We must raise
both the ceiling and the floor.
-Sheryl
Sandberg
Abstract
This
article begins with the short anecdote of the writer from which he tries to
establish the issues on the gender and English teacher as a profession.
Highlighting the glimpses of gender roles and the different stand points and evidences
the paper focuses on the existing literature on the gender and teaching,
especially English language teaching, followed by the views of the respondents
in highlighting the issues. The paper tries to summarize the issues in the
context of English language teaching whether to see Male as a better English
teacher or female. Taking the middle most way of the gender role, the article
addresses the point of view that gender is to be seen as a social inclusive
view and the teachers are to be able to play the roles of different persons. Yet the article opens the wide horizon of
further study too.
Key
words: gender, sex role, perceptions, evidences, chromosomes, XX, XY, teacher
Paving the Way Out: a
Short Anecdote
i pondered, pondered and pondered
about for an hour, got stocked with my feelings and my thought, went for a
stroll, visualized the fairy ladies and handsome guys out there. I reflected on
my past, thought of myself for a teacher, an English teacher and got nowhere to
fit myself, neither with the fairy people, nor with the handsome guys, neither
with the past experiences nor with the present status. Surfed the net for a
while to get a quote ‘we must raise both
the ceiling and the floor’ and I began to write.
Who
to align with is a big challenge for me now. I see my son who is three and a
half year. He almost repeats the stories I tell him and recalls almost all,
though haphazard, in the night I share with him. Immediately after I begin a
story, he jumps up to the bed and makes his alignment with my body on my hand,
looks at me enthusiastically and tells me ‘Eka
des ma ni… bhannu na baba’ (once upon a time, please tell me father). And I
begin stories in his demand. My wife teaches him in the school, she teaches the
moral behavior at home, not to jump, not to spit, not to be dirty, pay respect
(dhog garnu) to the elders, and so
on… He seems to be naughty though, my stories bring him near and I try to
accumulate his comprehension capacity with shorter questions between the
stories. He seems fantastic. I try to differentiate the teacher of his school
and me, a father teaching sharing stories at home. His mother plays the both
role a teacher and a mother. What makes the difference? I still have to ponder,
but prior to that, I should write an article on the vicarious knowledge I have
with. Better I start with the concept with the thought; we must raise both the ceiling and the floor…
The
Concept of Gender and Sex
Substantially; ‘Sex’ refers to the biological and physiological
characteristics that define men and women and ‘Gender’ refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors,
activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men
and women. To put it in another way, ‘Male’
and ‘female’ is sex categories, while ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ are gender
categories. Aspects of sex will not vary substantially between different
human societies, while aspects of gender may vary greatly.
The
Biological Evidences
There
is no dispute about this fact that men and women are distinct biologically.
From the biological evidence men and women are different in the chromosomes
they bear in their body. Men have X and Y chromosomes and women have X and X
chromosomes. The mixing of X of men and X from women results the daughter to bear
and the Y of men and X from women results the son to bear.
This
show, biologically, they are different. Does it mean that men and women are
different in all the respects of life, except the bodily changes? I think, the differences in the chromosomes
don’t make any differences in the behavior of the men and women. As McCubbin
and Dahl (2005) say, ‘the complex links between the genes and behavior is being
researched; it is impossible to say that how differences in chromosomes make
the differences in the behavior of male and female’. In my view, it is not the
gene, which brings differences in the behavior of men and women; however, it is
the society which creates the differences in the roles and the behavior they
perform.
Sex
Role: the Social Evidence
A
role in a play is the matter of what the script seeks for and it is an action
that we perform. Dancing, fighting, laughing, crying, are all the roles we do
on the basis of the script we are assigned to. Sex role is as such a socially
scripted, which is given to the men and women to play the role given in the
society to perform on the basis of the certain stereotyping norms, values and
behavior. ‘The script comes from the social expectations about masculine and
feminine nature: men should be brave, strong, ambitious and aggressive, while
keeping their feelings under control; women should be gentle, nurturant,
passive, dependent and expressive of their feelings (ibid).’ From the social
perspectives, the sex roles are the performative roles done by the men and the
women in the society with the traditional norms and social values.
Does
the Social Role Matter to be an English Teacher!
To
be a teacher is an action to be played in the classroom. Whether the teacher is
a male or a female, I think, matters a lot to be in the classroom. As the
brave, strong, ambitious and aggressive role of the male teacher may have a
direct linkage in the classroom and just opposite, the role of the female as
gentle, nurturing, passive and dependent may also have a direct linage in the
classroom setting. Who do the students prefer? Male or female teacher? Does
opposite sex attraction of psychological theory can link up with the notion of
liking or disliking of the male versus female teacher?
The
Evidences from the Students: Perspectives on the Role of the Teacher
I
inquired some of the students studying in school level and bachelor level,
concerning to the teacher teaching English in their respective teachers. They
had a very mix view on their answers. Among the eight respondents four
respondents were male and four were female. They have a mixed type of
experience learning with both the male and female teachers during their
academic years. Some of the views by the respondents are presented as below in
a summarized form
Male teachers are the strict
teachers. They are just like the father figure in the school. The way we behave
to our father at home and we get afraid of our father, we cannot speak to our
father directly, so will be the case with the male teachers. As they are strict
and disciplinary our questioning pattern will be hindered. From this
perspective I think female teachers are better to teach in the English
classroom in the EFL setting. As they are the mild personalities, loving and
caring so mother figure teaching in our classroom we behave friendly, we do
not hesitate to speak and raise question
we feel normal to behave her so female teaches are the better teachers.
Similarly, the other
voices of the respondents are like:
On the contrary, the respondents
response that, female teachers cannot control the class but male teachers do.
We need discipline in the classroom too so, we believe in male teacher teaching
at the higher level and female teachers in the lower level. The respondents
have the second thought for the same question, as female seems to be very busy
in the home, she cannot prepare well for the lesson we cannot get extra
information from them however, male teachers do have time and they prepare well
prior to the class which makes us learn more and extra information as well. So,
male teachers are better in the higher level and female are better in the lower
level.
I insisted the
respondents about the language and sound system, the audibility of the sounds
between male and female teachers. In which they responded as:
Male teachers’ voice is dominating
in the classroom in comparison to the female teachers. Which is a positive
aspect for the class control however, male sounds irritates much to the
students and is not ear friendly. And female teachers’ voice is soft, and we
are more attentive to them while teaching. This makes female teachers better in
the English class. Similarly, the language spoken by female teachers is more
audible and catchy as well.
I insisted my
respondents to say something about the relationship of the teachers with the
students, if it can be more helpful for the generalization of the theme.
Male teachers maintain a distance
with the students; it makes the students behave in a very formal way with the
teachers too. Similarly, distancing creates lack of concern, the teachers do
not concerns about the students as well however, female teachers are more
contact friendly, and they behave in a friendlier manner to the students. This
makes a female teacher more craved than the male teachers.
Similarly, I evoked my
respondents asking about the practicality in teaching. They responded as:
Male teachers are less practical in
the smaller grades, as they cannot understand the psychology of the small
graders. But the female teachers are more practical in teaching language in
small graders because, mothers are our first teacher at home, who knows how to
teach in practical way to the kids. So, for the small graders female teachers
are better than the male teachers.
In higher level?
Male teachers are practical in the
practical subjects like mathematics and science. But in the language female are
more practical. They use language in a better way as they do want to establish
relation to the students. Male teachers are harsher in this matter.
What about the
emotional dealing with the students? Does it matter for a language teacher?
Male teachers are straightforward
and lack emotions which the students need in the middle school. But for the
higher level, emotions do not play the significant role. But for female
teachers, and for female students, female teachers are more emotive and can
address the need of the students.
The
Social role of the Gender and the Academic Scenario: a Contradiction
The
social roles of the gender as mentioned earlier contradict with the views of
the respondents. The male as a social role performs the aggressive, brave,
strong; ambitious has a negative connotation to the students’ achievement, as
the respondents did not like much about a male to be a teacher in many
respects. However, the social roles of the female: gentle, nurturing are the
positive aspects for them to be the teacher. The respondents like the way
female teachers behave in the classroom.
Does
it mean that males’ social role does not prefer them to be a teacher and the female
social roles are beneficial for the female to be a teacher.
A
study conduct among Hong Kong English teachers reflected the following facts:
The
assumption of the English teachers was that ‘female English teacher is friendlier
than male native English teacher and female English teacher is more stable and
have more patience.’ However, their experience was just opposite as they found,
male English teachers are very patient and professional, friendly. Even more
surprisingly, they had a counter problem that male teachers do not find more
chances in home tutoring in Hong Kong. It is because that the society was more
stereotyping as parents did not want their girl children to be taught by male
teachers at home.
Similarly,
the Hong Kong teachers had another problematic experience as they found some
children like to bully female English teachers and the English lessons become
chaotic afterwards because they children cannot sit well and listen well. This
resulted that children seem to be naughty with their female teachers. And the
solution they found was male teachers because of their physical build up.
What
do the literatures say?
A
research conducted by Dee (2006) found that, ‘the teacher’s gender shapes
communications between teacher and pupil, and the teacher acts as a gender-
specific role model, regardless of what he or she says or does.’ This
gender-specific role model behavior seems to be beneficial for the well rapport
building in the teaching learning process. The result shows that students are
more engaged, behave more appropriately, and perform at a higher level when
taught by one who shares their gender. The influence of a teacher’s gender on
students’ perceptions plays a greater role because engagement with an academic
subject may be an important precursor to subsequent achievement levels, course
selection in high school and college, and also occupational choice. This shows
that, male teachers are better for the male students and female teachers are
better for the female students. If the co-educational system is being followed,
what would be the solutions?
The
study reveals that, ‘girls have better educational outcomes when taught by
women and boys are better off when taught by men (Dee, 2006).’ The same study revealed that, when girls are
taught by women and boys are taught by men, student achievement in science,
English, and social studies increases for both groups (ibid). This seems that,
gender does matter in the increment of the students’ academic performance if
their gender is shared. However, Walkerdine (1990) as mentioned in Julie (2004)
reveals the male students are offensive and have aggressive discourse with
their female teachers and female classmates. These shows, the male students are
better off with their male teachers and female students are with the female
teachers.
Regarding
the mutual relationship between language and the gender, gender may well be
revealed in language use, yet Bailey (1993) believed that 'few studies explore
the way in which the language that is presented to children within the
classroom context contributes to their developing gender awareness‘ (p. 8). She
sees gender as constructed through language and that teachers pass on a social
order through their own use of speech (i.e. patterns and proportions of
talk-time) (as cited in Julie (2004).
Similar
to the proposition made by the respondents of my study, Dee (2006) mentions the
opposite view as, ‘when a class is headed by a woman, boys are more likely to
be seen as disruptive. When taught by a man, girls were more likely to report
that they did not look forward to a subject.’ This opposite facets of gender
and the teaching seems to be confronting in many cases. The solution for the
same is yet to be observed. Similarly,
boys, as compared to girls, register more negative perceptions of English
classes. When a class is headed by a woman, boys are more likely to be seen as
disruptive, while girls are less likely to be seen as either disruptive or
inattentive. Furthermore, ‘when taught by a man, girls were more likely to
report that they did not look forward to a subject, that it was not useful for
their future, or that they were afraid to ask questions, Dee (2006).’
The
counter argument regarding the boy and the girl students if taught by the
opposite sex seems to be valid psychologically. The vulnerability to this
aspect is even more crucial. In the same study it is notably mentioned that
‘adverse gender effects have an impact on both boys and girls, but that effect
falls more heavily on the male half of the population in middle school, simply
because most middle school teachers are women (ibid). Dee concludes that,
‘learning from a teacher of the opposite gender has a detrimental effect on
students’ academic progress and their engagement in school (2006).’
Is
the Condition Pathetic?
In
the EFL setting like in Nepal, where English is taught as a foreign language,
the condition of being a male and female English teacher is obviously
detrimental. If we see the data (Trading Economics (n. d)) as a whole the total
number of teachers teaching in primary level is 1,53,536 which is the 39.62% of
the total teachers teaching in the primary level. This shows that 60.38% of the
teachers teaching in primary level are male. If we see the opposite facets of
the sources from the previous literature, majority of girls and same in the
number of boy students are having trouble in learning. Same will be the case
with lower secondary and secondary level. The total number of female teachers
in lower secondary level is 40,259 which are 24.69% while the male percentage
is 75.31. Can we be aligned with the research conducted? Or do we have a second thought to address the
problem. If more than 75 percentages of male teachers teach in the lower
secondary level, let’s say, half of the students, male, are benefited. However,
the female remain unexpressive throughout their academic career. Secondary
level’s case is even devastating, if we observe aligning with the previous
research conducted by Dee 2006. Are 84.44 percentages of male teachers
responsible for the drop outs and failure of the girl students in/from
secondary level? Things cannot be taken as a guaranteed, hence, intensive
research are to be carried out to address the gender based teaching system in
the Nepali context.
What
Next?
Since
the study conducted by different scholars have the similar findings in this
case of gender issues to be an English teacher. The finding from my respondents
(presented earlier) seems to align with the preference of female teachers in
lower levels however; we cannot be extra judgmental to follow the middle
approach. Then what? Should we demolish the system of co-education to address
the need of the every child whom is to be taught by the teachers who share the
same sex? Still this concept is ambitious. Every aspect has its own good
aspects and bad. The middle most aspect can be better. But is it always good to
have blending of the concepts? Are we all playing the detrimental role to
hinder learning to our children? Is it just a gender/sex matters to be an
English teacher? If the answer is ‘NO’,
why do students in the research shared the feeling? How could Dee and other
conclude so? If it is ‘YES’, do we have a second opinion, a middle the most significant
way to hold the attention of the students? Should teachers be the ‘TEACHER’
only or more than that?
Conclusion:
an Inception of the Study
So
far the study has conducted we tried to see the concept of sex; a dichotomy of male versus female, Masculine versus Feminine, boy versus girl,
male teachers versus female teachers, brave versus gentle, strong versus weak,
aggressive versus passive, independent versus dependent, controlled emotions versus
expressive emotions and even we did not leave the chromosomes dichotomy XY versus
Xx. Have we tried to see the term gender as an inclusive social term? Have we
viewed teachers covering all dichotomies? Is language specific to gender? And, is
teaching an inherent characteristics blessed to specific gender? Or is it an
art? And art is not gender specific. This can be mastered by anyone. The only
thing we need to have is passion and patience to it.
As
a Teacher, if we perform the role of father, mother, sister, brother, friend,
assign ourselves to the role we perform in the class room knowing the
psychology of what our child need then the dichotomous concept of male teacher
and female teachers seems to be illogical. The teachers should act like a
father inspecting and giving the way out to cope up with the forthcoming
challenges in the life of the students. Teachers should play the role of a
mother, who wonder and carefully watch the every deeds of the child, whether
the child can perform well or fall in the middle like she teaches the baby to
crawl in the early life. Teachers are the friend to support and guide in the
ups and downs of the life correcting the mistakes other friends do in their
endeavor. However, we need to see the concrete path to overcome this
detrimental situation raising both the ceiling and the floor so they remain
parallel in the long horizon in the lives of the students for which the study
begins here…
References
Dee, T.S. (2006).How a teacher’s gender affects boys and
girls chromosomes retrieved from educaitonnext.com on November 12, 2013
Julé, A. (2004).Gender, participation and silence in the
language classroom : Sh-shushing the girls. Palgrave Macmillan : New York
Sparks, S.D. (nd). For girls, teachers' gender matters, study says: greater impact seen
for female students taught by women.
Education week. 32 (17).p11. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/01/16/17gender.h32.html
on
November 12, 2013
Trading Economics
.(nd).Primary education; teachers (%
female) in Nepal . Retrieved from http://www.tradingeconomics.com/nepal/primary-education-teachers-percent-female-wb-data.html on January 6,
2014
Hodgins, D. (nd). Male and female differences. Retrieved
on from
McCubbin, H. &
Dahl, B.B. (2005). Gender roles in Peter S.G, New Direction: reading, writing and critical thinking. Cambridge:
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