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When English teacher Joseph Golding looked around at his AP Literature class on the first day of school, he laughed.
Golding quickly noticed that every student in the room was female. He then looked at his attendance, which said there was only one male student signed up for the class. “It was a little funny,” senior Tori Wilson, a student in the class, said. “Mr. Golding kept making jokes about how it was just going to be the two of them.”
The male student changed his schedule, however, even before showing up, leaving Golding to teach an all-female group. “I guess we all scared him away,” Golding said.
While this example represents an extreme gender unbalance at South, one thing is evident: a large number of classes at South have an uneven number of males and females.
Senior Ellery Berk, an AP Lit student, is looking forward to the class this year. “It’s [AP Lit], so all the people who like English are in it,” she said. “It’s a high-powered [AP] class.”
While Golding only recently returned from being on paternity leave since the first couple days of school, he already likes his students. “Gender stuff aside, it’s a great class. It’s what you want your English class to be and it’s a positive atmosphere. Everyone is engaged,” he said.
In fact, Golding said that the enthusiasm of his AP students quickly relieved the fear he had of his students being tired in the morning, as the class is taught A-Block.
He also explained that numbers-wise, the literature class is similar to an honors English class he taught two years ago, which only had two boys.
Golding said that even though the class two years ago had a large female majority, the students did not like to talk about feminine interests that much. Golding predicts that the students will feel the same way this year, as a lot of the students from the class two years ago are in his literature class this year. However, Golding said that the feminism is a “pretty significant” part of the AP Literature curriculum. Still, he does not think the fact that the class is all-female will play a role in how the curriculum flows. “I’m going to teach what I taught [last year],” he said. “I have a platform so if I need to put male perspective in I think I can do that. I also think girls are pretty good at inserting male perspective.” On the other side of the spectrum is an all-male wellness course. Junior Nick Glavin, who is enrolled in this class, believes that being in an all-male class has pros and cons.
On the plus side, Glavin said he enjoys his wellness course because it puts him at ease. “South is supposed to be a very diverse school and just having an all-guy class kind of waters it down,” he said. “It brings us into our own comfort zones … When it’s girls and guys [together] you really have to push yourself to actually converse with them and break the barriers between the genders.” Glavin said he recognizes benefits of a mixed-gender group of students. “You become more confident with the other gender, especially in a wellness class where you have to do activities and be a part of a group,” he said.
Glavin said he isn't necessarily sure what effect an all-male enrollment will have on his wellness course, although he anticipates the experience may be somewhat diminished. “From a learning perspective we will definitely lose out.”
Glavin’s schedule also gives him the opportunity to be the minority gender in a classroom; out of the 27 students in his math class, 21 of them are girls. Glavin says that he often feels out of place in this class. “It’s a very awkward experience,” he said. He explained that being in a group consisting mostly of female students was a strong contrast to his experience in wellness.
Still, Glavin said he notices a change in his behavior while he is in math.
“[The guys] don’t talk [in math] as much as we would if it was a male-majority class,” he said. “If there were a lot of guys or guys you were friends with then you would be constantly chatting with one another.”
Like Glavin, Wilson’s schedule also allows her to experience both sides of the gender gap. In addition to her all girls-literature course, Wilson is in a math class that is of made up primarily boys. Wilson says that while she believes having males in her English class is important, she is used to being in an English class with a female majority. “I value the guys perspective and I think gender-integrated classes are important,” she said. “I think most of my English classes have had about six boys so I’m use to having more girls.”
In terms of discussion, Wilson noted that having a male teacher will definitely be beneficial to the class. “We have a lot of varying opinions in the class but there is a perspective we’re missing which is the guy’s,” she said. “I think Mr. Golding will do a fabulous job of bringing that perspective to our discussions.”
Berk agreed with Wilson. “Not all girls have the same opinions, but it is still good to have the guy perspective. We can’t duplicate the guy’s perspective, so it’s good that we have a male teacher.”
Wilson said that it is a different environment on “the other side” of the gender gap. “[In math class], we’re willing to laugh. It’s very different in an English class, or even maybe a Spanish class. Math isn’t a class where you have discussions,” she said.
Chemistry teacher Alan Crosby agreed with Wilson in that gender does not play as big of a role in some classes as it does in other classes. “I generally don’t notice if there are more boys than girls, he said. “I’ve never paid much attention; it’s not relevant.” Crosby notes that the main differences between male and female students in his classes tend to not be academic, but social in nature.
Usually students are able to leave personal issues at the door, but at times, he said, some things manage to affect students' performance in class. Crosby said one instance in which he notices gender in class is when the students break into groups for labs or other activities. "When I try to pair groups myself [for labs], I try to base those groups on ability only, stronger student with weaker students," he said. But when students are allowed to choose their own groups, “[they] tend to be along gender lines." Although Crosby believes gender plays little significance in his classroom, he sees how it could be a problem on a larger scale. He said that South's reputation for diversity is accurate in many situations. However, he concluded that an issue as prominent as gender equality must be looked at constantly to avoid bigger problems down the road.
