TUSTIN : Teacher’s Goal Is Equality of Sexes

Columbus Tustin Middle School teacher Bonnie Sharp has a mission--to ensure equality of the sexes in the classroom.

Sharp returned recently from a statewide conference focusing on how to develop equal treatment for boys and girls in school and was startled at what she discovered about herself, her teaching methods and how the dynamics of the classroom can train young girls to be passive and lower their test scores.

“The things I heard and learned, I was in awe, and in tears some of the time,” said Sharp, who was County Teacher of the Year in 1991. “I had to look within myself, see that I had stereotyped people myself . . . and to see what students go through.”

Research has shown that although standardized test scores for boys and girls are equal when they enter elementary school, by graduation high school boys’ scores are much higher, she said. Research has also found that boys are eight times as aggressive as girls in calling out answers, and teachers from kindergarten through college react accordingly.

“Girls are a silent majority in education; they are not called on, boys are so aggressive,” Sharp said. “I ask a girl a question and eight boys pipe in.”

Now Sharp is careful not only to call equally on girls, but to give them the time they need to answer. And she explains to the boys in her class the need to let the girls speak.

“I ask them if they would want a wife or a daughter who can’t be all they can be,” Sharp said.

The Oakland conference, sponsored by Mills College, was attended by 550 researchers and educators from across the state.

Sharp, who has been teaching middle school for 27 years, said that while she tries to be fair to everyone in her classes, she learned that there were ways in which she could improve.

“You need to probe them, give them enough time to answer, and don’t leave the student until he or she is a success,” she said. “They need to know they count, that their opinion counts.

“It’s important to make sure the silent child is heard,” said Sharp.

As a trainer, Sharp will hold workshops with other teachers in the district, and in February will videotape teachers in Orange to give them a chance to check their behavior. She said that both women and men are equally guilty of treating girls and boys differently.

Sharp has been involved with righting sexual inequity and stereotyping for some time, but the conference has given her new motivation to make educators aware of giving children an equal chance.

“We need to be aware of letting the quiet kid speak,” she says. “Now I tell my kids, if they can’t hear a classmate, say, ‘I can’t hear you.’ ”

“Children are overlooked, and we don’t even realize it,” she said.