Most Americans believe that sihools shouid develop the talents of all stu-dents, girisjust as much as boy . We want all students, regardiess of their sex or their race or their backuround, to have equal opportunity in our classrooms. These are our ideáis. Ye; our classrooms usually mirror the same injustices we see in our culture When we look at gender, the focus of this casebook, we see entrenched and upsetting patterns. Teachers give boys more attention than giris at every grade level. Boys get more of the intellec-tualjousting that develops a quick and lively mind. When researchers video-tape their classrooms, even teachers strongly committed to women's issues are shocked to find that they, too. favor the boys. Why do they do so? Some teachers take active sirps to organize their classrooms in gender-fair ways. They emphasize group projects in which all students musí take an active role. They rotate leadership positions so that giris as well as boys must learn to lead the group. All too often, these teachers find that the giris, as well as the boys, resist. The clasroom slips back into oíd and comfortable ways. What shouid the teacher di) then? We may all believe that boys and giris shouid be treated equally. When we get dowri to cases, however, we find that we do not agree on what equal treatment means. Schools are complicated places, and in many situations we face competing valúes. We wan; equal opportunity for boys and giris, and we want all students to be fn- of sexual harassment, and we want all students to develop their physical abilities to the fullest and to play a sport at the peak of the game. Shouid , e then allow giris on the wrestiing team? Teachers must be sensitivi not oniy to gender but aiso to students' cultural and economic backgroi ¡ids. Many teachers may believe in gender equality, but many families give boys precedence. Suppose a Chinese giri pours out her troubles to her teacher-her parents favor her brother and threaten to spank her ifshe doe- not learn the multiplication tables over the weekend. Shouid the teacher dr .inything?