This article was written by the author as she hoped to encourage people to change the way they teach. As this article was taken from Chronicle of Higher Education, I believe that her intended audience were tertiary educators. I believe this might explain why she had used an informal tone in this article as she will be able to relate better to them as a colleague.

One of the greatest concerns raised by the author was that men generally do better than women in schools as their teaching strategies were favourable to boys. Classroom discussions being incorporated into classroom curriculum is one of the teaching strategies. The author claimed that as men tend to speak up more than women, these teaching strategies will put men at an advantage as they are generally more outspoken. Personally, I feel that whether a person speaks in class depends largely on his upbringing and character. If a person grew up in a family where discussions were common, he would then have the courage to speak up in class. However, if a person grew up in a family where his views were not heard, he would generally not contribute in class. Furthermore, there are bound to be a number of people from both genders who are shy. Thus, I do agree with the author that teachers do need to review their teaching techniques but the changes should be according to each individual rather than by gender.

The author also raised the issue of teachers adopting a debate- like format to enhance learning. The author felt that debating would suit men better and they would then be able to contribute more to the class. On the other hand, women tend to avoid head-on collision and would then lose the chance to voice their opinions. I agree with the author that men are more aggressive in nature and will thus, do better in debates. One of the reasons why the author felt that women avoid confrontation might be because they still had the traditional thinking that they were inferior to men. However, we need to note that a decade has passed since this article was written. With rising feminism, women are striving to have their voices heard. As women gain a stronger foothold in the working world, they will inevitably influence and motivate the younger women to speak up. This phenomenon can be seen in our classrooms today.

The issue of male and female teachers adopting a different teaching style was also raised by the author. She mentioned that women generally respond better to female teachers’ teaching style and vice versa. I do agree with the author’s view that students generally respond better to teachers of the same gender. However, I do not agree that it is solely due to that. There are several other reasons that may contribute to this result. After receiving education for 19 years, I feel that female teachers tend to be able to understand my situation as compared to male teachers. Therefore, I feel that one of the reasons might be because teachers tend to be able to empathise with students of the same gender better, resulting in better response in class.

The author had also made several assumptions in her article. She had assumed that her audience were more suited to the traditional way of teaching, that is, classroom discussion and debating style. It was also her opinion that educators were trying to disadvantage females by using these educational strategies which supposedly suit men better in the curriculum. Furthermore, the critical tone used at the beginning of her article had caused her article to appear to be biased against men. This might disinterest the male teachers when they read the article. Despite these flaws, I feel that the examples and case study used by the author were engaging and would enable the author to relate better to her readers. Although some might claim that one case study is not representative, it serves as a good example and show relevance in the context of her points of contention. In addition, the use of informal tone will be able to leave a deep impression in her readers as this is a scholastic article.

All in all, I feel that the author did manage to put across her point that different teaching styles should be experimented as no student is alike. This will allow readers to reflect on their teaching methods and redefined their preconceived boundaries with regards to teaching- not just based on gender, but the individual himself.