Customer Reviews

Failing at Fairness: How America's Schools Cheat Girls

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I am very glad I read Failing at Fairness. I am an early childhood education major and it is a useful tool for all new teachers. I never realized how much girls were being discriminated against. The book made me realize how outdated our textbooks and classroom materials are. When the book mentioned naming 20 famous women I admit I could not. The important role that women played in the history of this country is sadly overlooked in our history books. Being a future educator this book made me aware of some of the biases we may have and not even be aware of. I am well aware of racial discrimination in the classrooms but before I read "Failing at Fairness" I was unaware of gender discrimination. It made me realize there are subtle messages we send to our young female students. Messages that can destroy their self-esteem and prevent them from becoming the adult that they can be. I will be aware of how much time I spend correcting my male students and how much I call on them. Failing at Fairness is an excellent book, very well researched and a must read for anyone involved in education.

I thought this book was very helpful in understanding how women have been treated in the past and also into the present. It establishes good points that can be seen today and where we work, go to school, or even in our neighborhood. However, I found it to be very narrow minded. It only portrays ideas from one view point and so is very biased in nature. I believe there are always two sides to a story and so pointing out the positives would be just as insightful as the negatives.