Heteronormative Encouragement and Favoring Gender Roles within School Systems in the Twenty-First Century

The purpose of this study is to analyze the predilection of heteronormative comportment within various school environments (elementary, intermediate, and high school). The extent of heteronormative encouragement, including favoring gender roles, will be determined through observational study. The psychological occurrences between students and teachers generally shape the perspectives of the pupils. While the curricula determine what the students learn concerning academics, the societal undertones that are implemented by the teachers are what affixes to the psyche of malleable minds. The study consists of three schools - two classes from each grade level of which will be photographed and carefully observed during a normal school day during the week. The classes observed will be that of English and literature due to the fact that the area of study is fairly flexible in what material the class is exposed to (various books, poetry, etc.) The particular methods used to gather quantitative information will be that of ethnography and a dispersal of questionnaires to the students from each grade. The independent variable in this study would ultimately be the how the students/teachers answer the questionnaires. The dependent variable would be how the class acts and what I observe during the ethnographic sessions. The populations involved would be chosen by purposeful sampling. The theoretical framework this research is based off of is Queer theory, the theory that observes, specifically, the differences between sex, gender, and desire. It is important to look back on this theory throughout the course of research in order to maintain a base for information concerning how society reacts to non-heteronormative ways of living. Students are an ideal population to observe because their surroundings can largely regulate what they do and what they decide to indulge in. The support that is evident (or not) by authority figures can have a monumental impact on how these adolescents decide to embrace themselves. To relate the impressionable personas of these individuals in with this study, it is important to look at how heteronormative standards are implemented day-to-day, and how that possibly affects the personal outlooks of gender/sexuality. The goal of this project is to support the hypothesis that heteronormative encouragement and gender roles are still alive and well in the school system, and to shed light on just how much of an effect they have on students themselves and how the teachers shape their curriculum. If the information gathered supports this case, then this study could be used to improve the policy of the education system, and aid it in becoming a more inclusive environment for all types of individuals.