School Girls Essay Example for Free

School Girls quizIn the book School Girls by Peggy Orenstein, the focus is on young adolescent girls in essence school, and the effects that the Hidden Curriculum and other elements have on their self esteem. Hidden Curriculum watches girls to take to be silence and compliance. (pg.35) The hidden curriculum is a theory that boys often get more attention than girls in the classroom, and that even if it is negative attention, the girls learn that they ar not as important, and they eventually give up hope, and wiretap speaking out in class. Educators reward assertiveness and aggression over docility, the very behavior that is prized in girls becomes and obstacle to their success.(p.36).This means that while girls be acting the way a teacher would like them to, the boys that are more aggressive get the attention, and the girls lose their self-esteem. Charles L. Richman found that high achieving white girls in particular are subject to unrealistic standards of success. When th ey fall short, they overgeneralized failures with an intense self-punitiveness by late adolescence, their self-esteem has spiraled downward. (Pg.38).The focus of sexual curse is a big one as well. Girls are not taught about sex and contraceptives, and therefore enjoy nothing about their sexual selves. We consciously infuse girls with a sense of shame. (p.57) If we do not teach girls about their bodies, and teach them to be assertive, than sexual harassment will occur. As much as girls bottle up desire, they embrace desirability. (p.62) .