The following articles are all connected through the theme of transformation as the nation industrializes in American education affecting higher education. These articles encompass the emphasis of gender in higher education and in promoting civic engagement in educating citizens for the needs of society and the nation. Through the reading of the articles, one comes to question current American society and must ask if America has truly become a pluralistic democracy. Is higher education reaching its primary purpose to prepare students to participate in a diverse democracy while increasing student awareness of the value of diversity and civic engagement?
Davison, K. G., & Nelson, B. G. (2011). Men and
Teaching: Good Intentions and Productive Tensions. Journal of Men's Studies,
19(2), 91-96. doi:10.3149/jms.1902.91.
The purpose of this study is to
address the rarity of the presence of male teachers in education in the United
States and the need requiring skilled and knowledgeable males to meet the needs
for American secondary and higher education. The author further investigates
gender education and implications, contradictions, and frustrations of male
teachers. The reason for writing the
article is to explore how gender and teaching change the educational and social
lives of students. Traditionally, the roles of a teacher or a professor in the
United States during 1700 to mid-1800s were primarily men. The study concludes
that as the gendered expectations changed, the issue
of men and teaching also shifted. Throughout most of the 1800s and
1900s, women were thought to be of stronger moral character than men, thus a
better influence and teacher. Furthermore, the
article suggests that the lack of male teachers has left education
without the proper tools to address boys and young men as well as young women
and the need to see masculinity modeled by male teachers. This had great
implications on society because the emphases on the
pursuit of higher learning through a feminist or profeminist dialectical
thinking form many contradictions surrounding men and teaching. The
aforementioned issue coincides with the text because gender, especially
feminism, continues to affect higher education.
In order to meet the need of society in the early 1900s, the woman
suffrage movement began with female students in higher education as well as
female faculty members raising the populist call for gender implicit education.
Moreover, higher educators as well society need to understand that currently, a
combination of gender perspectives in higher education is necessary for the
greater understanding and possibility for change. Neither one nor the other gender owns a correct
prospective, rather for student learning, a combination of the gender
perspectives with one's own will allow more introspection and perception.
Paul D. Umbach, et al. "Why Do More Women than Men
Want to Earn a Four-Year Degree? Exploring the Effects of Gender, Social
Origin, and Social Capital on Educational Expectations." Journal of
Higher Education 82.1 (2011): 1-32. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO.
Web. 7 Oct. 2011.
The purpose
of the article is to impart on the reader the importance of gender in education
and its impact in the development of a democratic America. The article further informs that
women have surpassed men in education expectations, when traditionally higher
education was for young men. Furthermore, it is projected that the current
gender gap will continue. The reason behind
the article is to educate about the student educational expectations and their
correlation to predictors of future educational attainment. The article
suggests that all of the accomplishments a person receives is gained through
educational expectations, social origin, and values. An individuals future
position is established through interpersonal relationships as well as
intrapersonal expectations instilled by parents. The article concludes that females are more
likely than men to earn a college degree because of the parental education,
parental influences, societal expectations, and professional employment. The
article is a phenomenal example of the way the woman suffrage movement
influenced higher education in America. The movement was a means of allowing
society, connected through higher education, to educate a new era of women. This
has impacted America in a higher education democratic society not only by the
amount of women graduating with graduate degrees, but by reinforcing the
perspective that a higher education institution is supposed to level a
developed democratic nation. This will further
affect society because as history has shown that when a specific gender lacks
education it is a time to regroup and intrigue that gender to further
education, thus allowing a multitude of gender perspectives.
Weaver-Hightower, M. B.
(2010). Where the Guys Are: Males in Higher Education. Change, 42(3),
29-
35. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
The purpose of the
article is to explore the current gender education practices in higher
education regarding admission into colleges and universities in America. The
author considers the history of US colleges and universities regarding
discrimination against women and affirmative action. Furthermore, the article
concentrates on current practices and trends regarding the admission of women
into higher education institutions by rejecting their application on the
grounds of affirmative action because men have become the minority in higher
education. Moreover, the article suggests that we have been so successful in
improving female performances that we have made it harder for males to be
successful in colleges and universities. It is suggested that women are more
successful in undergraduate and graduate school, whereas men only exceed women
at the doctoral level, though that gap is rapidly dwindling. The reason the
article was written was to expose the current obstacles to education that have
prevented males from completing higher education. The article also suggests
that a males join the workforce through manufacturing, manual labor, and
service jobs as well as selective service such as the Army or other branches of
the military more than females.
Furthermore, the article concludes that females do not have the
workforce options that males have; therefore they have no alternative than to
seek higher education for better prospects upon education. This will impact
higher education as well as society because employability will be a concern
especially for social stability. Furthermore, if a university or college
historically was created to impact the intellectual and civic development of
individuals and males are no longer attending, then a social cohesion will no
longer exist and perhaps gender inequality will continue, yet be reversed. The article further advocates that
education has had for several years increased the education of women, but the
new minority in higher education institutions are males and their education
needs to be better served without rolling back important gains for women.
Education needs to be equal for all genders.
Gender bias in education is grossly overstated. The notion that males are somewhat nurtured
to be better students than females is ill perceived. The data from Kleinfeld indicated that there
was no real significance in standardized test scores on writing, language,
reading, geopolitical, and study skills of both male and female students. Females actually had a very small advantage
on all of the aforementioned tests. The
only exception of in which males had a slight improvement was in the area of
geopolitics. (Kleinfeld, 1998 )
With respect to grades females college students,
Kleinfeld also stated that females are outperforming males in all college
majors even science and math, in this field of study females had a GPA of 3.18
to the male GPA of 2.98.
Academically, I do not believe that this is an issue;
however as a professional a definite difference is present regarding pay. Coaches of males sports in the district I
belong are paid more than coaches of females sports, regardless of the coaches
gender, though both team coaches work the same amount of practices, games, and
tournaments. This has been in litigation
for several years now with Title IX being the forefront of the cry.
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