What is the relationship between these effects and the issues of social justice, equity in schools?

Considering gender and education in the classroom I have come to conclusion that as time goes by everything remains the same. All the things happening nowadays in the classroom connected with ''gender gap'' are vestiges of the past. From this point, the issue of gender inequality is directly connected to the issues of social justice and equity.

Social justice is a question concerning different aspects of fairness and appreciation in a society, relationships between both sexes in the classroom. Social justice implies that society is equal, everybody is equal and our relationship towards the whole population (it doesn't matter whether you are male or female) should be equal. Respect towards everybody – here's the main point of social justice. It is also a point of argument between all the members of a society who are involved in different spheres such as politics, religion, education etc. The question of social justice in schools is a burning issue, which is related straight to the issue of the ''gender gap''. This gap emerges because of the absence of equity in schools, which flows into inequality between girls and boys. If all the pupils/students were equal we might not think about social justice, especially of equality between everybody. The last thing a fish notices is the water in which it swims. So, if we have something it doesn't lead us to evaluate it. Having ‘inequality’ in schools we have a clear motivation to improve it as the main essence of education is to be equal and to share the same rights. However, it doesn’t mean that all people really know what to do if they talk about it. Society needs actions, strong actions to keep living as a person.

Talking about equity I would like to say that it is a notion that goes ''inside'' social justice. I mean that equity is a part of social justice as well as equality. The problem is that the differences between these two definitions are not so clear. Equality is ability not to divide males and females into these categories even if it is obvious to think that there's a clear devision. It is something that allows us to think that everybody has the same rights, no privileges to men more than women etc. We can observe this tendency in schools nowadays: there’s no discrimination, everybody is treated the same. There are no ’’visible’’ differences of gender separation. It’s a kind of veiled problem, which occurs in schools. For example, differences in treatment of being good enough in math, science, etc. Some scholars proved that girls do not like math like do boys. Here there is a difference in studying and achievement consequently. While boys have more “scientific” brains girls fail at this point. Science is a “male” field according to many people. While some people believe in that teachers are not an exception. They treat boys with more praise than girls as if Victorian era is still alive. From this point the gap in math and science appears. The same concerns attention from a teachers’ side, boys are at an advantage here.

Equity means that everybody has a right to be considered as a personality with his own preferences and interests. Equity is something that correlates with fairness and honour between men and women. Males and females should be treated fairly. However, there are no written “fringes’’ in fairness. Everybody should be equal. Traditionally women are more ‘’domestic’’ than men. Education for them was not a big deal, as a family should be the first priority. Consequently, some rules for women were ‘’prescribed’’ a long time ago, preventing the opportunity to be well-educated. People consider women to be housewives, which is quite inappropriate and insulting for females. From this point the fringe of ‘’fairness’’ begins.

Mostly, scholars use ''equity'' for explaining ''equality'' which isn't the same actually. Its vagueness makes the question of equity an urgent problem/point in the educational system. Fairness is valued above everything and equality follows from it. It means that schools must have a well-organized system of social justice, where you can find a place for equity and equality – for a simple understanding that we are people and should be treated properly (fairly) and that everyone needs to have equal opportunities towards everything ( education in particular) in spite of differences we have.

Date: 2014-12-22; view: 1005