Academic Selves

In the article, "Academic Selves," by Mary Pipher, she stresses on the fact that schools treat girls differently than they treat boys. (279) And she states interesting facts to prove it, for example "Teachers chose many more class activities that appeal more to boys," and " In animal stories the animal is twice as likely to be a boy." (279) It seems that because boys and girls act differently they are treated differently. "Boys receive more classroom attention and detailed instruction than girls. " (280) Well this is probably due to the fact that boys are more rambunctious than girls and they require more class attention and detailed instruction in order to learn. Girls are expected to sit down and obey the rules, and if they happen to fail instead of using the excuse of being rambunctious, they simply think that they are no good at it. It all comes down to the confidence factor. And in a way I agree with this. Its pointed out in the article that girls tend to let their dreams disappear mysteriously. " Because their confidence is attributed to good luck or hard work and failure to lack ability, with every failure, a girls confidence is crumbled. " (280) I have witnessed this first-hand. The girls heavily outnumber the men in my family, seriously I need a tamp-on just to fit in, and I see what failure can do to a girl. Currently my sister is trying out for the varsity soccer team. She is a little out of shape and needs to work hard to get back into shape. There are girls on the team that simply beat her in running just because they are in shape and she isn't. Every time she is beat she feels as if that is a failure on her part. This in turn discourages her and she feels like she wants to quit. Now to say that all girls struggle with confidence is incorrect. I know plenty of girls that are content with themselves and have more confidence than most guys I know. But for the girls that do have confidence problems it is important that they are encouraged and are taught to believe in themselves.
As well as confidence levels academics begins to fall as well with young girls. Specifically when they enter Jr. High. I have seen this in girls and guys and even in myself. Jr. High is definitely a weird stage in your life. Your going through puberty, your voice is cracking, you think you have facial hair(guys), and the opposite sex starts to look really appeal ling. You start to lose focus of that academic drive you once had and hanging out with friends and being popular is a new priority on your list.