Boys and girls (sorry young men and women) are basically on the same plane in Schreiber classrooms.

Anyone is eligible for any course they want (providing the prerequisites are met) and is given the same opportunity to succeed academically.

Dated and borderline offensive nicknames like “sport” and “sweetheart” have been eliminated from the vernacular.

No teacher in Schreiber will be found telling a female to pick painting class over Physics simply because of her gender, nor would anyone on the staff discourage a male from choosing to dance in gym over weight training.

Nobody is perfect, though—see Seussical or an episode of Hannah Montana for a more thorough explanation of this concept—and teachers definitely still exhibit inclinations towards a particular gender in their classes.

The bias is not obvious or ruinous to the education of the student, but we cannot deny its existence.

“It really depends on who is teaching the class,” said junior Peri Chain.

Though times are changing rapidly, it is difficult for every teacher in Schreiber to escape the vestigial gender biases of the generation that they grew up in.

Undoubtedly, it will take some time before gender bias is eliminated everywhere, let alone from schools.

“It’s hard to pinpoint specific behaviors and sexism per se, but, I don’t think we’ve come to a time in history where anyone can be completely unbiased in the way that they interact with or interpret one another,” said sophomore Sabina Unni.

Consciously or not, many faculty members have developed personally motivated gender biases.

This partiality can manifest itself in the grades that teachers will grant students of both genders.

Students who believe they are victims of gender bias come to the conclusion that they have been discriminated against when their teachers lack helpful explanations for why they did not earn what they believe they deserved.

No one can conclusively prove these students right or wrong, but for the sake of discussion we will assume that they are correct in saying their teachers are prejudiced towards them based on their gender.

So we have established that gender bias is a real problem, but how bad is it for our learning and how do we fix it?

It is easy to feel you have been treated unfairly when you value your own effort and believe the teacher does not because you are a certain gender.

“I personally know of teachers who will give students of one gender higher grades than others when the quality of work is the same”, said junior Noah White.

Real or perceived gender bias damages the relationship between teachers and students, which is especially harmful in humanities courses where discussion is key.

It lowers the level of respect for the teacher in and outside of the classroom.

The first step in solving a problem is admitting that there is one, but no teacher will admit that they possess remnants of the sexism of old times.  Progressive free-love brain washing is unfortunately not an option.

The teachers should not be expected to change their beliefs, but students should definitely make their concerns more clear.

“An issue like gender bias is hard to address without offending people, and students and teachers don’t really want to deal with it,” said junior Annie Kim.

Students who feel like they are targeted for their gender should confront their teachers about it.

When they laugh at you, show them this article, and they can laugh at me instead.  I’m used to it. Boys and girls (sorry young men and women) are basically on the same plane in Schreiber classrooms.

Anyone is eligible for any course they want (providing the prerequisites are met) and is given the same opportunity to succeed academically.

Dated and borderline offensive nicknames like “sport” and “sweetheart” have been eliminated from the vernacular.

No teacher in Schreiber will be found telling a female to pick painting class over Physics simply because of her gender, nor would anyone on the staff discourage a male from choosing to dance in gym over weight training.

Nobody is perfect, though—see Seussical or an episode of Hannah Montana for a more thorough explanation of this concept—and teachers definitely still exhibit inclinations towards a particular gender in their classes.

The bias is not obvious or ruinous to the education of the student, but we cannot deny its existence.

“It really depends on who is teaching the class,” said junior Peri Chain.

Though times are changing rapidly, it is difficult for every teacher in Schreiber to escape the vestigial gender biases of the generation that they grew up in.

Undoubtedly, it will take some time before gender bias is eliminated everywhere, let alone from schools.

“It’s hard to pinpoint specific behaviors and sexism per se, but, I don’t think we’ve come to a time in history where anyone can be completely unbiased in the way that they interact with or interpret one another,” said sophomore Sabina Unni.

Consciously or not, many faculty members have developed personally motivated gender biases.

This partiality can manifest itself in the grades that teachers will grant students of both genders.

Students who believe they are victims of gender bias come to the conclusion that they have been discriminated against when their teachers lack helpful explanations for why they did not earn what they believe they deserved.

No one can conclusively prove these students right or wrong, but for the sake of discussion we will assume that they are correct in saying their teachers are prejudiced towards them based on their gender.

So we have established that gender bias is a real problem, but how bad is it for our learning and how do we fix it?

It is easy to feel you have been treated unfairly when you value your own effort and believe the teacher does not because you are a certain gender.

“I personally know of teachers who will give students of one gender higher grades than others when the quality of work is the same”, said junior Noah White.

Real or perceived gender bias damages the relationship between teachers and students, which is especially harmful in humanities courses where discussion is key.

It lowers the level of respect for the teacher in and outside of the classroom.

The first step in solving a problem is admitting that there is one, but no teacher will admit that they possess remnants of the sexism of old times.  Progressive free-love brain washing is unfortunately not an option.

The teachers should not be expected to change their beliefs, but students should definitely make their concerns more clear.

“An issue like gender bias is hard to address without offending people, and students and teachers don’t really want to deal with it,” said junior Annie Kim.

Students who feel like they are targeted for their gender should confront their teachers about it.

When they laugh at you, show them this article, and they can laugh at me instead.  I’m used to it.