Shortly after Martin's introduction of her gender-sensitive perspective, the
four authors of this book came together, as feminist philosophers of educa-
tion from Canada and the United States, to initiate plans for our first joint
symposium: "Should Public Education Be Gender Free?" Thus began our
ongoing collaborative inquiries and philosophical dialogues, which continue
to the present day and led to this collection of essays.

All four authors use a gender-sensitive methodology in this book. The
same persistent question recurs throughout our inquiries: What do we dis-
cover when we pay careful, systematic, sensitive attention to the difference
that gender makes in educational thought and practice? And the answer, in
broad terms, is that a gender-sensitive approach leads us to discover both
new critiques and new possibilities. In some chapters we are more preoccu-
pied with critique, in others with possibility; in a number of chapters we in-
clude both.

On the critique side, a gender-sensitive perspective uncovers the extensive
effects and harmful consequences of society's gender discrimination, which
inevitably intrudes upon education and can even undermine our best peda-
gogical practices. On the possibilities side, taking a gender-sensitive perspec-
tive on education can open up new angles of vision, expand our range of al-
ternatives, alter our priorities, change our preoccupations, and help us to
think more creatively about long-standing educational problems.

In Part 1 we begin with some theoretical basics: What do we mean by sex-
ism? How can we explain well-intentioned disagreements over what counts as
sexism? Which analyses lead us to say that someone can be well meaning and
yet still be acting in a sexist manner? How can we recognize sexist education?
Maryann Ayim and Barbara Houston discuss these questions in Chapter 1,
where they guide us through the process of identifying and assessing various
forms of sexism and sexist education. Ayim and Houston show how disagree-
ments can arise when we shift our focus from questions about sexist inten-
tions to ask instead about the existence of sexist content or to inquire into the
occurrence of sexist consequences.

Ayim and Houston also address common concerns about the way we use
the term sexism and draw helpful distinctions for its use. For example, they
remind us to distinguish between the act of assessing something as morally
objectionable (e.g., sexist) and the further, separate move of imputing moral
blame. In the final section of Chapter 1, Ayim and Houston demonstrate the
application of their analyses to five educational cases.

Once we glimpse the pervasive complexities of sexism and its links with
our educational experiences, we start to question what we should do about all
of this. In the first subpart, each of the three interconnected chapters sets
forth an alternative vision of how gender should be treated in public educa-
tion. The first alternative offers a traditional form of education in which girls
and boys are taught their own clearly differentiated, socially determined gen-
der roles (Chapter 2). The second alternative outlines an education that aims

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