ABSTRACT
This chapter explores gender differences and inequalities in educational experiences and outcomes. Returning to the open systems approach, students are considered both inputs and outputs in the educational system. Students are inputs in the sense that they are one of the “raw materials” or resources that enter the school system to be “processed.” They are outputs in the sense that schools are tasked with transforming students into graduates; graduates, ideally, who have been successfully socialized and who have gained the human capital needed to enter work or higher education. Throughout this chapter, the authors explore the experiences of students in schools based on gender, examining how educational experiences may reproduce existing inequalities, as well as how schools can operate as sites for social change.
