1. Explain or paraphrase the bold-faced words and expressions.

2. Answer the questions:

1. On what model do most schools base their work? How does it affect girls?

2. Are boys and girls treated differently at school?

3. What are boys and girls praised and reprimanded for?

4. Why is sexism the most damaging form of bias?

5. What can be done to drive gender bias out of school?

Listening 1

Mary McDonald, a primary school teacher, talks about society’s attitude to boys and girls and how she deals with it at school.

Listen to the tape and answer the following questions:

1. What three things does Mary McDonald mention which are different for boys and girls before they come to school?

2. Whose expectations influence the differences between boys and girls before they come to school?

3. What four examples does Mary McDonald give of ways in which she would not treat boys and girls differently?

1. What story does Mary McDonald tell about the school assembly?

Tape dictation

Fill in the blanks. Check your answers by listening to the tape again.

Well I think you ^{1 ____} to look at this in ^{2 ____} of society in general. I

^{3 ____} that schools what schools do is that ^{4 ____} reflect the pattern of

society; in other ^{5 ____} when a child is born it’s born with a ^{6 ___}, it s

born with a name, it’s a girl ^{7 ____} a boy and it wears different clothes and

those things are all ^{8 ____} by sex. Apart from that we have then the sort of

^{9 ____} of parents and of the wider family and then of ^{10 ___} if you like in

terms of boys and girls. So right from birth there’s some sort of ^{11 ____} input

into this business of sex. When ^{12 ____} come to school yes, they are

different. You can see that they're different, you can ^{13 ____} them playing

differently as well. ^{14 _____} then they’re given different toys to ^{15 ____} with.

Discussion

In groups, discuss one of the following topics:

• What basic differences (apart from physical characteristics) do you think there are between boys (men) and girls (women)?

• Are the differences between boys and girls something we are born with or are they “taught” by society?

• How did your schools and your parents treat the two sexes? Did you agree with their treatment?

Listening 2

Mary McDonald talks about the chances of promotion for a primary teacher.

Before you listen

What is the proportion of women and men who work at primary school? What jobs do men and women have at primary schools?

General listening

Read the following sentences. Are they true or false?

1. There are more women teachers than men teachers in primary education, so there are more women heads.

2. Mary doesn’t want to be a classroom teacher; she’d like to be a head.

3. Mary doesn’t like her job very much.

4. Boys are never brought up to be more ambitious than girls.

Detailed listening

Answer the following questions.

1. What has the interviewer read recently and what did it say?

2. What does Mary mean by the “Lower School”?

3. Why do men get promoted, and what does Mary want for herself?

Reading 9

“Any form of education other than co-education is simply unthinkable”

Imagine being asked to spend twelve or so years of your life in a society, which consisted only of members of your own sex. How would you react? Unless there was something definitely wrong with you, you wouldn’t be too happy about it, to say the least. It is all the more surprising therefore that so many parents in the world choose to impose such abnormal conditions on their children - conditions which they themselves wouldn’t put up with for one minute!

Any discussion of this topic is bound to question the aims of education. Stuffing children’s heads full of knowledge is far from being foremost among them. One of the chief aims of education is to equip future citizens with all they require to take their place in adult society. Now adult society is made up of men and women, so how can a segregated school possibly offer the right sort of preparation for it? Anyone entering adult society after years of segregation can only be in for a shock.

A co-educational school offers children nothing less than a true version of society in miniature. Boys and girls are given the opportunity to get to know each other, to learn to live together from their earliest years. They are put in a position where they can compare themselves with each other in terms of academic ability, athletic achievement and many of the extra-curricular activities, which are part of school life. What a practical advantage it is (to give just a small example) to be able to put on a school play in which the male parts will be taken by boys and the female parts by girls! What nonsense co-education makes of the argument that boys are cleverer than girls or vice versa. When segregated, boys and girls are made to feel that they are a race apart. Rivalry between the sexes is fostered. In a co-educational school, everything falls into its proper place.

But perhaps the greatest contribution of co-education is the healthy attitude to life it encourages. Boys don’t grow up believing that women are mysterious creatures – airy goddesses, more like book illustrations to a fairy tale, than human beings. Girls don’t grow up imagining that men are romantic heroes. Years of living together at school dispel illusions of this kind. There are no goddesses with freckles, pigtails, piercing voices and inky fingers. There are no romantic heroes with knobbly knees, dirty fingernails and unkempt hair. The awkward stage of adolescence brings into sharp focus some of the physical and emotional problems involved in growing up. These can better be overcome in a co-educational environment. Segregated schools sometimes provide the right conditions for sexual deviation. This is hardly possible under a co-educational system. When the time comes for the pupils to leave school, they are fully prepared to enter society as well-adjusted adults. They have already had years of experience in coping with many of the problems that face men and women.

Discussion

In groups discuss which is better:

Single-sex or co-educational schools?

The argument: key words

1. Imagine spending 12 years with members of your own sex.

2. Many parents impose these conditions on their children.

3. Discussion of topic must question aims of education.

4. Not only accumulation of knowledge.

5. Equipping future citizens for adult society.

6. Segregated schools: not the right sort of preparation.

7.Co-educational school: society in miniature.

8. Boys and girls learning to live together.

9. Can compare themselves: academic and athletic abilities, school activities.

10.Many practical advantages: e.g. school plays.

11.Boys and girls not made to feel a race apart.

12.Co-education encourages healthy attitudes to life.

13.Boys: no illusions about women: airy goddesses.

14.Girls: no illusions about men: romantic heroes.

15.No goddesses with freckles, pigtails, piercing voices, etc.

16.No romantic heroes with knobbly knees, dirty fingernails, etc.

17.Physical and emotional adolescent problems best overcome in coeducational environment.

18.Sexual deviation hardly possible.

19.Pupils enter society as well-adjusted adults.

The counter-argument: key words

1. School is not a miniature society.

2. It is highly artificial, unrelated to outside world.

3. It is a training ground: a very special society in its own right.

4. Many teachers claim better work done in segregated schools.

5. Greater achievements academically, socially, in athletics, etc.

6. Children from segregated schools have greater self-confidence when they leave.

7. Many more practical advantages in segregated schools: e.g. administration.

8. Adolescent problems better dealt with – easier for teachers to handle.

9. Sexual deviations, greatly exaggerated.

10.No distractions – co-educational schools often lead to disastrous early marriages.

11.Segregated schools have successfully existed for centuries: a proof of their worth.

12.In many countries, the most famous schools are segregated.

13.Thousands of great men and women attended segregated schools: e.g. Churchill.