I stumbled across this Ted Talk by Reshma Saujani, founder of “Girls Who Code.” She seems to be referring to self-efficacy as bravery. I thought that some of her points relate to our discussions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC9da6eqaqg (12 minutes)
A few of her comments I found interesting:
“There’s a difference in how boys and girls approach a challenge: Boys with a high IQ were more likely to dig in and conquer, they found it challenging, while girls with high IQ were more likely give up.”
When the boys struggle, they say, “Professor, there’s something wrong with my code.”
When the girls struggle, they say, “Professor, there’s something wrong with me.”
“Most girls are taught to avoid failure, whereas boys are taught to take risks and are rewarded. We are raising our girls to be perfect and our boys to be brave.”
“Men will apply for the job if they meet only 60% of the qualifications, and women won’t apply unless they meet 100% of the qualifications. This shows that we are raising our girls to be perfect and our boys to be brave.”
I am curious: Do educators encourage or inspire efficacy in male students more than female students? If so, then why?? Do any of you have a story or thought relating to this idea; something which supports or counters her claims? I have more to add to my weekly blog… just throwing this out there for now.
While I think you make a good point here I do not think that it is that we are inspiring boys to have higher self -efficacy. Instead I think depending on the subject or setting we do the exact opposite. The experiences we provide children are often very difference based on gender, and thus depending on the setting, we provide experiences, feedback and support in such a way that we indicate our efficacy expectations. In general in fact our school system is set up for boys not to feel efficacious. I think you make a good point here, but I think this example is just one of many and in a different setting the responses to struggle and efficacy beliefs would be the exact opposite.
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