Perceptions of Gender Competence: Are Christian Colleges Different

Authors

Edee Schulze, Wheaton CollegeFollow
Annette Tomal, Wheaton College

Abstract

Perceptions of student and professor competence and respect were investigated through a survey of 2042 students from 77 liberal arts colleges, both Christian and non-Christian. The Christian schools are part of the CCCU (Council for Christian Colleges and Universities); CCCU responses were 78.5 percent of the total. Chi- Square and Mann-Whitney tests were used to determine if gender and type of college affected students’ responses. Two conclusions can be made about student competence and value: (1) male CCCU students are most likely to believe that male students are viewed as more competent than female students and (2) non-CCCU students are more likely to believe that male and female student opinions and questions are valued equally. Regarding faculty gender differences, two conclusions can be made: (1) non- CCCU males are most likely to believe that female and male professors are treated with equal respect, and (2) CCCU female students are least likely to believe that female and male professors are viewed as equally competent.

Students were also asked to identify factors that cause them to feel intimidated in a classroom. The top three reasons were difficulty of course content (60 percent of students), professor’s teaching style (41 percent of students), and personality style of classmates (39 percent of students). The least cited reason (12 percent of students) was being a gender minority in the classroom.

Recommended Citation

Schulze, Edee and Tomal, Annette (2005) "Perceptions of Gender Competence: Are Christian Colleges Different," Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development: Vol. 5: No. 5, Article 2.
Available at: https://pillars.taylor.edu/acsd_growth/vol5/iss5/2