In a Different Voice

Overall, I found Carol Gilligan's books In a Different Voice to be extremely long-winded! I am going to chalk this up to the fact that I have an English degree and not one in Psychology. It was the long, drawn out explanations of interviews that killed me. I did, however, appreciate the subject matter. The psychology of women in a patriachal society has always interested me, but in a classroom setting I would hope to teach it with more of an emphasis on literary texts. There are so many amazing stories out there with so much to say! My favorites are The Awakening and The Yellow Wallpaper. Both deal with the psychological stress women undergo because their gender is subordinated in their current society. The fact that a female perspective through developmental stages does not exist in quite a number of major psychological theories is absurd with what we know today.
The fact that this text was written in 1982, and republished in 1993 does not surprise me, because it sounds a little out of date and behind the times. Truthfully, our society still contains gender inequality, but in my opinion women are becoming more comfortable with the position of power that success can bring. This goes directly against Gilligan's observation that women fear success and connect it with social rejection and a loss of femininity (15). More and more women are presenting themselves as publicly proud of their success, Hilary Clinton is the most common of examples here. Of course, we have yet to have a female lead this country so we do still have some way to go, but I believe we are on the right course. I believe it to be beneficial to students to be aware of the current social standing of gender equality, and to have them evaluate it and create opinions about it for themselves.
In the classroom, I believe I could use some of the information the Gilligan provides when considering the differences between male and female students. By being aware that each gender generally develops in a different manner I will be able to better understand why, for example, boys excel with logic problems and girls view them more abstract manner. Of course, these are general statements and in the end everyone is different. This affirms the need for a variety of teaching strategies. Some students will enjoy group work, and maybe this will be the girls in the class who are more network/relationship based and therefore like to work together. Other students will do better at solo projects and papers, and this may be the male students because their psychological development has led them to value individual hard work and success. The fact of the matter is that boys and girls simply are not going to fit neatly into these categories, but the multiple teaching styles will help to ensure that all students, regardless of gender, are given to opportunity to succeed in whichever way works best for them. It really does not matter, as long as everyone is making progress.

Role Reversal

In honor of the holiday that just passed, and the gender-difference reading we're doing this week...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W6xKhth3K8Q
The flip side to dating.

"Model Minority" reading

I found Stacey J. Lee's book really eye-opening. Truthfully, I did not pay all that much attention to the Asian American students at my high school. I was friends with some and the differences between their culture and mine went unspoken. Two of my good friends growing up with brothers, and Vietnamese. All I know is that their parents never talked to me, and they're mother made amazing eggrolls.
One lesson I learned from this reading was the unconscious nature of racism. Lee describes how teachers will compare students of one race to another, and how these same teachers will deny the existence of racism at Academic High. I appreciate that Lee brought this topic to the forefront.
We all want all students to be treated equally and get the same opportunities, but in such a competitive atmosphere they simply cannot. The very nature of competition creates the scenario for there to be academic winners and losers. There is something about this that I don't agree with. Mainly, if you have a student compete and the odds are against them and they continuously wind up the "loser" I fear for how this affects them in the long run. They might start believing they cannot succeed, and then they may stop trying. Lee showed examples of these students, specifically "New Wavers" (74). This same situation occurs on a larger scale with the immigrants of ethnicities that cannot economically or socially succeed. They stop believing there's any hope for social mobility (64). Some people will blame these groups for their lack of success and consider them lazy, unmotivated, etc. Truth is, there is a dominant culture in the U.S., and those who don't fit into it can be made to feel like outsiders. There's also an under-lying mentality of individualism - the individual can achieve whatever they set their mind to, look out for one's self and one's family, someone else's trouble aren't necessarily yours, etc. I understand that not everyone is like this, but it is out there, enough for their to be situations like those Lee wrote about.