Silence and Policy Talk

Abstract

Three puzzles arise in looking at the history of public education through the lens of gender. Why did some major shifts in gender practices, like the emergence of coeducation in the early 19th century, take place with only minor controversy and in relative silence? Conversely, why did certain kinds of vehement policy talk—for example about the way hard study ruined girls' health or about the way women teachers “feminized” boys—affect practice so little? And finally, how did reforms that, on their face, had little to do with gender actually alter the two sexes' educational opportunities? This essay focuses on the complexities of silent institutional change and stability, the reasons why conscious gender policies often left checquered results, and the implications of this history for gender policy and practice today.