Barbie is back on the big screen…but she first talked in 1992…and what did she say??
Talking Barbie came out in 1992. Her epic first words were, “Math is tough!”
And with that, we continued down a path of gender subject-matter bias that has plagued us for decades. In fact, according to research, there is no cognitive biological difference between genders when it comes to math performance.
So what is going on, and why does this myth continue to plague us? Let’s look at what happens with girls in math. We know they often give up, and we also know it is not because they are not “math capable.” There is something going on between how they are being taught and what they walk away understanding.
I remember offering to chaperone my daughter’s first-grade class trip to the “Mathematica” exhibit at our local science museum where her class (a group of squirmy 7-year-olds) had to listen to an introductory exhibit talk given by a male docent. The docent, to his credit, was doing his best to make his program both interesting and interactive, and tried to fill his presentation with questions. I was sitting behind my daughter and her two girlfriends and just to the side of a row of very excited boys. Each question asked garnered many raised hands, and I watched with interest as the docent called on one boy, then another, and another, and the girls in front of me continued to raise their hands. I was not surprised when, after a bit, my daughter’s and her friends’ hand stopped going up. They started chatting with one another and, in fact, were no longer even listening. At the point when the docent asked a question I knew my daughter knew, I leaned forward and just asked her, “Aren’t you going to raise your hand? You know this, right?” Her answer floored me. She said, “Mom, he’s only calling on the boys, why bother?” In fact, she wasn’t wrong, and once the kids had been released to run off to the actual exhibit and when I had a moment to speak to the docent, I discovered he was completely unaware of his pattern of responding to the raised hands.
Gender bias can look like boys being called on more than girls—and sometimes teachers may say, “Their hands were up first,” but we also know sometimes boys raise their hands first, then get called on, then and only then formulate an answer. Girls tend to do the reverse: formulate their answer first and, once they have it, then raise their hand. So speed dictating who gets called on may be problematic. Girls who perceive that classrooms are not level playing fields may do what the girls on that field trip did—give up.
I once observed a high school math class in which I was asked to give feedback because girls were feeling uncomfortable and didn’t want to take the course. The teacher felt that he was being fair but that the girls in the class were “chatterboxes” while more of the boys took the class seriously. What I saw was that the teacher did indeed call on girls; however, in many cases, as these girls endeavored to answer, they were cut off or contradicted by a boy in the class, and the teacher permitted it. The teacher’s perception of these moments was that the girls were less serious and never got to the point in their responses. He was unaware of the impact of the boys’ actions on his own perception of the girls, nor did he understand the chilling effect this behavior was having on the girls and on their desire to be in the class.
To complicate matters, gender bias can even impact how boys and girls react when they don’t understand math. Girls who internalize the message that their gender predisposes them to be poor math students not only say math is tough, like our friend Barbie, but also often blame themselves for not being smart enough, and write off the whole subject: “I don’t do math.” Perhaps you know some girls or women who have said those very words. Boys, on the other hand, may get angry. Their response, also the result of gender bias (boys are “supposed to be” good at math), is generally more one of “This is stupid.” Instead of blaming themselves and turning the fault inward, they turn the fault outward: “That teacher is terrible!” Now clearly neither response is ideal, although the response attributed to boys is slightly healthier than the response attributed to girls because the boys’ response at least retains some self-esteem.
Beyond understanding the gender bias at work in these scenarios, it is clear that without emotional safety, without some level of psycho-social parity, academic subjects like math can be impacted and affect how children think about themselves in relation to these subjects. If all children are capable, regardless of gender, regardless of subject, and if we are all born learners (which we know to be true), then walking into a classroom should never poison that self-image.
We need to help children develop meta-learning skills—help them understand how they learn and recognize teaching methods that work and don’t work for them. Do the teachers lecture and demonstrate problem-solving on the whiteboard? Do they use manipulatives, ask questions, rely on worksheets, pose open-ended problems, create projects or group work, use videos, etc.? What methods work best for each student? What patterns in the classroom are making it more difficult for a student or some students to learn? Are some students called on more than others? Are some students cut off when they try to answer? Are mistakes met with acceptance and as opportunities for further growth or met with impatience and ridicule? Sometimes, bias is at work, and we need to name it. We can’t always change it, but we don’t have to accept it either. Recognizing it, naming it, and then finding possible ways to work around it are better than unconsciously allowing it to cause harm.
Finally, we need to help children learn how to self-advocate in all kinds of situations, so self-advocacy becomes habitual. They need to be able to approach a teacher and say, “I’m struggling a bit in your class. I am wondering if you can help me find a way to find more success in your class?” These skills will carry them forward not only in their classrooms of tomorrow but also in their future colleges or professions. While we can’t always change people’s implicit biases in their approaches, we can change our own and arm our children with the ability to recognize what really is and is not happening in any given situation, and give them the tools to make a difference.
Ah, if only Barbie had had these tools, her first words may have been, “Math is awesome!”
Nationally-recognized visionary in the areas of educational system improvement and innovation, educational consultant Marja Brandon has been a teacher, head of school, and founder of Seattle Girls School. She is currently the head of school at Childpeace Montessori School in Portland, OR. She volunteers to offer advice and writes articles for TeensParentsTeachers.
Like most of the pictures on TeensParentsTeachers, the picture posted with this article is courtesy of a free download from Pixabay.com.