Peer pressure as defined in the book is to conform of the
norms of the group a person wants to be apart of (Swan, 2005). Peer groups have
the same if not more influence on adolescents identity as their parents do. In
the article by Dorothy L. Espelage, it states that by giving into peer pressure,
is a form of acceptance and can help the adolescence gain popularity, which is
becoming more and more important in schools today.
Research done by Craig
and Pepler, (1997) showed that people in a peer group influence others in the
same peer group to bully other students.
Bullying is defined as, “repeated negative events, which over time are
directed at special individuals and which are carried out by one or several
other people who are stronger than the victim” (Aluede, 2008, p. 152). The
statistics on bullying is truly sad. In the textbook, it shows that only one
out of nine students reports bullying others and that nearly 33% of middle
school and high school students report being bullied. Going back to the Espelage
article, researchers believe that the transition of children going from middle
school to high school can cause stress, which can result in bullying behaviors.
Who do bullies decide which other student to bully?
Homosexuals get bullied because they do not perform the same
masculinity as heterosexual men do. Heteronormativity
describes how social institutions and policies reinforce the presumption that
people are heterosexual and that gender and sex are natural binaries (Kitzinger,
2005). Heteronormativity is a central component of peer pressure. In middle
school and high school, boys and girls find that by having a
boyfriend/girlfriend of the opposite sex is a continuation of efforts to
declare one’s heteronormativity (p.223). Nearly 85% of LGBT youth felt unsafe
at school because of their sexual orientation and over 40% of LGBT youth were
physically harassed.
Both boys and girls can be either victims of bullying or the
bully. Researchers found that female harassment is less physical than male
harassment. Harassment in the dictionary is defined as the act of systematic and/or continued unwanted and annoying actions of
one party or a group, including threats and demands. Not only do middle school
and high school kid experience harassment but also people in college as well.
In 2006, the American Association of University Women held a survey to examine
how many women have experienced sexual harassment at a college level. The
results showed that 62% of all college students reported being harassed
verbally or sexually. Females are likely to be the target of sexual jokes,
comments or gestures, where men are more likely to be called gay or homophobic
names. Students who are either gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender are more
likely to experience harassment than heterosexuals.
The phrase “the
feminization of higher education” has been in the popular press for years. It
expresses how more women are seeking college degrees than men. Where one study
shows that more women are going to school and earning degrees in every
racial/ethnic group, another study shows that women are still only making 82.2%
of what men earn according to The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (2012).
Career choices are still heavily influenced on gender roles and expectations. Gender/sex
also plays an important role in higher educations in two other places: the
professoriate and sexual violence. In 2011-2012, women made up 45.5% of the
facility at bachelor’s institutions, 46.1% at master’s institutions, and 38.1%
at the doctoral institutions (AAUP, 2012). Women are to be judged by actual
accomplishments, and men are more likely to be judged on their promise (Wilson,
2004). Michael Messner (2004) points out that being a professor continues to be
gendered masculine. If a male teacher acts masculine, he becomes a better
teacher. If a women teacher acts feminine, they are hard to be recognized as a
good teacher.
For education to be
a truly equalitarian institution, people must embrace emancipatory education:
education practices that seek to challenge accepted categories, unexamined
norms, and represented practices. Bias in education needs to be eliminated.
Bias can limit a students ambitions and accomplishments, affecting them
throughout life. The bias tied to gender/sex, educator Timothy Frawley (2005) notes
“polarized approaches to education fail to recognize a middle ground for
children who are not strongly gender-type masculine or feminine. The aim should
be to not only stop labeling children as such, but to also accept and encourage
androgynous behavior for both” (p. 222). Most changes in education curriculum
have embraced the gender-specific model that targets one sex. A gender-relevant
model includes both girls and boys, as it attempts to make the gendered
dimensions of social life and education a part of the discussion.
Another approach to
gender-sensitive and gender-relevant education focuses on teaching styles. Teaching
methods, themselves contribute to liberatory or oppressive educational
experiences. The alternative is connected teaching (hooks, 1994), which suggest
that learning is more accessible when topics are concretely related to others’
individual life experiences rather than taught in abstract ways, isolated from
context. Education professor David Sadker (2002) argues schools should cherish
individual differences because “gender stereotypes shortchange all of us” (p.
238). Each person must demand an education.
Based on the
readings, here are some questions for you all:
1.
Children
who get bullied are do not tell an adult because it is considered a normal part
of school. How are some ways adults can approach children about being bullied
and peer pressure?
2.
The book states that there are many reasons for
not reporting sexual violence. Which of the reasons do you believe is the number
one reason why sexual violence is not reported?
3.
Between the gender-sensitive model,
gender-relevant model and connected teaching, which do you think is the most
beneficial to students?
