Rating: 
Summary: Eye Opener
Review: It is difficult for me to rate this book because I have conflicting views on it. On one hand I feel Ms. Orenstein underplays the self-esteem difficulties teenage boys experience in middle school and later high school. After all many of them engage in drug use which often is a sign of a low self image. As an educator, I often run into boys who think very little of themselves.On the other hand, I know many female students who are constantly applying make-up in my class and flirting with the boys as their grades melt away. And I see other teachers who, to my horror, call the female students "sweetie" and "honey" and constantly comment on their looks instead of their minds. That is why I am recommending this book. Ms. Orenstein does have some flaws in her book, but she puts a spotlight on a grave problem in our society. The fact that teenage girls are taught and encouraged to be body conscious at a time when they should be taught to develop and trust their intellect.
Rating:
Summary: Eye Opener
Review: It is difficult for me to rate this book because I have conflicting views on it. On one hand I feel Ms. Orenstein underplays the self-esteem difficulties teenage boys experience in middle school and later high school. After all many of them engage in drug use which often is a sign of a low self image. As an educator, I often run into boys who think very little of themselves. On the other hand, I know many female students who are constantly applying make-up in my class and flirting with the boys as their grades melt away. And I see other teachers who, to my horror, call the female students "sweetie" and "honey" and constantly comment on their looks instead of their minds. That is why I am recommending this book. Ms. Orenstein does have some flaws in her book, but she puts a spotlight on a grave problem in our society. The fact that teenage girls are taught and encouraged to be body conscious at a time when they should be taught to develop and trust their intellect.
Rating:
Summary: An indepth look at the struggles of daily womanhood
Review: It's kind of funny. Reading this book takes me back to my moments of despair in junior high school. Peggy is a wonderful woman with great insight and sensitivity. She ventures into a world that is unknown, even to the girls she writes about. If only there could be a follow up. To see how the females developed and matured.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Just 4 Teachers....but 4 Everyone!
Review: Loved this book and I recommend it to everyone on the planet. I wish this author would do an up to date version of this book for 2003 to see what has changed and what still remains the same. I bet quite a few things still remain the same.
Rating:
Summary: Not Just 4 Teachers....but 4 Everyone!
Review: Loved this book and I recommend it to everyone on the planet. I wish this author would do an up to date version of this book for 2003 to see what has changed and what still remains the same. I bet quite a few things still remain the same.
Rating:
Summary: teacher to be
Review: Peggy's recent article in Discover magazine about women in
science and technology prompted me to re-read schoolgirls after
7 years. It is crucial reading for me as I am leaving the
technology sector to teach math, and I am raising 2 daughters.
I see so much of myself in both the article and this book, I'm
scared to read her most recent book "Flux...". Upon re-reading
"Schoolgirls", however, it seems clear to me that it is not teachers who are inflicting the gender stereotypes - kids learn
this at home and kids in turn teach it at school. If teachers can avoid being pulled in and reinforcing the behaviors, we are in a unique position to challenge them and break the patterns.
Parents and teachers alike must teach our daughters to respect
themselves, AND we must teach our sons to respect girls and
value their contributions. I too would very much love to know what has happened to the
girls in this book.
Rating:
Summary: teacher to be
Review: Peggy's recent article in Discover magazine about women in
science and technology prompted me to re-read schoolgirls after
7 years. It is crucial reading for me as I am leaving the
technology sector to teach math, and I am raising 2 daughters.
I see so much of myself in both the article and this book, I'm
scared to read her most recent book "Flux...". Upon re-reading
"Schoolgirls", however, it seems clear to me that it is not teachers who are inflicting the gender stereotypes - kids learn
this at home and kids in turn teach it at school. If teachers can avoid being pulled in and reinforcing the behaviors, we are in a unique position to challenge them and break the patterns.
Parents and teachers alike must teach our daughters to respect
themselves, AND we must teach our sons to respect girls and
value their contributions. I too would very much love to know what has happened to the
girls in this book.
Rating:
Summary: it's not easy being young
Review: Remember middle school? Remember being 12, 13? It wasn't easy. If you're a parent, read this book and talk with you child about it. It's not easy to read, and you sometimes feel helpless to being about any change. And yet...understanding is the first step. Read this and then absolutely to be an advocate for your child. Don't let them go through this difficult stage alone.
Rating:
Summary: it's not easy being young
Review: Remember middle school? Remember being 12, 13? It wasn't easy. If you're a parent, read this book and talk with you child about it. It's not easy to read, and you sometimes feel helpless to being about any change. And yet...understanding is the first step. Read this and then absolutely to be an advocate for your child. Don't let them go through this difficult stage alone.
Rating: 
Summary: The Urban Middle School has turned in to a public Arts Sch.
Review: School Girls is about the lives of some young girls at two distinct middle schools in the SF Bay area. The Urban Middle school described by Ornstein as a school down by the freeway was painted as a sorry and plodding inner city school basically staffed by an insensitive staff of burned out teachers. While her account of 1991 conditions at the school was more or less accurate many positive changes have taken place since then at the same school. Today it is has been designated San Francisco's Middle School of the Arts and is staffed with many new an dynamic teachers. While some school girls at this new program may continue to have the same kinds of problems Ornstein described in the book they at least have a better school enviornment and a better chance for success than the SCHOOL GIRLS in the book.
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