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Teach Children Tradition Gender Roles?

Should traditional gender and marriage roles be taught in school?

  • Total voters
    51
Absolutely not.

Finally women are at a place where they can freely work toward their passion, a career, a family, or both. They do NOT need to be told in elementary school, as I was, that daddies go to work and mommies stay home with the children... which is why I couldn't go to college until I was far enough along in adulthood to afford it myself, because my parents weren't going to "waste" money sending the girls to college when only the boys would use the education for something other than finding a spouse.

Sometimes I think the GOP so misses the 1950's that it is trying to legislate this country back to where it was socially 60 years ago, when uppity women and minorities knew their places!

We need to be letting our little girls AND little boys know that they can grow up to be anything they want to be, if they work hard enough to achieve their dreams. We do NOT need to be telling them, "these are the things little girls can do when they grow up, and these are the things little boys can do when they grow up."

Bah! :2mad:
 
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DiAnna said:
Absolutely not.

Finally women are at a place where they can working toward their passion, a career, a family, or both. They do NOT need to be told in elementary school, as I was, that daddies go to work and mommies stay home with the children... which is why I couldn't go to college until I was far enough along in adulthood to afford it myself, because my parents weren't going to "waste" money sending the girls to college when only the boys would use the education for something other than finding a spouse.

Sometimes I think the GOP so misses the 1950's that it is trying to legislate this country back to where it was socially 60 years ago, when uppity women and minorities knew their places!

We need to be letting our little girls AND little boys know that they can grow up to be anything they want to be, if they work hard enough to achieve their dreams. We do NOT need to be telling them, "these are the things little girls can do when they grow up, and these are the things little boys can do when they grow up."

Bah! :2mad:
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I also think it's important that schools stay out of raising our children. They need to concentrate on educating the children, reading, writing and arithmetic.
 
DiAnna said:
Absolutely not.

Finally women are at a place where they can working toward their passion, a career, a family, or both. They do NOT need to be told in elementary school, as I was, that daddies go to work and mommies stay home with the children... which is why I couldn't go to college until I was far enough along in adulthood to afford it myself, because my parents weren't going to "waste" money sending the girls to college when only the boys would use the education for something other than finding a spouse.

Sometimes I think the GOP so misses the 1950's that it is trying to legislate this country back to where it was socially 60 years ago, when uppity women and minorities knew their places!

We need to be letting our little girls AND little boys know that they can grow up to be anything they want to be, if they work hard enough to achieve their dreams. We do NOT need to be telling them, "these are the things little girls can do when they grow up, and these are the things little boys can do when they grow up."

Bah! :2mad:
Click to expand...



My mother and two of her seven sisters went to college in the late 1940s. It was a little unusual then, but not remarkably so. IIRC she majored in business administration.

She worked for a few years as secretary (these days they'd say executive assistant) to a business owner... and when she left her boss literally cried and begged her not to go... his biz had never ran so smoothly before. :)
 
DiAnna said:
Absolutely not.

Finally women are at a place where they can freely work toward their passion, a career, a family, or both. They do NOT need to be told in elementary school, as I was, that daddies go to work and mommies stay home with the children... which is why I couldn't go to college until I was far enough along in adulthood to afford it myself, because my parents weren't going to "waste" money sending the girls to college when only the boys would use the education for something other than finding a spouse.

Sometimes I think the GOP so misses the 1950's that it is trying to legislate this country back to where it was socially 60 years ago, when uppity women and minorities knew their places!

We need to be letting our little girls AND little boys know that they can grow up to be anything they want to be, if they work hard enough to achieve their dreams. We do NOT need to be telling them, "these are the things little girls can do when they grow up, and these are the things little boys can do when they grow up."

Bah! :2mad:
Click to expand...

You're getting too emotional, sweetheart. Now be a good girl and go bake me a pie.

:D
 
ChrisL said:
I also think it's important that schools stay out of raising our children. They need to concentrate on educating the children, reading, writing and arithmetic.
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This is an utterly nonsensical idea. It has never been true, never will be true, and never should be true. Humans beings are naturally cultural animals. We teach each other about our beliefs, attitudes, and values just by interacting with one another in our day to day lives. The only way you are going to ONLY teach children about "reading, writing, and arithmetic" is if you lock them away from every other student and their teachers.
 
Redress said:
GOP lawmaker: Teach grade-school classes on traditional gender roles - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room



So, the question would be do you think we should teach a class similar to what Gingrey is suggesting, promoting traditional gender roles and marriage roles?
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Teach 'em what you want, unless you lock your kids up in a bunker under your garage they're gonna make their own decisions. None of my values came from my parents or teachers- I learned those things from my own experience in society.
If you could, you might try to devise a way to make kids process their input in the way you want but that sounds kind of insidious.
Bottom line? Society is always changing and you can't take a photo of a year and say that THIS is how it should be. Unless you're willing to be perpetually angry and frustrated.
 
CriticalThought said:
This is an utterly nonsensical idea. It has never been true, never will be true, and never should be true. Humans beings are naturally cultural animals. We teach each other about our beliefs, attitudes, and values just by interacting with one another in our day to day lives. The only way you are going to ONLY teach children about "reading, writing, and arithmetic" is if you lock them away from every other student and their teachers.
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I never had teachers talk to me about gender roles. My teachers stuck to teaching. Some of them made it fun, others not so much, but they DID not act as surrogate families. The schools suck at teaching the students as it is quite obviously. Why would we trust them with ANYTHING else?
 
Ikari said:
Maybe once we can agree that science class is for science and not theological theories, we can move on to trying to figure out if it should be enforcing society approved gender roles.
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Holy hell this. QFT. The schools can't even teach basic sciences properly without being disputed by pseudo-scientists, and now were gonna have them teaching gender roles? This is probably from the same group(s).
 
Only an idiot would want the school to teach gender roles or anything else of that nature. How about getting our kids up to par educational-wise? THAT is what school is for, not to be surrogate parents or teaching social and gender roles. If ANYTHING, they should start teaching more about banking and saving money. Stuff like that.
 
SassySmartie said:
Beyond that, there are more and more studies that show that households with a more egalitarian view on division of labor in the home have happier marriages that last longer. Since most young people are getting married older (late 20s to mid 30s for first marriages) both men and women have established themselves professionally and work together to support the household, including domestic duties.
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There is a true evolution in what a "traditional family" represents. I know some people are going to hate me using the word "evolution"...rather than "change", but take a minute to look up the word "evolution".

I happen to know several "Mr. Moms" who aren't employed outside the home. Working in the home is a tough job. Anybody who has ever truly been responsible for a household knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Regardless of what a nuclear family is to each individual, the bottom like is that if there are children...then they are exposed to a parent or parents who do role model and teach them right from wrong, world views, religions, current events, family traditions no matter where they originated within a family. Parents or a parent that relinquishes teaching their children all of the aforementioned...is setting that kid up for failure. Kids need guided and affirmed, or validated if you will.

We live in a beautiful world...but it is a dangerous world. The best thing a parent can do for a kid is to let them know that he or she is safe...and that they'll do their best to make sure that their NEEDS are met...and that they will be there for them in the good, bad, and ugliest of times. Teachers at schools simply can't do that for a kid.
 
ChrisL said:
Only an idiot would want the school to teach gender roles or anything else of that nature. How about getting our kids up to par educational-wise? THAT is what school is for, not to be surrogate parents or teaching social and gender roles. If ANYTHING, they should start teaching more about banking and saving money. Stuff like that.
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Well here they are: davidtaylorjr, digsbe, DVSentinel, Fisher, Mathematician.

Now, have at them.
 
ChrisL said:
I never had teachers talk to me about gender roles. My teachers stuck to teaching. Some of them made it fun, others not so much, but they DID not act as surrogate families. The schools suck at teaching the students as it is quite obviously. Why would we trust them with ANYTHING else?
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Dude, they taught you things you are not even aware of simply through what behaviors they role modeled to you. Humans do not learn primarily through books and instruction, they learn primarily from watching and interacting with other people. There does not need to be any formal instruction one way or another to learn certain attitudes and behaviors, kids are going to adopt the attitudes and behaviors of those they see around them and interact with on a day to day basis. There is nothing you can do to change that short of homeschooling a kid, and I have seen the consequences of that action working at Walmart.
 
CriticalThought said:
Dude, they taught you things you are not even aware of simply through what behaviors they role modeled to you. Humans do not learn primarily through books and instruction, they learn primarily from watching and interacting with other people. There does not need to be any formal instruction one way or another, kids are going to adopt the attitudes and behaviors of those they see around them and interact with on a day to day basis. There is nothing you can do to change that short of homeschooling a kid, and I have seen the consequences of that action working at Walmart.
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Are you kidding? I didn't learn any social or cultural behaviors from my teachers. I was never that close to any of them and couldn't wait to get out of school, so speak for yourself dude.
 
No, gender roles are silly. People should do what they want to do, and make their lives what they want them to be.
 
CriticalThought said:
Dude, they taught you things you are not even aware of simply through what behaviors they role modeled to you. Humans do not learn primarily through books and instruction, they learn primarily from watching and interacting with other people. There does not need to be any formal instruction one way or another to learn certain attitudes and behaviors, kids are going to adopt the attitudes and behaviors of those they see around them and interact with on a day to day basis. There is nothing you can do to change that short of homeschooling a kid, and I have seen the consequences of that action working at Walmart.
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Only dorks take social cues from their teachers. :lol: You must have been a big-time dork.
 
sawyerloggingon said:
Gender roles are best learned from parents.
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Gender roles are best learned from experience in society. What your parents learned will probably be, uh, inoperative when your kids are grown up.
 
ChrisL said:
Are you kidding? I didn't learn any social or cultural behaviors from my teachers. I was never that close to any of them and couldn't wait to get out of school, so speak for yourself dude.
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You did, you might not know it but you did.
 
Grand Mal said:
Gender roles are best learned from experience in society. What your parents learned will probably be, uh, inoperative when your kids are grown up.
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Gender roles don't change from one generation to the next. When you get a flat tire in the pouring rain dad fixes it not mom.
 
ChrisL said:
Are you kidding? I didn't learn any social or cultural behaviors from my teachers. I was never that close to any of them and couldn't wait to get out of school, so speak for yourself dude.
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Dude, you are human. You most certainly, absolutely, positively learned social and cultural behaviors from teachers. If you ever said the pledge of allegiance, were told to share, were talked to about treating others with respect, etc. you were taught such behaviors. When you interacted with boys and girls, you refined your understanding of gender roles. The way that teachers talked to you and treated you also probably reinforced your understanding of gender roles. That is how ALL people learn.
 
ChrisL said:
Only dorks take social cues from their teachers. :lol: You must have been a big-time dork.
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No, it's true. When it is not part of the lesson plan, but related to it, or perhaps from an off-the-cuff remark, you'll get a chunk of ideas from an instructor, gender included. They do influence, however slightly.

On a slightly unrelated note, I actually took social cues from my instructor. It was a sociology course. You know all of those unwritten rules that most people get and abide by, but never say them? Well, glimpses of those showed up in that course, taken for granted, before going on to the course content itself. I actually learned a lot about the rules you people follow on a regular basis as a result.
 
DiAnna said:
We need to be letting our little girls AND little boys know that they can grow up to be anything they want to be
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Sorry to go off topic, but this is a pet hate of mine. My parents used to tell me I could be anything I want when I grow up. I still remember the day I worked out that roughly half the people in my class wanted to be astronauts, and that if we all got to be astronauts there wouldn't be enough people left to build the spaceship.

I think one of the reasons people are so miserable nowadays is because they have unrealistic expectations of how their lives are going to turn out. I'm not advocating telling 8 year olds that they should never bother trying to be an astronaut, ambition is great, but teaching kids that they can be whatever they want when they grow up is just lying to them and setting them up for disappointment.

I fully agree that girls and boys should be taught the same thing in terms of what their options are, but I don't support lying to people.
 
sawyerloggingon said:
Gender roles don't change from one generation to the next. When you get a flat tire in the pouring rain dad fixes it not mom.
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... or Mom knows how to use a jack and can change the tire. It's not like there's some secret knowledge for men.
 
So whose fault is it when a girl gets knocked up in high school - teacher or parents?
 
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