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Vol. 5, #8, November 1, 2000 BCTF News Archive

G.I. JOE MEETS BARBIE: BCTF RELEASES MAJOR STUDY ON BOYS AND GIRLS IN PUBLIC SCHOOL AND BEYOND

"Girls have a big edge in school tests," The Vancouver Sun reported last week in a page-one story on results of the Foundation Skills Assessment test.

To many veteran teachers, this was not news. Teachers have seen it time and again: girls traditionally excel in the humanities, while boys tend to do better in the sciences. In recent years, girls have begun to catch up and, indeed, to surpass boys in many aspects of school performance, including exam results, graduation rates, scholarships, and post-secondary enrolment.

Some simplistic critics of public education blame feminist teachers for the disparity, and insist schools must be made "boy-friendly." The B.C. Teachers' Federation believes that much more information than that provided by a single test is needed to inform the public dialogue.

To that end, the Federation commissioned an extensive research project into these crucial issues of gender stereotyping in schools and society. The result is “G.I. Joe meets Barbie, software engineer meets caregiver: Males and females in B.C.'s public schools and beyond.”

As well as academic issues, this major research report also examines special needs and gender, both physical and mental health issues, crime and violence, and economic and labour indicators. Data from a broad range of sources reveal that "a stunning amount of gender stereotyping remains in British Columbia's public education system, from Kindergarten through graduate school." However, "there is no evidence that this situation is imposed, caused, or condoned by public schools."

The report was released at a news conference held October 31 at the B.C. Teachers' Federation building, and will be distributed to local presidents and LRs at the upcoming Representative Assembly, November 3–4. The full report will be available on the Federation's web site early next week. See: www.bctf.ca/researchreports/2000sd03.