Gender and the Politics in Educational Reform Critical Essay

When it comes to reforms, education seems to be the most complicated field to introduce changes into – on the one hand, education is constantly being reviewed, renewed and redesigned due to the emerging educational theories and the newly adopted strategies for applying in various educational settings.

On the other hand, switching from a cherished and long-lasting traditional of structuring the educational system inevitably leads to a crisis of an impressive scale, down to the sharp decline of students’ performance and the teachers being completely unable to apply the recently created theories to practice.

It must be admitted that, in terms of educational process, if nothing screams for being fixed, no major changes should be done, otherwise, the educational process will be ruined. However, in the light of the recent changes in the educational sphere, and especially the No Child Left Behind Act, the necessity to introduce changes into the teaching process so that knowledge and skills training could be available to any student has become obvious.

In addition, a bunch of social issues has been piling up in the U.S. education sphere for quite a while.

Since at present, the U.S. schools need to focus not only on the choice of the most appropriate strategy of introducing the principles of No Child Left Behind Act into the U.S. educational sphere, but also on such problems as introduction of a new role model for girls in the U.S. schools in relation to both students and teachers, the process of reforming the American schools might be somewhat slackened.

By analyzing the situation and evaluating the challenges to и faced and the opportunities to use, one can possibly come up with a decent strategy of introducing reforms into the education sphere.

In his article, Apple addresses an obnoxiously notorious issue of how the American schools should be run and who is supposed to be in charge of the processes that take place in these schools. Much to the regret of the American authorities, recurrent discussions of the given issue have not yet led to any reasonable solution – up to this point, the opponents of the argument had been shifting from one weirdest extreme to another.

For instance, at certain point in the evolution of education in the USA, it has been decided that the entire system must be controlled in accordance with the neo-liberal inspired market proposals; however, the bitter realization of being impressively mistaken came pretty soon, when it became obvious that dealing with local educational issues is impossible when the role of market in education is being stretched to the nth degree.

Another suggestion, which switches the polarity of the approach, concerns the idea of leaving the control of the entire learning and teaching process to the middle class managerial inspired regulatory.

While the given decision seems much more reasonable in that the school staff is aware of particular problems in a particular school, the given solution does not seem to work, since major changes within a school must be in chord with the policy of the state authorities. Apple provides an alternative solution that could possibly help handle the issue once and for all.

To be more particular, Apple offers the policy of the golden mean, i.e., leaving the local issues to the school staff, while the major changes should be carried out by the state with regard to the specifics of particular schools (Apple, 2004). Apple resorts to the traditional observation of the existing sources on the topic and analyzing the opinions on the changes in the system of American education, which are currently being voiced.

After a long and compelling research of the challenges that the choice of either the market-based or a much heavier middle-class based regulation, Apple makes it clear that his preference is given to a reasonable compromise between the two systems suggested.

While it is desirable that the approach towards testing should concern the necessity to evaluate the students’ knowledge base and that it should encourage them to acquire new skills and knowledge, therefore, increasing their chances to get a good job and a decent salary.

However, when it comes to giving the teachers the power to coordinate the educational processes at school solely on their own, the results might turn out not that fascinating: “the tail of a high-stakes test wags the dog of the teacher” (Apple, 2004, 36).

Therefore, Apple comes to the conclusion that the combination of the “two connected strategies—neo-liberal inspired market proposals and neo-liberal, neo-conservative, and middle class managerial inspired regulatory proposals” (Apple, 2004, 39) could actually lead to more or less tolerable results.

Another intriguing research in the current concerns regarding the education sphere was conducted by Kellie Burns; in her article titled (re)Imagining the global, rethinking gender in education, the author considers the role of women in education and the opportunities that the new concept of a girl-citizen, which is currently being introduced into the globalized educational setting, opens to girls and young women.

It should be mentioned, though, that, unlike Apple, Burns considers the basic question of her research not within the realm of the educational establishments of the United States, but on a worldwide scale. The given detail of the research design presupposes that the author deals with a number of challenges related to the differences in the cultural and political specifics of certain countries.

There is no secret that in a number of states, chauvinism still remains a dominant principle of social interactions and, therefore, gender issues take extreme turns, which in Europe or the United States might be considered as completely inappropriate.

Burns, however, manages to avoid giving excessive details of cultural specifics of various countries and the way these specifics shape their education system; instead, the author provides a general overview of the educational systems adopted in the environment of globalization.

In fact, the entire research considers gender issues in educational establishments in globalized settings, therefore, making it clear that some generalizations are unavoidable. Anyway, Burns analyzes the gender issues in the environment of globalization in a rather detailed manner.

To start with, her methodology includes not only the comparative analysis between two different approaches towards education but also a qualitative evaluation of the gender models for younger kids that the given approaches help coin within the education system.

As a matter of fact, Burns uses the same theoretical basis for her paper as Apple does, considering the issue of women in education from the perspective of neo-liberalism and, therefore, making it clear that Apple’s idea of the idea of a mixed regulation of schools, i.e., the solution of the local issues on the local level and more major problems on the governmental one, is reasonable enough.

Burns, however, considers the introduction of neo-liberalism into schools as the reason to address the changing image of a young woman that is being promoted to schoolgirls. In other words, the focus of Burns’s study is the correlation between the neo-liberalist idea of a young woman in educational setting, its relation to the previous image of a schoolgirl, and the way the given image shapes young girls’ vision and perception of their selves.

Indeed, in the environment of globalization, when cultures cross and even collide in a conflict, the mixed messages that girls and young women might get at school might result in certain problems. In addition, the rebellious nature of young people should also be taken into account, Burns warns the readers:

‘Being a girl’ and ‘becoming a young woman’ are mediated through discourses of leadership, responsibility and self-sufficiency. However, a girl’s sense of responsibility and personal direction are less about repositioning herself as a more active public citizen, and more about ensuring her economic independence from the state. (Burns, 2008, 352)

In other words, Burns clearly promotes the idea of the so-called “girl-citizenship,” which allows for girls to enter the globalized setting and shape their own self in the context of culture fusion. What Burns also recognizes as the possible stumbling block for the idea of girl-citizenship is the problem of prejudice reinforced by global mass media.

As it has been stressed, the image of a woman varies from state to state, and the concept of a well-educated, self-sufficient woman is often replaced with a commonplace idea of a lightheaded woman who is dependable on others financially and emotionally:

“An idealised model of the girl-student emerges; she is self-motivated and self-managing and is working to ensure her inclusion both in her national citizenry and in the broader global marketplace” (Burns, 2008, 344).

What seems rather peculiar about the approach that Burns adopts is the fact that she makes a distinct link between education and marketing in that she specifies that global education promotes the role of girls-citizens, and it does so in a very smart way.

In the end of her research, Burns admits that the concept of a girl-citizen is not a bad idea, after all; allowing girls to learn more about the image of a woman in different cultures, analyze these images and, therefore, become able to shape their own identity, taking the best from the cultures that they have learned about, seems quite inspiring.

What the people authorizing the reinforcement of a girl-citizen image miss, however, is the fact that the given idea should be used to enlighten young women about the options that they have; however, the given idea is often used as a means to reinforce a specific type of behavior in young women and girls, which raises suspicions.

On the other hand, Burns makes it clear that the idea of a girl-citizen as a concept is very inspiring seeing how it involves embracing new opportunities to the point of becoming a lifelong learned.

The issues raised in both articles give a lot of food for thoughts. Indeed, in the era of globalization, the choice of the leadership approach undertaken to address the issues of education, as well as the role models that the changes in education system offer to young students, deserve being paid close attention to.

Both of the aforementioned problems are essential for not only providing children with decent education opportunities but also for shaping their personality and giving them enough chances to become creating and being able to think big.

Despite the fact that schools are considered primarily the places where students acquire necessary knowledge and skills, it is obvious that in educational establishments, children also learn important lessons about building character, finding their self and choosing the role models that they want to follow; in other words, school settings include not only studying, but also various kinds of social interactions.

More to the point, in educational settings, children are able to understand how closely the phenomena of education and personality development are, thus, accepting the principles of lifelong learning, which Burns touches upon, as their guiding principles in education and career. However, Burns’s suggestion also has its problems.

To start with, the author applies the concept of a citizen girl to the ideal environment, in which all children are willing to acquire knowledge and skills and where no other marketing forces are capable of driving young women’s attention away from the image of a girl-citizen towards an easier and more marketable concept.

There is no secret that in the XXI century, the emphasis on appearance and the lifestyle that does not include career and education is obvious in the popular image of a young woman. Of course, there are exceptions to the given rule; for example, the most famous doll, Barbie has been featured in a number of career settings, thus, encouraging education and learning.

However, to every positive message conveyed to young women in mass media, there are tons of the ones that leave much to be desired. In the same niche, i.e., toys for girls, the most graphic example of such messages is the prevalence of “baby borns” and “baby alives,” which are supposed to nurture the girls’ motherly instincts.

Therefore, it must be admitted that a simple introduction of the concept of a girl-citizen is not going to change much, even in the globalized setting, as long as mass media is reinforcing the popular stereotype. To change the current image of a young woman, educators have to come up with a program and a set of strategies that truly push the envelope of modern education system.

In his turn, Apple also provides a very interesting idea to consider. Indeed, it cannot be denied that exercising a complete control over every single major process that takes place in school settings is the task that is not to be taken lightly; therefore, the right to control the way in which examinations, assessments and other major school processes take place must be given to the most powerful authority.

With that being said, state-mandated reforms seem rather legitimate. After all, it is essential to keep in mind that the state authorities have the control over the entire educational system and, therefore, are able to tie in the numerous aspects of education, i.e., the teaching process, testing, standards of evaluation, etc.

On the other hand, the lack of information concerning the specifics of particular educational setting, as well as the inability to correlate the changes in the curriculum and testing process with the capabilities of the students leads to drastic results:

[…] reforms involving imposed standards and curricula, reductive and competitive testing, and attacks on teachers’ professionalism demonstrates in no uncertain terms that the very children and schools that these policies and practices are supposed to help are actually hurt in the process. (Apple, 2004, 39)

The solution to the aforementioned issues seems to be located in a different dimension, neither educational nor economical one.

It seems that, to improve the current state of affairs and enhance students’ performance by helping them accept a new role of a student-citizen and, thus advance their status to a lifelong learner, it will be required to not only give more power to school teachers in terms of school processes control, but also to reinvent the leadership strategies adopted at schools.

It seems that the major issue faced by the education stakeholders is the fear of changes – or, more to the point, the fear that changes will make the situation worse. To help the students and their teachers realize that the principles of neo-liberalism and student-citizen concept are going to bring positive changes, it will be required to switch the leadership style in the educational setting from authoritative to transformational one.

By allowing the students see the positive aspects of becoming lifelong learners, teachers will be able to motivate the latter for further education and career building.

In their turn, teachers will be able to see the merits of their students and help them develop their skills instead of forcing them produce perfect scores or forging test results. In fact, the fear of students scoring low on their tests in specific subjects will also dissolve with the adoption of a new leadership strategy, since both teachers and students will finally get their priorities in line.

When adopting the new principle of No Child Left Behind to specific settings, one must also consider one major issue concerning school education and the way in which it should be controlled. It is rather impressive that the given act considers the educational needs of children with disabilities and provides them additional opportunities for getting a decent education.

What the initiators of the given act have finally put the emphasis on is that most public educational settings do not presuppose that children with special needs can also take part in the learning process. To be more exact, a number of schools lack specific equipment that allows for working with disabled children, very few schools actually have Braille books to educate children whose sight is very low-functioning; the list goes on.

For a considerable amount of time, the given issue was a major block in the education of challenged children. For example, children with autism are most likely to fail the standardized tests not because they are unable to provide the correct answer, but because they need more time to focus and solve the problem.

With the NCLB act, such changes as additional test time for autistic children, have become possible, which is definitely an advantage. Seeing how the NCLB act was the initiative spawned by the concerned parents, it can be assumed that the given an example proves the efficacy of neo-liberal approach.

However, as it has been stressed, some of the educational processes that take place in the U.S. schools cannot be regulated by teachers, students, or students’ parents, like the design of assessment standards, which must be adopted statewide.

With that being said, it must be admitted that the process of changing the educational sphere of the United States is not going to occur easily and fast; on the contrary, there are enough obstacles to slacken it or, in the worst-case scenario, to affect the results negatively and trigger a range of unpleasant side effects.

However, there are certain ways to reinforce the current U.S. education process and adapt it towards the needs of every student in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act, once the appropriate changes are made to the curriculum, the evaluation system and the methods of teaching, as well as shape the existing system so that it could reduce the number of gender stereotypes among students and teachers to zero.

The given changes can be implemented with the help of a mixed approach incorporating the elements of neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism so that the U.S. schools could be controlled by its leaders instead of the government, yet could also follow a single principle established by the government.

Thus, it will be easier to solve specific tasks, like addressing the aforementioned issue of female role models; speaking of which, the gender issue could also be solved by providing more stringent regulations and making sure that the U.S. schools are supervised.

Once the principles of transparency and utilitarianism are introduced into the American schools, it can be assumed that both students’ performance and the relationships among the students and the staff will be improved considerably.

Reference List

Apple, M. W. (2004). Creating difference: Neo-liberalism, neo-conservatism and the politics of educational reform. Educational Policy, 18(1), 12–42.

Burns, K. (2008). (re)Imagining the global, rethinking gender in education. Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 29(3), 343–357.