THECLASSROOMisaman'sworld,whereboysgettwothirdsoftheteachers'attention—evenwhentheyareinaminority—taunt(辱骂)thegirlswithoutpunishment,andreceivepraiseforsloppyworkthatwouldnotbetoleratedfromgirls.Theyareaccustomedtobeingteachers'pets,andifgirlsgetanythinglikeequaltreatment,theywillprotesteagerlyandevenwrecklessons.
Theseclaimsaremadeinabookoutthisweek,writtenbyDaleSpender,alecturerattheLondonUniversityInstituteofEducation.Shearguesthatdiscriminationagainstgirlsissodeeplyincoeducationalschoolsthatsinglesexclassesaretheonlyanswer.Hercaseisbasedontaperecordingsofherownandotherteachers'lessons.Manyofthem,likeSpender,haddeliberatelysetouttogivegirlsafairchance.“Sometimes,”saysSpender,“IhaveeventhoughtIhavegonetoofarandhavespentmoretimewiththegirlsthantheboys.”
Thetapesprovedotherwise.In10tapedlessons(insecondaryschoolandcollege),Spendernevergavethegirlsmorethan42percentofherattention(theaveragewas38percent)andnevergavetheboyslessthan58percent.Thereweresimilarresultsforotherteachers,bothmaleandfemale.Inotherwords,whenteachersgivegirlsmorethanathirdoftheirtime,theyfeelthattheyarecheatingtheboysoftheirrightfulshare.Andsodotheboysthemselves.“Shealwaysasksthegirlsallthequestions,”saidoneboyinaclassroomwhere34percentoftheteachers'timewasallocatedtogirls.“Shedoesn'tlikeboys,andjustlistenstothegirls.”saidaboyinanotherclass,wherehissexgot63percentofteacherattention.Boysregardedtwothirdsoftheteacher'stimeasafairdeal—andwhentheygotlesstheycausedtroubleinclassandevencomplainedtohigherauthority.“It'simportanttokeeptheirattention,”saidoneteacher,“Otherwise,theyplayyouupsomethingawful.”Spenderconcludesthat,inmixedclasses,ifthegirlsareasboisterousandpushyastheboys,theyareconsidered“unladylike”,iftheyaredocileandquiet,theyareignored.
