Gender Roles

Joseph Nguyen

Period 1

March 10, 2009

English Language & Composition AP

Mr. Turner

Gender Bias in Education

Gender gaps in school admissions exams take a huge role in educational equity. For example, in the case, Sharif versus New York State Education Department, the plaintiffs charged that using SAT scores as the only basis for the awarding state merit scholarships; the New York State Education Department was discriminating against female students who competed for the awards. Since, female students tend to have lower scores on the SAT, even though they receive higher high school grades; they received fewer of the scholarships. The New York State Education Department based its awards on high school achievement and since the program based its awards only on the results of a test, the plaintiffs argued that the process denied girls a fair opportunity to demonstrate their eligibility for the awards.

[New York Bank Note Co. notice] (LOC)

Lau Pa Sat, Singapore – HDR Version

Mean SAT Score for reading and math tests, by year

Although The New York scholarship program argues that there bases of giving out awards is based on high school achievement, the program bases its awards solely on the results of a test. The plaintiffs argued that this process denies female students a fair opportunity to demonstrate their eligibility for the awards. The court agreed and ruled that New York could no longer use SAT scores alone as a basis for these scholarship awards (Childs). Although college entrance exam provide to determine a prediction of ones' abilities and the result for their first year of college, they place bias favoritism over males, due to predicting female student's abilities in college which results to a gender gap.

While over one million high school students take SAT exam each year, females tend to average lower than males on the test. Despite the fact that the SAT is made to predict how well...