Relating The Articles

The Deborah Tannen article and the Mary Pipher articles relate to each other. Both articles talk about how schools treat boys and girls differently. Piper starts out by saying, “Schools have always treated girls and boys differently” (Pipher 279). Pipher thinks that girls start to fade out early on and this is partially from the structure of the schools and the other part is from girls trying to fit in. “Junior high is when girls begin to face academically. Partly this comes from the very structure of the schools, which tend to be large and impersonal” (281). “in junior high girls feel enormous pressure to be popular” (281) She thinks that schools give boys the advantage and girls seem to lose interest. “Girls can’t say why they ditch their dreams, they just ‘mysteriously’ lose interest” (280). Piper thinks that the schools don’t meet the needs for girls therefore putting them at a disadvantage.
Deborah Tennan also touches on the fact that schools structure is geared more toward guys. She talks more specifically about debate in schools but she shows how these debates appeal more to guys. “[…] Not that individual women may not learn to practice agonistic debate or that individual men may not recoil from it” (Tennan 240). She also talks about how because the debates are better for guys because girls don’t participate as much in class. “ […] Girls often receive less attention and speak up less in class” (237). Since it is harder for girls then it gives a disadvantage in the educational system, which relates back to what Pipher was saying about the educational system being unfair. Tennan says that debate is a way that the schools make it unfair for girls. “ […] the risk that women students may be less likely to take part in classroom discussions that are framed as arguments between opposing sides – that is, debate […]” (238). “ […] It might not be fair to women to women students that the agonistic style is more uncongenial to men” (238). This also relates back to what Pipher was saying about the unfairness for women. Tennan shows an example by bringing up the topic about debate in schools. She says that debates are more geared towards boys. Therefore she is supporting what Pipher says about in inequalities in schools by showing it through debate.
Both women show how there is an inequality towards women in the structure of school. Pipher says this more broadly then Tennan by only talking about the outline of school structure. Tennan goes more in-depth pointing out a specific part of the school structure and saying it is unequal. The part she points out is debate.