Girls Will Be Girls - Regardless of Pronouns
Issues involving gender bias as it pertains to education of young children have been a topic of much concern and debate in recent years. On the morning of June 27th, I watched CNN’s education contributor Steve Perry discuss an emerging problem in many American pre-schools and elementary schools: the curriculum is geared to highlight girls’ strengths, and it’s having serious negative impacts on the boys. While it’s great that girls are finally achieving a more equal footing in the classroom and eventually the workplace, teaching experts such as Perry agree that something must be done to the early curriculum to offset male under-performance.
While professionals in the US have suggested everything from recruiting more male teachers to devaluing athletic performance in favor of academic achievement, European education officials facing the same problem have gone to more radical extremes to advocate gender equality.
Egalia preschool in Stockholm has banned the pronouns “him” and “her,” insisting instead that everyone be referred to simply as “friends.” While this radical policy aims to combat Swedish society’s tradition of giving boys “an unfair edge,” the overall goal is the same: “engineer equality between the sexes from childhood onward.”
But does discounting gender entirely really make sense? Little girls aren’t entertained by Barbies and babydolls exclusively because society forces them to find these toys appealing. You don’t need to conduct a comprehensive study to conclude that it’s basic feminine nature that compels a five-year-old girl to beg for a pooping doll. I had an “Easy Bake Oven” when I was little and I seriously doubt that it subconsciously instilled in me some notion that my interests and duties should be entirely domestic. After all, twenty years later, I can’t cook to save my life and even if I were interested in learning (not), pursuing my career doesn’t permit time.
Natural impulses and characteristics that make make little girls “girlie, nice and pretty and boys … manly, rough and outgoing," should not be disregarded and labeled as “dangerous,” for not only do they entail different learning and development processes, they persist.
I am in my early twenties. For the next five-to-ten years, I’m generally expected to pursue and establish a career, casually date around (so that when I finally settle down, I’ll know every type of guy out there), and then – only then – should I even begin thinking about a husband. Today, getting married before 25 is deemed antiquated and taboo (if you don’t believe me, go find a young adult and ask them). So, why does conversation with my bright, motivated girlfriends almost always lead to conversations about dreams of married life and having a family? Because we can't help it. Despite growing up in a society in which girls are outshining boys and a successful career is valued over a successful relationship, young women still want what they’ve always wanted: a good husband and children… oh, and a fulfilling career (but that’s ‘a whole other can of worms).
The point is: to perceive gender stereotyping as something “dangerous” and worth discarding is no way to close the achievement gap. As they say, boys will be boys and girls will be girls. Banning ordinary pronouns like “him” and “her” promises only to breed some serious identity crises in the future.