Wolfe's Gender, Ethnicity and Classroom Discourse

I'm not sure if the heavy winds were distracting me, but I found Wolfe's essay a bit hard to follow, especially the first ten or so pages. Wolfe focused on studies done which compared White students and Hispanic students, male/female students. The information shared dealt primarily with how the students faired in face-to-face settings vs computer-mediated settings.  There was quite a bit of background information given (I think that's when I fell asleep...I blame the wind!) But then I was revived when I read some of the results, and they seemed to correlate with racial stereotypes. The results showed white males as the highest participants in face-to-face classes and white women to prefer computer classes because they felt that their opinion wasn't heard in a classroom setting because others dominated them. Hispanic women were found to participate quite often, which actually went against the stereotype of them being "passive and docile." I wasn't even aware that this was a sterotype of hispanic women. I teach at a school that is 99% Hispanic, and the females at the school (students, parents, and teachers) are anything but quiet and docile!! One correlation that didn't surpise me was that the three Black females in the class were the most vocal of the environment. I found the the explanation to be based on stereotypes, but I guess in many ways, some stereotypes have some validity. "These results are consistent with studies suggesting that many Black women do not suffer from the passive and submissive gender role stereotypes that often constrain White women and consequently often tend to identify with traits such as assertiveness and leadership that are traditionally defined as masculine in White culture." (Wolfe 513) Asian students in the study were the least vocal and participation from Asian women was even less than that of White women. I found the findings to be interesting, and hopefully they can help educators find better means of communicating with students.