Spurlin 1 Haley Spurlin Dr.

Duffus Rhetorical Analysis 30 October 2013 One Classroom, Two Genders Who is your favorite teacher? Is it a man or a woman? Mine is my high school technology teacher; she is like a second mother to me. Other students would always ask me why we got along so well, and why she let me babysit her kids instead of them, and honestly I dont know, but Im grateful that we made that connection because shes a major influence in my life. However, if she were a man, we definitely wouldnt have gotten along so well, and we wouldnt have formed a connection like the one we have. The author, Jennifer Boylan, of One Classroom, Two Genders, thinks the gender of the teacher does make a difference with the connection made between student and teacher. Boylans favorite teacher was a man, but when she had him she was a male too, so she thinks her experience with him would have been different if she had his class as a female. The million dollar question is- do students learn more from, or relate better to teachers of their same gender? The logical reasoning, or logos, behind the authors theory that students do relate better to teachers of their same gender is supported by many studies. For instance, the author says that in, A 2006 study by Thomas Dee, now a professor at Stanford, suggested that boys do better in classes taught by men while girls are more likely to thrive in classes taught by women. The study found that girls were more likely to report that they did not think a class would be useful to their future if it was taught by a man, and boys were more likely to say they did not look forward to a particular subject if it was taught by a woman, (Boylan). It is also believed that the teachers experience in the classroom, and the

Spurlin 2 number of students in the class effect how well the students learn and how they connect to the teacher. As for the author, she believes that the teachers gender has the largest impact on how well students connect to them. As a transgender, Boylan has taught classes from both genders, and knows first-hand how different it is to teach as a man than as a female. For example, when teaching as a man she said her students, used to take notes on my lectures as fast as their fingers would go (Boylan). However, as a woman, she says that students respond better to having discussions in her classes and sharing their feelings rather than listening to her lectures. She says that even though she gives some of the same lectures now as she did when she was a man, her students dont respond the way they used to. Having taught for a total of twenty-five years, twelve as a man and thirteen as a female, at the same placeColby College- she has the experience from both sides of the argument to make her opinions credible. Even though she has a lot experience, she is very respectful to both genders. She never comes out and says men are better teachers than women or vice versa, she simply states that her teaching style has evolved over time and the students respond to her differently now than they did before. One Classroom, Two Genders, evokes all sorts of different feelings and emotions. The students say that Boylans classrooms makes them feel safe, and they are able to easily share their opinions and feelings with her. However, Boylan isnt too happy with this statement because she doesnt care as much about being liked in the classroom now that shes a women. Another example of pathos is that Boylan says she was more comfortable being goofy and intimidating as a man than she is as a woman. As a female teacher, she is a lot more serious in the classroom, and she doesnt care about being liked by her students as much as she once did. When she gave lectures as a man, she was passionate, yelling and jumping on top of tables, but now, as a woman, she doesnt do any of those things and her students noticed that. The students dont feel intimidated anymore, instead they come to class eager to jump into discussions.

Spurlin 3 Boylan does leave out a few key points of view. For instance, she doesnt mention how students respond to teachers other than herself. Obviously different teachers have different teaching styles, and individual students respond differently to those styles. I for one have never had a teacher jump on top of a table and yell at me to seek my own truth, but if I did I dont think I would want to go back to that class or if I did, I would definitely sit in the back. Boylan also doesnt mention if the fact that she is a transgender woman effects the way students view her as a teacher, or if it does at all. Her classes are comfortable sharing their feelings with her, but why is that? Is it because she is a women, or because she has the experiences from being a man also that she can offer them different perspectives than anyone else could? Also, it would be beneficial to have more information about her teaching methods from her students perspectives than the little bit that she mentions. Overall, the article flows smoothly and offers valid opinions about the argument. The author is fair to both sides, and respects the opinions of others that dont agree with her or that think there is more to it than just the gender of the teacher. The article is engaging, and I enjoyed reading it, especially about Boylans personal experiences with her favorite teacher. However, being chopped doesnt sound too appealing to me.

Spurlin 4 Works Cited Boylan, Jennifer Finney. One Classroom, Two Genders. The New York Times. 9 September 2013. Web. 14 October 2013.