Tannen and Pipher

Both Pipher and Tannen wrote a little on how they felt there was unequal attention and treatment between boys and girls in the classroom. Education has become more equal in gender in my opinion but they think otherwise. One connection I found between both articles is when Tannen wrote “Going back to childhoods of boys and girls, it seems possible that the boys had had more experiences, from the time they were small, that encouraged them to challenge and argue with authority figures than girls had.” (239) And referring back to Pipher’s article she stated “Analysis of classroom videos shows that boys receive more classroom attention and detailed instruction than girls. They are called on more often than girls and are asked more abstract, open-ended and complex questions.” (280) The first quote by Tannen seemed to be answered by the second quote by Pipher in that the reason boys do argue with authority figures more is because all throughout school they were asked more complex questions that stimulated their minds, where as the girls just sat and watched. As Pipher stated “Boys are likely to be criticized for their behavior, while girls are criticized for intellectual inadequacy.” (280) This is another reason why I think Tannen and Pipher feel girls do not argue with authority. Tannen, in an experiment, noticed girls spoke up less than boys. This can also be because in school when girls were younger, they were criticized for intellectual inadequacy and are afraid of being wrong or arguing with anyone. Another reason for not speaking up might be lack of confidence. Because they were always criticized, they may just think anything they say will not be relevant and will just be stupid to say. As Tannen stated, “not one female dared challenge or refute an author’s writings. The only questions that the females asked involved a problem they had with the content of the reading.” (238-239) This goes along with Pipher “Because their success is attributed to good luck or hard work and failure to lack of ability, with every failure, girls’ confidence is eroded.” (280) Therefore because of girl’s lack of confidence because they were criticized, as they get into higher classes where they are wanted to question writers and teachers, they do not speak up. They just sit back and let the boys take the questions and credit. Pipher says “Junior high is when girls begin to fade academically.”(281) By college when there are discussions, and criticism of writings and your opinions are wanted, girls are not all there according to these two authors