whatwillsuffice:
The data show that faculty members are more likely to “compel” men than women to speak in class by calling on those who do not volunteer. The average number of times that a male student is asked to speak without volunteering (“cold calling”) is 17% higher than the average number of times that a female student is asked to speak without volunteering (Z statistic=4.51).”—
This is in the context of legal education but it also applies to you humanities teachers out there.
I’ve bolded the stuff I’m curious about.
Mostly, here’s the thing: I do that. I mostly cold-call male students. This is because I’m mean, and they don’t look to me like they’re paying attention, and I hope that I shame them into actually doing enough of the reading to be able to talk in class.
But I wonder now if I’m playing into the gender disparity. I’m not really sure - I think next semester I’ll do things differently.
I think you could balance it out by calling on more women who volunteer, and especially women who volunteer quietly. Men, I feel like, are more likely to raise their hand high or just… start talking. Women often just lift their hand casually up to shoulder height, or just say “um” rather than starting their sentence, and then they wait for someone to confirm that they can talk before they proceed. If you have eagle-eyes (and, um, bat-ears?) for those little hand twitches and “um”s, and make a point of emboldening your female volunteers, I don’t think it will matter as much if you don’t cold-call women as much.
I also feel like it’s disproportionately men who just sit back in class and Don’t Care. Women who aren’t volunteering are more likely to be shy, or uncomfortable with the specific topic of conversation, or struggling with this particular class, or not prepared for the discussion that day… men are more likely to categorically blow things off, and are therefore more in need of a subtle scold for slacking. Women kind of have the self-scolding down. And I think, even when we’re blowing it off, we take our educations more seriously… probably because we know how much we need the advantage, and how rare, historically, it is for us to even have the chance. Dudes kinda figure they deserve the grades without the work.
This is why all my female friends freak out when they turn in work that is complete and on time, but “not my best,” whereas my male friends often skip assignments altogether without worrying. And, OK, I’m apparently some kind of cylon because I haven’t missed a class or an assignment (except gym, but I was having a month-long asthma attack. it was excused!) but women are much more likely to feel guilty about skipping. Or, at least, much more likely to feel the need to tell everyone how guilty they feel!
I just think sometimes the dudes… need a lesson. Whereas women get enough lessons.
