Still Failing at Fairness: How Gender Bias Cheats Girls and Boys in School and What We Can Do About It [Paperback]

David Sadker (Author), Karen Zittleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2009

Despite decades of effort to create fair classrooms and schools, gender bias is alive and well, and in some ways growing. School practices continue to send boys and girls down different life paths, too often treating them not as different genders but as different species. Teachers and parents often miss the subtle signs of sexism in classrooms. Through firsthand observations and up-to-the-minute research, Still Failing at Fairness brings the gender issue into focus.

The authors provide an in-depth account of how girls' and boys' educations are compromised from elementary school through college, and offer practical advice for teachers and parents who want to make a positive difference. The authors examine today's pressing issues -- the lack of enforcement for Title IX, the impact of the backlash against gender equity, the much-hyped "boys' crisis," hardwired brain differences, and the recent growth of singlesex public schools. This book documents how teaching, current testing practices, and subtle cultural attitudes continue to short-circuit both girls and boys of every race, social class, and ethnicity. Hard-hitting and remarkably informative, Still Failing at Fairness is "a fascinating look into America's classrooms" (National Association of School Psychologists).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"We need many more books like this one that draw into the foreground the fact that sexism in the schools is crippling America's leadership and productivity." -- Naomi Wolf, author of The Beauty Myth

"Provides hard evidence of the discrimination women face from the first day of school." -- Patricia Ireland, former president, National Organization for Women

"Required reading for anyone interested in sex bias." -- The New York Times

"An eye-opener for any parent or teacher truly interested in equality." -- San Francisco Chronicle

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (April 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416552472
• ISBN-13: 978-1416552475
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #504,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is STILL telling it like it is - despite how we don't like it, November 28, 2011

By 

A Gender Bias Researcher - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Still Failing at Fairness: How Gender Bias Cheats Girls and Boys in School and What We Can Do About It (Paperback)

More than ten years ago, in the mid 90's, the Sadkers did an expansive as well as longitudinal study of gender bias, ethnic bias and other forms of stereotyping and their effects in our public school systems -- from grade school through college. What they found was appalling, and perhaps more tragic, was the that the situation wasn't being recognized by teachers, administrators or parents - though to their credit, the teachers were horrified that they were inadvertantly sending such messages. However, the children knew and their stark responses to the gender and ethnic inequalities they felt showed that even as grade school children they already knew.

Ten years later, in the mid-2000's Sadker and Zittleman decided to revisit all the data and update their report with current research. Sadly, they didn't find much improvement. They did find improvement, but as the mountain of current research still shows, things have not improved much.

Please don't let dismissive reviews fool you. The folks doing this kind of research know that the Sadkers work is VERY up-to-date and is backed up by hundreds of other papers and studies that still show how far we have to go before more than half our population is allowed to be considered equal and is encouraged to achieve their full potential.

Don't believe me? Try looking at Hanson's Lost Talent, another book from the 90s or more recently, Hall's 'Who's Afraid of Madam Curie', or better yet, just do a Google Scholar search for 'gender bias' or 'stereotypes' and you'll find more than enough 'current' proof that things have not improved.

The less we try to convince ourselves that everything is just peachy, the better off we'll be -- and the better off our educational system will be. This book isn't about blame, it's about fixing the problem so we all can have a better future.

Who am I? I'm a gender bias researcher concentrating on getting more girls involved in science and engineering, and have just compiled over 100 different research papers on the problem -- almost all of them are from 2000 to 2011. And they back up the Sadkers 100%.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Repetitive, Bias, outdated, November 10, 2011

By 

D. Song "Peachblossom" (Naperville, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Still Failing at Fairness: How Gender Bias Cheats Girls and Boys in School and What We Can Do About It (Paperback)

If I didn't have to read this book for school I probably wouldn't. Not only is the book extremely repetitive, the arguments are very biased. When you write a book trying to state the fact that there are gender bias in schools, you also have to argue the counter examples. They make very extreme statements. Also I find many of the "facts" that they stated outdated. I understand that this book is a newer edition to the old book Failing at Fairness but it seems like they used many examples from the 1900's that I can't relate too. Stating things like teachers never call on girls in math classes, teachers seat the boys and girls on opposite side of the rooms, girls never speak out in class, etc. Some of these facts just seem outdated and i can't relate to any of these issues nor can my classmates. What's interesting about this book is the history of women in the educational system. But other then that, just reading the first few sentences of a paragraph can get you the jest of what they are trying to say.