This past Friday, I had no-shows for both of my students. This was actually the first time I've had a student stand me up, let alone two students, so needless to say I was a bit surprised. I used the time to reflect on my research topic for project 3, the effect of gender on tutor-to-student communication. For two weeks, I've had only girls as students; this past Friday would've been the first time in quite a while that I had a male student. This causes me to question whether or not these female students consciously choose their same gender when they are signing up for tutoring, perhaps because they feel more comfortable conversing one-on-one with another female. Particularly in collegiate settings, women are often made to feel academically inferior to men; this might contribute to why girls could be more likely to choose a fellow female as their tutor. I actually spoke with one of the male tutors and asked his permission to observe him on a few sessions for my research, but I have yet to ask a female tutor.
I also used my empty hour and a half to explore the idea of teaching as a traditionally feminine act; because women are considered more nurturing and approachable than men, it's possible that people might be more inclined to choose female tutors, as they feel more comfortable being taught by females in such a close setting. However, on the other hand, as men are viewed by society as more intelligent and capable than women, there's a chance that some people might be more privy to male tutors. These are all concepts I'll be exploring in my final research paper.
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