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Gender Socialization in American Educational Institutions

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Submitted By r4ch3l
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Gender socialization in American educational institutions is what creates the gender norms that so many children grow up believing. As more women take on full-time jobs to support their families or bridge the gaps between their husband’s income and their standard of living, children are placed in daycares and enrolled in after-school activities with educational curriculums. Children grow up spending more time collectively with their teachers and those in positions of educational authority than with their own parents. In the current educational systems, there is no regard for the internal feelings of a male or female on which gender they feel they should be or the personality that they want to develop. Children are grouped by gender in the classroom and segregated in activities based on their sex. Girls learn at an early age that they will be picked last for sports, that boys are stronger than them and better at math and science. Girls and boys are encouraged to behave differently from one another whether consciously or subconsciously by those that educate them. Boys and girls are given different educational goals. Boys are treated as if they are more independent than girls and are given more responsibility in educational settings. Even those that teach children are conforming to gender roles; women teach English and lower grades while men teach physical education and science. Appropriate behaviors and realistic expectations are broken down by gender as well. Boys that speak out of turn and are disruptive are referred to specialists for having ADD or ADHD while girls that act the same way are typically just called chatty or rambunctious. Girls are talkative and boys are more introverted. Children use gender as tools to organize and with little instruction. Each gender adapts to what they have learned to be sex-appropriate behavior. Boys, more than

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