Date of Award

1998

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Leadership Studies

Abstract

Are schools teaching girls to be leaders? My belief is that we must examine issues concerning our young women, their educational experiences, opportunities they are offered, people they are exposed to and their life in school. There appears to be a lack of emphasis on leadership and women. Without addressing this issue in the early stages of a young girl's development, we will continue to feed the notion that male standards are the norm, My initial question is intended to generate an in depth look at the impact of teachers, curriculum, students and the environment on the development of leadership in girls. In order to answer this question, I plan to compare and contrast both public and private schools in Richmond, Virginia. It is my hope that this study will provide thorough insights and recommendations for any school, public or private, primary, middle or high school where girls are taught.

Schools are making slow improvements towards incorporating new styles of learning, and educating. Whether or not they are teaching girls to be leaders is difficult to answer, since many schools are not calling what they do leadership training. Burns comments on this by saying that the reason leaders aren't leading is because, " .. many of us don't know the faintest concept of what leadership is all about" (Burns, 451 ). What is leadership is truly the question to this entire project along with how can we learn to let it help us to be better people for a better world? These questions should dominate the culture within schools and allow for the inclusion of leadership on a very elementary yet effective level.

Leadership can provide for everyone in an educational setting and can create a community affect within schools, which Lee and Marshall consistently suggest. By creating such a community, where relationships are important, people value one another and their work, and where everyone is working towards improvement and success, a school would no doubt create better leaders in teachers and new leaders in students. We must incorporate into our schools a more communal approach along with the three C's of care, concern and connection. Unfortunately though we cannot just "add leadership and stir", like many philosophers. politicians and researchers believe you should do with women's studies when they suggest, "just add women and stir." It must be a gradual change in schools and one which is highly accepted by all introducing it Children must learn that school is a community for them to flourish in, not just a place to go to everyday.

Download

Share

COinS