This article is reproduced from the official account of WeChat: Xiaoan Xiaoan (ID: Sukiandsula)
Wen, An, Xiao, Travis
British doctor Javid Abdelmoneim is a TV host. He is famous for his research on gender awareness of school-age children.
Dzhavid Abdul Moneim
He realized that Britain today is a country constantly striving for equality between men and women, and men and women should have the same opportunities and career choices.
But he is curious: is there gender equality in children's hearts?
In order to find out, he went to an excellent public primary school in the Isle of Wight, where there were more than 30 0 0-year-old 5- 1 1 children. He walked into Andre's classroom, where most of the 23 third-grade children were 7 years old.
They were born in 2008, which happened to be the time when Britain promulgated the Law on Equal Rights for Men and Women, which is the most comprehensive anti-sex discrimination law in the world.
So these children should live in an environment that advocates equality between men and women from birth, and they will think that men and women should be treated equally.
But is this really the case?
Do children believe in gender equality in their hearts?
The answer is: no!
"Boys" and "Girls" in Children's Mind
In collaboration with psychologists from London University, Dr. Dzhavid conducted a series of experiments for these 23 children to test their gender role awareness, self-confidence and empathy.
There are various experiments, such as letting children vote, what are the characteristics of men and women; For example, describe yourself with keywords; For example, delaying the satisfaction of candy; And try to use as many words as possible to describe emotions.
When the test results came out, doctors and teachers were shocked:
Seven-year-old boys and girls are convinced that men and women are completely different and have extremely rigid ideas about what boys should do and what girls should do.
When asked: What are the key words to describe boys and girls? The children gave a very typical answer.
Boys describe themselves as "smart and strong". They said:
The key words that girls describe themselves are: beauty, lipstick, skirt, heart and so on. Most of them are related to looks. They said:
In terms of self-confidence, 50% of boys describe themselves as "the best", while only 10% of girls describe themselves as "the best".
Girls underestimate their intelligence to a great extent; There are three times as many boys as girls who overestimate their abilities. Girls lack confidence, especially in math.
Boys, on the other hand, find it difficult to describe their emotions, and there are few words related to emotions. No matter what the negative emotions are, they use the word "angry" the most. The limitation of this expression also prevents boys from developing empathy.
Girls, on the other hand, have rich vocabulary to describe their feelings.
Dr Dzhavid was disappointed with the test results.
Is such a huge difference determined by the physiological structure of boys and girls? Dr Dzhavid will find out.
How different are the brains of boys and girls?
It is common sense that there are physiological differences between boys and girls.
But can these physiological differences explain their huge differences in gender role identity?
Dr Javid visited Professor Gina Rippon of Aston Brain Scanning Center, who is a leading brain imaging expert in Britain.
Professor Gina said: "The following conclusion will surprise many people:
For a hundred years, people have always believed that the great difference between men and women is due to the different brain structures.
But in fact, there is almost no difference in brain structure between boys and girls. "
"Then why do boys and girls behave and think so differently?"
Professor Gina said: "Children's brains are very soft and flexible, and many of them are changeable and easy to be shaped. The development of the brain is intertwined with the influence of the nurturing environment.
The great difference in behavior between boys and girls is not predestined at the time of embryo, but more influenced by the environment. Children's hungry brains will constantly absorb information from the environment.
If you are given the gender role of "pink" and "blue" in the process of child-rearing, people generally don't realize how far-reaching the impact is on children. "
What can a gender-neutral classroom do?
If Professor Gina is right, it shows that the behavioral differences and gender awareness of boys and girls are not all determined by physiology, but the upbringing environment has taught them different skills and been endowed with foreign cognition. These fixed thinking will have an impact on their adult life and achievements.
Dr Dzhavid wants to create a "gender-neutral" classroom among these children. He wants to change the children's established concept of their gender identity and their limited imagination of their future development.
He believes that children need to have an "undifferentiated childhood" before they can truly understand what "equality" is when they grow up.
Dr Dzhavid decided to intervene in the "gender differences" in the classroom. He wants to dig out the details of how boys and girls are treated differently.
What did the doctors do in this "gender-neutral classroom"?
1. Emphasize gender similarity with positive words.
Dr. Dzhavid's first move is to let children put positive words with psychological hints on the wall, constantly reminding children of the similarities between boys and girls, not the differences.
For example, a sentence like this is:
This information tells them that girls can do what boys can do; What girls can do, so can boys.
Every day, many such small messages are transmitted to children, which will bring them positive psychological hints and gradually break the mindset.
2. Equal opportunities for self-expression
The head teacher Andre has a very good relationship with the children.
When observing the teacher's behavior, Dr. Dzhavid found that in class, after he asked questions, he would unconsciously ask boys to answer more questions.
It seems that girls are not as confident as boys in their studies, and raising their hands is not as good as boys.
Also, boys are more active in letting children serve the class, so teachers tend to choose boys to do it.
In order to give every child an equal opportunity to express himself, Dr. Dzhavid prepared a basket of colored balls, each with the child's name written on it.
Whether speaking in class or serving in class, we always draw lots at random.
For example, a girl who never took the initiative to lead the team became a child who led the team. She looks a little excited.
3. Change the gender-specific address in the teacher's mouth.
Dr. Dzhavid also noticed that Mr. Andre often used old gender-specific words to address students.
In the observation in the morning, Teacher Andre called the boy "man, young man, young man, sir" 47 times!
And he called the girl "love, dear, sweet pea" 140 times!
The older generation in Britain usually use such words to address young girls, meaning dear, sweetheart, etc. )
These appellations are part of the language habits of the older generation and seem harmless, but the long-term use of gender-specific appellations to distinguish boys from girls will gradually leave a mark on their consciousness and have a long-term impact.
How to change the old address habits of teachers?
Over time, such a name is already a conditioned reflex for Mr. Andre!
So Dr. Dzhavid came up with an idea. He hung a board on the wall. Andre says "love" or "mating" once, and the children will remember it for him once!
The children liked the idea so much that they cheered.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before the teacher was "remembered". He was caught red-handed by the children. How embarrassing!
But with conscious control, Andre used these gender-specific titles less and less, and only said them seven times the next day!
Do girls have the strength? Do boys understand emotions?
The next experiment is to test children's cognition of their own strength, and it is also a test of self-confidence.
Dr. Dzhavid said a few words to let the children choose to describe a boy or a girl.
The word "strong" is used by children to describe boys; The word "weakness" is considered to describe girls.
Almost all children think that boys are stronger than girls.
What is the truth? In fact, before puberty, there is no difference in muscle strength and density between boys and girls.
Dr Dzhavid really wants children to understand that boys and girls are very similar in physical strength. So he set up another experiment to surprise the children.
This is a strength test game. Children will talk about piling with a hammer to see how many points they can get.
Before the game began, the doctor asked the children to evaluate themselves, stand in a row, from the strongest to the weakest, and estimate their scores.
All the boys are scrambling to stand on the "strong" side, thinking of either 9 points or 10 points.
Girls chose the "weak" end. Many girls think they will get 5 points.
As a result, the scores of boys and girls are very close. Some girls got 10, and some boys got 4.
The most insecure girl also got 10, and everyone hugged and cheered with her.
She burst into tears in shock. She never thought that she would be as good as a boy.
What about the boys? They have been instilled with the consciousness of "being strong" and "being strong" since childhood.
However, they will mistakenly think that "being strong" means "not showing emotions".
When asked about the boy: Do you cry? They all said: don't cry, but you will be angry!
When asked about boys: Do boys cry? They said, no, boys can't cry.
A boy who was confident that he could get 10 missed the bet. He was humiliated and rolled around crying. Ask him how he feels, and the answer is "angry".
Many boys have difficulty in expressing their emotions, lack vocabulary related to emotions, and find it difficult to accept their weakness.
This lack of fixed thinking and vocabulary is an obstacle to the cultivation of boys' empathy ability.
Where does academic self-confidence come from?
Tests show that girls are 30% less confident than boys in math.
Dr Javid mentioned a key word: spatial logical thinking ability.
Spatial logical thinking ability plays a key role in STEM learning and also determines children's mathematical ability.
Statistics show that men dominate most occupations that require strong spatial logical thinking. For example, 90% of engineers and 80% of architects are men.
Dr. Dzhavid wants to find out the truth: "Why is there a gap between boys and girls in spatial logical thinking ability?"
Professor Gina, a brain imaging expert, said: "It is because boys are encouraged to play more games related to spatial logic and graphic logic since childhood. For example, boys can play in Lego piles for hours just to study those drawings. "
"Can spatial logic ability be improved through training?"
Professor Gina also showed the scanned images of several girls' brains: "After playing Tetris bricks for three months, these girls not only improved their spatial logic ability, but also changed their brain structure in the scanned images!"
Therefore, intellectual training can physically change the cerebral cortex.
In the process of raising boys, it is more a game of space and logic, so the brain gets more training in this respect.
Dr. Dzhavid must find another way. How to make both boys and girls get the opportunity to train their spatial logic ability in class?
He introduced a fun game in class: puzzles are used to spell out patterns, and children need to use their spatial imagination, rotate and flip to complete the task.
Most boys finish faster than girls. Many boys grew up in this game, so they often have more confidence in math and physics.
Some girls seem to be struggling.
But given the opportunity to exercise, girls will be more skilled and finish faster and faster.
Dr Javid and Mr Andre agreed to insert 5- 10 minutes of spatial logic games in the class every day. Doing so can better train children's brains, especially help girls to enhance their sense of spatial logic, thus making them more confident in mathematics.
Are children or adults choosing toys?
We may all think that boys play more spatial logic toys when they grow up, because they like them and choose them by themselves. Girls prefer dolls, dolls and other toys.
Is that so?
So Dr. Dzhavid did another experiment.
He keeps all kinds of baby toys in the laboratory.
He changed clothes for two babies. The boy wore the girl's clothes and the girl wore the boy's clothes. Then, he asked volunteers to interact with the children and see what they would do.
A baby boy dressed as a girl sat in front of a toy, and the volunteer immediately gave him a doll to play with.
When adults see that he is a girl, they take it for granted that babies prefer dolls and dolls.
What about the other side? Another volunteer saw a baby girl in a boy's clothes and thought it was a boy. He immediately put her in the car and gave her a robot and a shape toy.
After that, several volunteers, both men and women, unconsciously played with plush toys for girls, robots and shape puzzles for boys.
Volunteers were shocked when they learned the truth. Only then did they realize that the toys they thought children "loved to play" were actually chosen by adults through their subconscious.
The difference between toys and games will affect children's brain structure and learning ability in the long run.
Do children believe that they can be anyone?
Among 7-year-old children, a more surprising discovery is that children have a very rigid impression that some occupations are only suitable for men and some occupations are only suitable for women.
Their knowledge of possible gender occupations is very limited.
The boy said: I want to be a fireman, a pilot, an athlete and a captain when I grow up;
The girl said: I want to be a teacher, hairdresser, nurse and manicurist when I grow up.
Girls think that only boys can be firemen because the fire escape is too heavy.
Boys think that only girls can be nurses, because male nurses look so strange.
Dr Dzhavid wants to break children's fixed thinking about gender and career choices.
He draws paper for the children. Theoretically, there are four occupations: ballet dancer, magician, makeup artist and mechanic.
He asked the children to draw pictures and name them.
Children usually draw pictures: ballerinas and makeup artists are women, magicians and mechanics are men.
Then four professionals came into the classroom.
To the children's shock, magicians and mechanics are all women; Ballet summer makeup artist is male. The children opened their mouths in surprise.
The children had a particularly interesting day with four professionals.
Some children learn automobile structure from female mechanics;
Some children learn magic from female magicians;
The male makeup artist used to work for the Star Wars movie, and the children were excited to learn makeup from him.
They also learn ballet from male ballerinas.
Children all find these occupations interesting!
Such "real contact" will change the possibility that you have always believed.
The little girl who has always lacked self-confidence said, "I can be a mechanic when I grow up."
A boy said, "Make-up is fun. Not only girls can become makeup artists."
Another boy thinks the coolest job is a ballet dancer.
Everyone has the opportunity to do what they like, and there is no limit to expectations.
The change of vision is likely to start a small turning point in children's life in childhood, and such a turning point will eventually change the direction of life.
After a few weeks of classes, the gender consciousness thinking of boys and girls began to change.
"Indifferent sex education" no longer emphasizes the differences between boys and girls, but strengthens the similarities between the two sexes.
Children gradually get rid of the inherent cognition of boys and girls, tear off the labels, and thus have the courage to find a more authentic self, a more turbulent potential, a broader possibility and a freer future.
* This article is reproduced from the official account of WeChat: Xiaoan Anshao, from Beijing, now living in London, majoring in architecture, animation and psychology. The mother of two mixed-race babies, Suki and Sura, has published the best-selling book "Notes on Early Education Games of Suki and Sura (0-3 years old)-Montessori Classroom at Home".