The Boys
Larry is a 17-year-old boy in the Grade 12 physics class in which you are student teaching. You have heard him and a number of other students complaining about gender bias on the part of their teacher, Mr. Clinton. One day you overhear Larry being reprimanded by Mr. Clinton for an altercation he had with Annie, a female classmate.
“It isn’t fair, Mr. Clinton,” Larry says. “Annie took my MP3 player and broke it. Why should I get in trouble for wanting her to pay for it?”
“Now, Larry,” admonishes Mr. Clinton. “You know Annie would never break your MP3 player on purpose. You go apologize to her for yelling at her and I will see you after school.”
Larry walks away with a very angry look on his face, muttering. “Girls in this class can get away with anything. They never get in trouble.”
You have heard this from other student teachers working with Mr. Clinton, but have never really believed it. Over the course of the next three weeks you pay closer attention to Mr. Clinton’s behaviour, especially with respect to the way he treats male and female students. You notice that girls receive more positive attention than boys do, and girls seem to get easier questions to answer. Boys are sent to the office frequently and girls are not. If a boy asks Mr. Clinton for an extension he often expresses disappointment, while girls are rarely refused. In class, the girls are called up to volunteer more frequently than boys. Their work receives more praise as well. The boys receive the brunt of disciplinary attention, with Mr. Clinton commenting “I don’t know what to do with the boys in this class! They just don’t seem to want to work or behave.”

1		Based on the ideas and information presented in your text to this point, as well as your own experiences, what do you believe is happening in this classroom?
2		What are the possible influences on Mr. Clinton’s behaviour?
3		What influence do you believe Mr. Clinton’s behaviour will have on his students? Why?
4		If you were a student teacher in this classroom, what, if anything, would you do? Why?
5		How can you minimize gender bias in your own classroom?