Schoolgirls : Young Women, Self Esteem, and the Confidence Gap

Rating:
Summary: Well written but very one sided
Review: She shows how some girls do suffer drops in self esteem in Jr.High, however she thinks the solution is to make damm sure boys suffer greater drops in self esteem. She holds up as role models educators who go out of theie way to be harsh to boys. She seems to think that the fact that boys get punished and repromanded more often than girls is showing favoritism to boys (ie they are getting more attention). She thinks it is great that there is a class where boys have to act out womens roles and write essays for NOW. It never crosses her mind that adolesence could be a difficult time for both boys and girls. Far to much boy bashing but does offer some useful insites into what adolesent girls are thinking.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and Relevant Book
Review: This book is an important read for anyone who ever was a girl or who ever has known a girl. It gave me much insight into the values that I was taught as about gender and also what others learned about the subject. This book is fascinating and easy to relate to. It explores the hidden curriculum we learn in school, from parents, and from the media about what it means to be male or female; who has power and who does not; who is valued and who is not. It made me see the world differently and in a more enlightened way.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and Relevant Book
Review: This book is an important read for anyone who ever was a girl or who ever has known a girl. It gave me much insight into the values that I was taught as about gender and also what others learned about the subject. This book is fascinating and easy to relate to. It explores the hidden curriculum we learn in school, from parents, and from the media about what it means to be male or female; who has power and who does not; who is valued and who is not. It made me see the world differently and in a more enlightened way.

Rating:
Summary: Mind opening book
Review: This book is excellent. Although it is only based on observations of two schools, it confirms previous scientific findings. I don't think Orenstein wants to hurt young men, but the book IS about young women and how they get less support from the system than males do. I think that all educators should read this book.

Rating:
Summary: A revolutionary, chilling book! A must-read!
Review: This book is simply amazing. Orenstein brilliantly captures the struggles teen girls face, which are mainly characterized by contradictory and harmful messages that stem from American culture. Myself a new teacher in the public schools, I was saddened to find that Orenstein's description of the plight of girls in classrooms is chillingly accurate. Every detail is accurate - I saw it enacted daily in countless ways. It is important to note that Orenstein clearly demonstrates that, until girls have better chances of thriving and beating the confidence gap, BOTH girls and boys will be hindered in achieving their full potential.

Rating:
Summary: Still Useful Today
Review: This book is still useful to young women today,e ven after so many other girl books have been published. My students, smart undergrads, fell in love with the book and talked about the lives of the girls in it for weeks after. At first I hesitated to use the book because it was written by a journalist rather than a psychologist, and yet in reading it, I found this author to be extremely well read, theoretical, and thoughtful. I'll continue to use the book.

Rating:
Summary: Still Useful Today
Review: This book is still useful to young women today,e ven after so many other girl books have been published. My students, smart undergrads, fell in love with the book and talked about the lives of the girls in it for weeks after. At first I hesitated to use the book because it was written by a journalist rather than a psychologist, and yet in reading it, I found this author to be extremely well read, theoretical, and thoughtful. I'll continue to use the book.

Rating:
Summary: For Many Schoolgirls, Orenstein's Book Rings All Too True.
Review: This book is well-written and important for parents and teachers. Orenstein focus on girls at 2 middle schools. She does not attempt to claim that their experience speaks for all American schoolgirls, but rather to illuminate SOME of the problems that they face and to point out that there is much evidence to suggest that many other girls may face similiar obstacles in school. Orenstein does discuss and describe at length some pretty awful behavior on the part of schoolBOYS towards schoolgirls. In describing this behavior, she does not put forth the idea that school is easier for boys or that they are villians to the core. She is simply describing the behavior of specific boys at specific schools. Having been a schoolgirl myself, I can attest to the veracity of her report. School is not easy for any child. But it would be ridiculous to ignore some of the specific ways that boys treat girls just because we are afraid of maligning boys. If the shoe fits... Also, there are plenty of books out there that address the problems boys face in school. Two good ones are LOST BOYS and REAL BOYS. And I don't see reviews of those books that accuse them of "leaving out" girls! Why are we so adverse to talking about what is really happening to our girls in school?

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, detailed, vivid accounts.
Review: This book should be sold with "How Schools Shortchange Girls" as required reading. Ms. Orenstein's detailed and moving portraits of adolescent girls bring to life the already gripping findings of the AAUW report.

Rating:
Summary: One-sided, inspired by a myth
Review: This book was inspired by the AAUW report which has been shown to be a flawed and biased "study". This study points to poor self-esteem as the cause of poor school performance. But it does NOT tell you that black boys were found to have the HIGHEST self-esteem, but the LOWEST school performance! This book focuses on just girls, although most of problems pointed out are also experienced by boys.(Latina gangs? What about Latino gangs? Now THAT'S a problem!) This book seems to be highly "subjective" in form. Her suggestion that girls are afraid of giving the wrong answer to questions (hardly a girls-only issue) and hence refrain from answering questions conflicts with the opinion of the AAUW report (which inspired this book!) that suggests that girls don't answer questions so as to not appear to be too smart and aggressive! Unfortunately, this book dishonestly seeks to create another "women's issue" out of a TRUE "children's issue".