Rating: 
Summary: required reading for parents of girls
Review: "Failing at Fairness" is a landmark book in the education of girls. Researchers Myra and David Sadker step away from the fuzzy assumptions we have about gender and concentrate on facts and specific behavior. The book is strongest on presenting the history of educating women, and defining specifically how girls are still getting shortchanged. The authors clearly lay out their analysis of what is wrong with girl's education. The weakness of the book is in the last chapter "The Edge of Change". The solution to any problem requires change, and this change requires a rethink of how we treat half the population. It challenges our habits, our culture, our intellect and our pocketbook. And , unfortunately, the Sadkers are a little light and fuzzy when suggesting solutions. This is forgivable given the scope of the problem. If you are a parent of a girl, or if you are or want to be a good teacher, I encourage you to read Failing at Fairness.
Rating:
Summary: required reading for parents of girls
Review: "Failing at Fairness" is a landmark book in the education of girls. Researchers Myra and David Sadker step away from the fuzzy assumptions we have about gender and concentrate on facts and specific behavior. The book is strongest on presenting the history of educating women, and defining specifically how girls are still getting shortchanged. The authors clearly lay out their analysis of what is wrong with girl's education. The weakness of the book is in the last chapter "The Edge of Change". The solution to any problem requires change, and this change requires a rethink of how we treat half the population. It challenges our habits, our culture, our intellect and our pocketbook. And , unfortunately, the Sadkers are a little light and fuzzy when suggesting solutions. This is forgivable given the scope of the problem. If you are a parent of a girl, or if you are or want to be a good teacher, I encourage you to read Failing at Fairness.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is becoming obsolete....
Review: ...As America continues being one-sided in its attempts, by turning the table on boys... boys are behind in school now. And why? Because they are ignored, after all the attempts to help girls. Why can't we help both sexes in school? Why is it one or the other? School has become increasingly unwelcoming to boys. It is not their fault. Now there are books coming out on this subject. I suggest you all take a look.
Rating: 
Summary: Historical Importance
Review: Despite its importance in educational developments during the 1990's, "Failing at Fairness" contains many of the flaws that are often seen when ideology takes precedence over research. These flaws can be seen both in terms of the selection and use of data, as well as in the logical arguments developed throughout the book. An example of the former is the fact that the Sadkers accept child survey data when it supports their conclusions (boys would rather be boys than girls) and reject it when it contradicts their conclusions (girls themselves report they are called upon more by teachers than are boys.) An example of the later is the circular argument developed involving grades and standardized test scores. The Sadkers discount the fact that girls receive higher grades than boys because "boys learn more." Then, they argue that standardized tests are biased against girls because girls receive lower test scores despite receiving higher grades. Why in one case are grades discounted, then a chapter later viewed as the ultimate measure of learning?
The most significant problem with this book is that it advocates a "zero-sum" approach to gender equity. They argue that any attempt to help boys in school must necessarily harm girls. It is for this reason that they do not discuss the gender gap in reading and writing, and when discussing the gender gap in school discipline (pg. 201) they simply state "it is because they deserve it." A reader of this book must be aware of the Sadker's own hermeneutic: if girls trail boys in any area, it is because the schools "cheated them", if boys trail girls in any area, it is their own fault. An example of this can be seen in the chapter "The Miseducation of Boys," where it is argued that the problems boys face in school are not the fault of the school, but are rather the fault of the boys. In other words, boys must adapt to school, rather than the school adapt to boys. Fortunately, this model has been rejected and schools today are expected to adapt to the learning needs of all of their students.
The primary advantage of this book is that it unintentionally launched the recent wave of scholarly research investigating the education of boys. It is from this "second wave" of research that the focus on the gender gap in reading and writing, as well as ideas such as recruiting more male elementary teachers, including literature that engages boys, and encouraging movement and activity during teaching have developed.
In summary, "Failing at Fairness" is of interest primarily because of its historical importance. It should be read not as research but as advocacy, and ideally through the lens of more modern and balanced works that discuss gender equity.
Rating: 
Summary: What the Numbers Say
Review: Failing at Fairness is an interesting blend of history, classroom research and observation, in depth analysis of standardized testing results, interviews and theory as they relate to the schooling of girls and women in the United States. The Sadkers show us how far women have come in the last century, in claiming their place in the classrooms of schools from elementary to graduate school both in front of the class, and behind the desk. They also show us how different that place is from the space filled by our male counterparts, and how sexism has seeped into every aspect of the female educational experience. The Sadkers studied the numbers ---counting everything from female faces and names in textbooks and among teachers/professors, to school budgets for athletics, to questions and kudos offered to girls by teachers in the classroom. These numbers show that girls attend schools where the bulk of a teacher's attention in the classroom is focused on boys, their studies are centered on men and their achievements, they are taught by men (secondary education and beyond) and the bulk of their schools' budgets (including special ed and athletics) are spent on the boys. It is no wonder that the hopes and dreams of young girls are diminished as they enter adolescence, with doctors settling for nursing degrees, and chemists turning to cooking! Fortunately, the Sadkers also point to the advances made under Title IX, the refocusing on gender equity by educators, parents, students and politicians in the 1990's after the backlash years under Reagan and Bush, and the media attention garnered by the AAUW's report in 1992 How Schools Shortchange Girls. Sexism is so endemic in our culture, however, that it will take generations of strong women and men to realize true change. Chapter Nine, Different Voices, Different Schools particularly intrigued me. In it, the Sadkers identified the advantages and disadvantages of single-sex education for boys and girls. As the product of a parochial girls' high school, I was not surprised by the results of the research by Valerie Lee and her colleagues Helen Marks and Tina Byrd of the University of Michigan. They found that in intellectually rigorous girls' schools, few incidents of sexism were uncovered. These schools focused on the intellectual growth, academic curiosity, independence and self-esteem of their female students. With such positive research and new experiments in single-sex public education like the new Young Women's Leadership Charter School in Chicago, we may soon see this option available to girls across the United States.
Rating: 
Summary: Biased. One-sided. Unbalanced.
Review: For every woman who ever sat in a classroom and was afraid to raise her hand, hunched her shoulders, or found a strength in finally speaking out. For their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands and children. Contrary to the negative reviews of this book, Orenstein is not attempting to 'blame the system', but to improve it and make girls and women more aware of how they themselves can get 'more for their money', per say, from the school system. Read this book if you even KNOW a girl.
Rating:
Summary: Relevant and Vital
Review: For every woman who ever sat in a classroom and was afraid to raise her hand, hunched her shoulders, or found a strength in finally speaking out. For their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands and children. Contrary to the negative reviews of this book, Orenstein is not attempting to 'blame the system', but to improve it and make girls and women more aware of how they themselves can get 'more for their money', per say, from the school system. Read this book if you even KNOW a girl.
Rating:
Summary: It's About Time
Review: I found this book to be quite enlightening in the sense that many do not want to recognize the social injustices that have plagued our society and ignored women's achievements throughout history. Not unlike the achievement gap that exists between poor and minority students and their more priveleged counterparts, it is crucial to address and evaluate the institutional barriers that exist within many school cultures today. Students who are disadvantaged because of biases that impede their emotional, career, and academic development in school and in their life deserve the additional support and attention that will allow them to reach the goals that were once not meant for them. Sadker and Sadker have done an excellent job in demonstrating another facet of accountability that teachers must embrace-that of demonstrating and practicing gender equity in the classroom.
Rating:
Summary: A must for all educators.
Review: The issue of gender bias in our school system was identified as a major social problem over two decades ago, yet the problem still persists. Dr. Sadker presents startling research supporting her position--gender bias in our school systems, although not as blatant as in the past, still exists in more subtle, insidious ways. Additionally, the researchers also present a brief history of sexism in education stretching back to the colonial days. There can be little doubt that since our early history, educators have attempted to force girls and women into roles requiring dependence upon men. I'll admit some of the research methods may be open to interpretation or debate, but the overwhelming evidence supporting the authors' position cannot be ignored. If you are an educator, regardless of level, this book will open your eyes.
Rating:
Summary: An Important Contribution
Review: This book should be required reading for all teachers and educators of every sort. A very detailed view of how schools cheat girls by marginialising their roles in the classrooms of America. What makes this book so good, however, is that there are some potential solutions available; that is not to say that this book really has THE answers, but it is a step in the right direction. The statistics regarding the prefromance of females at all-girl schools are impressive, and may be of importance, since co-ed instituions often seem to neglect girls to a greater degree, but this only seems a temporary solution, as the workforce itself is co-ed, and females must get used to operating in such environments. The main thing that is necessary is for the educators to get educated themselves in what is going on; it seems all too likely that the most of the teachers who are doing these things are not even aware of it. If useful strategies are taught to future teachers as to how to combat gender bias, schools in the future may be a great deal fairer of their treatment of all students.
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