Chapter 1. Educating the Girls of the World

Synopsis

Human Development Video Activity

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You must read each slide, and complete any questions on the slide, in sequence.

classification

The categorizing or sorting of people or things into groups according to shared characteristics.

concrete operational thinking

The ability to solve problems using logic but not abstract concepts. Concrete operational thinkers can use inductive logic, the ability to draw conclusions based on a specific experience, and reversibility.

conservation

The understanding of what changes and what remains the same after a person, an object, or a substance undergoes a change in appearance.

gender differences

Differences in cultural expectations for the roles and behaviors of men and women.

gender identity

A person’s perception of himself or herself as male or female.

hidden curriculum

Unofficial social rules and behaviors that are well-known but not taught.

identity

The consistent way in which a person sees him/herself and expresses his/her individuality.

industry versus inferiority

The fourth of Erikson's psychosexual crises of development when children discover that hard work brings results and praise. For those children who cannot master the work, feelings of inferiority and lack of self-esteem arise.

reciprocity

The idea that two objects, quantities, or actions can be mutually related, such that a change in one is compensated for by a corresponding or opposite change in another.

reversibility

The logical principle that a thing that has been changed can sometimes be returned to its original state by reversing the process by which it was changed.

sex differences

The biological differences between males and females.

sociocultural perspective

A theory that how the social and cultural environments in which a person is raised interact with an individual is an influential force in human development.

Educating the Girls of the World

Author

Pauline Davey Zeece, University of Nebraska – Lincoln

Synopsis

This activity focuses on the importance of education for all children, including girls. After briefly examining the influence of culture on gender and sex differences and gender identity, thinking and schooling are viewed from a sociocultural perspective. Video clips present the situation of girls’ education from cultures and countries around the world.

REFERENCES

UNICEF. (2006). State of the World’s Children 2006: Excluded and invisible. Retrieved May 20, 2007, from http://www.unicef.org/sowc06/fullreport/chapters.php

UNGEI. (2007). United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative/Global Monitoring Report-2006. Children’s Rights. Retrieved May 20, 2007, from http://www.ungei.org/resources/index_581.html?q=printme

United Nations. (2007). UN Millennium Development Goals. Retrieved May 20, 2007, from http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Wilson, L. (2007). What is curriculum and what are the types of curriculum? Retrieved May 20, 2007, from http://www.uwsp.edu/Education/lwilson/curric/curtp.htm

World Bank. (2007). World Bank Report: Girls’ Education. Retrieved May 20, 2007, from http://www.worldbank.org (Select Topics > Education > Girls’ Education)

Boys Will Be Boys, and Girls Will Be Girls

Social scientists distinguish between sex differences, which are the biological differences between males and females, and gender differences, which are the culturally-imposed differences in the roles and behaviors of males and females. Every society has fundamental values and attitudes regarding preferred behavior for men and women. Every culture teaches these values and attitudes to their young. Even though the particular tasks assigned to males and females vary from one society to another, this passing down of values, attitudes, and knowledge of skills and tasks helps young children to establish a gender identity in the context of their culture.

Play the video to learn about two girls from Bangladesh and Mali.

Question 1.1

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Correct! This statement is false. The girls in this video seem interested in education and going to school.

Sorry. This statement is true.

A Sociocultural Perspective

Two girls up close while those in the rest of the room appear to be praying, maybe

The sociocultural perspective suggests that many traditional cultures emphasize easily recognized gender distinctions. In societies where adult activities and dress are strictly separated by gender, girls and boys quickly adopt the patterns of talking, behaving, and even thinking that are prescribed for their sex. Expectations, decisions, and outcomes related to schooling or formal education are often gender-based.

According to Erikson’s theory, school-aged children work to solve the crisis of industry versus inferiority. Children busily strive to master whatever abilities their culture values. They judge themselves as either industrious or inferior—that is, as competent or incompetent, productive or failing, winners or losers. Throughout the world, many children, especially girls, try to resolve this internal struggle without the benefit or guidance of a structured, school-based education.

School-Age Thinking and Curriculum

Two girls in a classroom with a chalkboard of English letters as if learning writing

Experts agree that school-age children have a great capacity to learn. This is fueled by their emerging concrete operational thinking. Mastery of logical principles, including conservation, classification, identity, reversibility, and reciprocity, are first grasped between ages 5 and 7 and then more securely between ages 7 and 11. Across the globe, school-age children use this thinking to better learn concepts, ideas, and skills that are valued by their cultures.

Governments and schools select what should be taught, for how many years, by and to whom, and with what type of funding. The content and context of schooling is influenced, in part, by the curriculum, but curriculum is more than the formal, written, instructional agenda that guides children’s experiences in school. It also contains a hidden entity.

The Hidden Curriculum

Group of girls in uniforms at a singing performance

Hidden curriculum is the unspoken and often unrecognized lessons that children learn when they are in school and when they are excluded from school. It refers to the kind of covert lessons and learning children derive from the very nature and organizational design of the educational environment and enrollment policies as well as the behaviors, expectations, and attitudes of parents, teachers, administrators, and the larger society (Wilson, 2007). When any group of children is under-represented or prohibited from attending school, this is a powerful and sobering message to all children!

Educating Children of the World

Universal education has been difficult to achieve. After decades of commitments from countries and groups around the world, more than 75 million of the world’s children still do not have access to even a primary education. An additional 100 million children do not progress beyond the equivalent of an elementary-school level, and nearly a billion people are illiterate throughout their lives. Two-thirds of this latter group is female (UNICEF, 2006; UNGEI, 2007).

Globally, many girls are denied access to formal schooling. In rural areas, they are often the most disadvantaged social group. They are unable to challenge the status quo from their position of acute vulnerability (UNESCO, 2006). Between 1999 and 2004, the worldwide number of children not in school declined rapidly from about 100 million to 77 million. Three-quarters of the decrease (16.7 million) took place between 2002 and 2004. However, girls still constitute 57 percent of all out-of-school children, down from 59 percent in 1999. For every 100 boys out-of-school worldwide, there are 117 girls out-of-school. Gender disparities in education still remain predominant in the Arab States (134 girls out-of-school for every 100 boys), in South and West Asia (129 girls out-of-school for every 100 boys), and in countries like Yemen (184 girls out-of-school for every 100 boys), Iraq (176 girls out-of-school for every 100 boys), India (136 girls out-of-school for every 100 boys), and Benin (136 girls out-of-school for every 100 boys) (World Bank, 2007).

Play the video to learn of the numerous barriers that prevent girls from going to school.

Educating Children of the World (continued)

Question 1.2

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Consider the cultural biases toward education and educating girls in particular, the economic needs of the families, the safety of the travel routes to and from schools, the proximity of the schools, as well as any other barriers that you can think of. A hidden curriculum is not just evident within a school but also evident in who is excluded from schools. Explore how much the communities and families value the education of girls and how this does or does not represent a hidden curriculum.

Taking Up the Education Challenge

Today, HIV/AIDS, conflicts, emergencies and other fragile situations, gender-based violence, and information technology gender gaps (UNESCO, 2006) have emerged as challenges that reduce girls’ enrollment in primary, secondary, and tertiary education.

Play the video to learn of efforts, including those supported by the UN, to help girls worldwide obtain an education.

Assessment: Check Your Understanding

Question 1.3

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Yes! Gender differences are culturally imposed differences in roles and behaviors of male and female children.

Sorry. Gender differences are culturally imposed differences in roles and behaviors of male and female children.

Assessment: Check Your Understanding

Question 1.4

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Yes! This is Erikson’s fourth stage, which typically occurs during the middle childhood years. Children work to master culturally valued abilities and develop a sense of themselves as either industrious and competent or incompetent and inferior.

Sorry. This is Erikson’s fourth stage, which typically occurs during the middle childhood years. Children work to master culturally valued abilities and develop a sense of themselves as either industrious and competent or incompetent and inferior.

Assessment: Check Your Understanding

Question 1.5

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Yes! Piaget’s term for the ability to reason logically about the things and events that one perceives is concrete operational thought. Formal operational thought is the final stage of cognitive development, which arises from a combination of maturation and experience.

Sorry. Piaget’s term for the ability to reason logically about the things and events that one perceives is concrete operational thought. Formal operational thought is the final stage of cognitive development, which arises from a combination of maturation and experience.

Assessment: Check Your Understanding

Question 1.6

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Through the positive experience of education, girls gain confidence and may be empowered to find new ways to help themselves, their families, and their communities thrive and/or to improve their economic status. In addition to noting that the equal education of girls is a fair and just action that respects the rights of children, education of girls is directly related to lower fertility rates, lower infant and child mortality rates, and lower maternal mortality rates, better protection from HIV/AIDS, trafficking, and abuse, and a higher likelihood that the next generation of children will go to school.

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