We often see in the public education system a clear division between males and females. This happens from a very young age. In elementary schools, boys and girls tend to participate in separate activities. The exception to this rule would be in cases of role-playing—such as when children play house together—and even then there are very distinct gender roles that the children tend to stick to.
This trend continues through the grades. At middle school dances, the boys and girls stand on opposite walls, trying to figure out what to do with themselves and each other. In high school, boys and girls play on separates sports teams. In cases such as baseball and softball, the males and females don’t even play the same sport. Rules for females are different than those for males. There are different expectations of how males should dress versus how females should dress, and how each gender should behave.
These societal norms are partly present because they are reinforced by teachers and the school system; little girls and little boys are treated differently from the time they first enter school.
My question to you all is this: Do you think that this division between the sexes in schools is a positive thing or a negative thing?
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