion, I would like to quote David Alejandro Fearnhead, "Life is not a competition between any gender. It is a collaboration." Society as whole benefits immeasurably from a climate in which all persons, regardless of their gender, may earn respect, responsibility, advancement, and remuneration solely based on ability.
