Gender inequality in Education

Gender inequality in Education This report has been written because the main aim of this research project is to investigate if there is a gender gap between boys and girls achievement in schools. Whether the education system was biased to one gender? If so what are the factors which cause this? Are there any possible solutions that can be used to solve this? The reasons behind why boys do not achieve as well as girls in school. The objectives of this report are to discuss, to discover and investigate why there is gender gap also why boys lack behind girls. This report examines to discuss the causes of this gender gap in schools for girls and boys. The issues that will be discussed in this report are as follows: the history behind the gender gap in achievement in schools because boys were once doing better than girls. The reason for this was that girls had to stay home has housewives also girls had to gain more marks in 11 plus exams than boys. Another aspect that will be looked at are schools too feminised which m ay give an advantage to girls. Other ideas which will be argued are how the curriculum is implemented and how subjects are assessed in schools. Other factors that may affect boys achievement in schools are peer pressure from friends if they worked hard in school they may be stereotyped as a geek also learning styles may affect attainment. But does social class and ethnicity affect the achievement of children in schools. However there are subjects that favour boys than girls and vice a versa such as boys do better than girls in maths and science but on the other hand girls do better in English. This report will evaluate factors that can improve this gap by having single sex classes and single sex schools. The report will contrast the for and the against arguments of having single sex classes and single sex schools. Definitions of the word gender differences Literature review There has been a lot of work done on boys and girls achievement in schools: narrowing down the gap. In 1960 young boys were 21 times more likely to attend university than girls. It can be suggested that the changing world is having an impact on boys achievement in terms of boys attainment in schools and that of girls success in schools. It was suggested that the equal pay act and that of the sex discrimination act (1970) changed the emphases of education policy and that can be noted as a key period of history that changed the objectives of girls in terms of careers and attainment. Girls had to achieve higher marks in their 11 plus examination than boys. Elwood J et al (1998, p.5) states that 11 plus examination à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ children used to be selected for secondary schooling, were deliberately skewed so that girls had t achieve better results than boys. The period 1950-1960 found the reasons behind this was because boys matured later than girls which would not have been fair to l eave out boys from attending grammar schools. But in 1990 their was concern over boys achievement in schools. It has been suggested that in societies such as the UK the socialisation process as it operated at least up to the 1970s meant that many parents socialised their daughters to show dependence, obedience, conformity and domesticity whereas boys were encouraged to be dominant, competitive and self-reliant. Also when young children saw their parents acting out traditional gender roles many would perceive these roles as natural and inevitable leading girls and boys to imagine their futures as fulltime housewives and mothers and as fulltime paid employees respectively. In schools teachers praised girls for feminine qualities and boys for masculine qualities; boys and girls were encouraged to opt for traditional male and female subjects and then for traditional male and female careers. Furthermore in certain sections of the mass media [and especially perhaps in teenage magazines] girls were encouraged to recognize the all importance of finding Mr. Right and settling down to a life of blissf ul domesticity in their traditional housewife-mother roles. Cole (2006, p.26) suggests that even before children go to school their parents will treat a boy and girl very different. Even in society throughout history this has occurred. A lot of research has gone into this; your gender is an issue from the minute you are born. Automatically society will say how a girl will behave and how a boy will behave. If it is a boy, oh hes like that because hes a boy and boys always take longer to grasp it. Girls, even in the late 1960s were more likely than boys to gain 5 or more GCE Ordinary Level pass grades. From the 1960s to the 1980s the percentages of girls and boys gaining 5 or more GCE Ordinary Level pass grades gradually increased but the so-called gender gap in educational attainment increased especially once the GCSE was introduced primarily because girls have maintained their traditional higher attainment levels in Arts and Humanities subjects but also reduced [and in some years overturned] the traditional attainment gaps in favour of boys in Mathematics and Science subjects. The GCSE was introduced in 1988 and from then onwards the female- male gender difference in educational achievement at GCSE level widened as differences between the [ higher] female pass rates and the male pass rates in Arts and Humanities widened and females narrowed or sometimes reversed the traditional higher male pass rates in Mathematics and science subjects. It has been claimed that the relative improvement of female educational achievements can be explained partly by the nature of the new GCSE courses .This has been disputed, however, on the grounds that several factors have contributed to these trends. By the late 1980s females were more likely than males to gain two or more Advanced Level passes and during the course of the 1990s they also became more likely to gain 3 or more A level passes. Females also soon became more likely than males to gain A grades in almost all Advanced Level subjects Nevertheless gender differences in examination performance at Advanced level are smaller than at GCSE level. In 2007-2008 69.3% of girls and 60.1% of boys achieved 5 or more GCSE Grade A*-C passes; 51.3% of girls and 42.0% of boys achieved 5 or more GCSE Grade A*-C passes including English and Maths. The gender difference in examination success varies considerably from subject to subject. For example girls in 2007-2008 girls outperformed boys by 14% in English, 16% in Design and Technology, 9% in Modern Foreign Languages, 17% in Art and Design and 12 % in English Literature but by only 1% in Mathematics, 2% in Core Sciences, 1% in Chemistry and 2% in Classical Studies. Although the data are not presented here Girls are now more likely to gain A* and A grades in most but not all GCSE subjects. Other areas the research will focus on are schools too feminised, advantage for girls but disadvantage for boys. Hutchings (2002) states the phrase feminisation is used simply to refer to the fact that there are more female teachers than male, especially in the primary sector. (Biddulph, 1997 cited in Skelton et el, 2007) state that the current situation is often presented as one which is detrimental to the educational experiences and opportunities of boys with the implication that boys do better when taught by men teachers. (Skelton et el, 2007) suggest that Another use of the phrase feminisation of schools is in relation to the idea that the predominance of females has led to the delivery of the curriculum, assessment practices and the management and organisation of the classroom becoming more feminine in nature. Female teachers are more lenient on boys than male teachers also male teachers can be role models for pupils which will enable the child to be motivated to learn and succe ed in education. Findings have suggested that it is vital to keep the subjects taught in curriculum interesting for children to learn about in class. This may enable children to be motivated to learn and gets rid of the label of boringness of lessons. Jackson (2006, p.127) states that if students find the curriculum boring, it provides little incentive for them to counter the uncool to work discourse. Methods of assessment have been identified particularly frequently as a key factor in this bias against boys. An increased amount of assessed coursework has been suggested to explain boys doing less well at GCSE and A levels, with the argument being that boys do less well at coursework because of their preferred learning styles (Skelton et al, 2007). Girls do less well at sudden death exams (timed exams previously unseen by the candidate) which rely on last-minute revision and require self-confidence. This latter form of assessment has been argued to favour boys, and was the basis for O level exams (the exams that preceded GCSEs in Britain). Bleach, 1998, cited in Skelton et al, 2007 In fact, however, girls results were already improving before the GCSE assessment model was introduced. And further, Arnot et al. (1999) discuss how a reduction in the coursework component in public examinations in the 1990s did little to alter the pattern of gender achievement (Skelton et al, 2007). Another issue could be masculinity peer pressure from friends Jackson (2006, p.74) states that the uncool to work this statement is suggesting that if boys work hard at school they will not be cool. (Jackson, 2006, p.84) Those who seem to be most disadvantaged as a result of the discourse are those who attempt to balance academic work and popularity but can not manage to do both successfully. This is a powerful predictor in a lot of schools, this is seen as social status of pupils needs to be popular and be part of a group. A lot of pupils will feel being unpopular is not as good as anything else. Also it will lead to negative impact. Both girls and boys have to act as they are chilled, relaxed, laid back when it comes to the academic side of work. As the relative rate of female educational improvement increased it came to be argued that this might be explained to some extent by biological factors. Experiments investigating the brain activities of male and female babies suggested that differences in the structures of female and male brains respectively may mean that females have genetically determined linguistic advantages which would explain females especial facility with language based subjects. It was also suggested that girls earlier maturity means that they can concentrate more effectively and are better organised especially in relation to course work. This was considered to be a significant point because the relative improvement in female GCSE results was associated especially with the introduction of coursework-based assessments which had been absent from the GCE Ordinary Level examinations which the GCSE replaced. However in relation to these theories it should be noted that male-female differences in Advanced level lan guage examination results are small, that the relationships between physical and intellectual maturity are uncertain and that gender differences in examination results cannot be explained only by the presence or absence of coursework. Other factors that may affect attainment are different learning styles, both boys and girls learn differently, but we need to be careful we do not stereotype on gender. When looking at the gender debate it has been suggested by Coffield (2004) that consideration to learning styles is important when establishing the link as to why there is a gap between boys and girls due to peer pressure for the boys what their friends may think if they achieved well in school, the way boys are assessed in schools for instance boys do better in exams than coursework. Examples of these could be boys would prefer to learn kinaesthetically by doing things such as experiments or activities and girls would learn well visually by seeing. Interest in learning styles has grown rapidly in recent years and perceived differences in the learning styles of boys and girls are one of the most frequently expressed explanations for the gender gap in achievement. This argument is also based on the presumption that if boys are naturally different to girls because of their biological make-up, then it follows that they will have different approaches to learning (Noble and Bradford, 2000; Gurian, 2002). Studies have shown that the vast majority of boys and girls prioritise a teachers individual ability as a teacher, and their level of care for their students, rather than a teachers gender. Skelton et al (2009), Francis et al (2008). Boys to better in maths than girls research by Hargreaves et al into pupils stereotypical attitudes to mathematics and English has shown that stereotypes succeed among pupils, with most believing that maths is a boys subject where boys do better, and English a girls subject where girls do better. DfES (2007, p. 3) Boys outperform girls in Maths at Key Stage 2, and continue to outnumber girls at higher level maths. But there is a large gender gap favouring girls in English. On the other hand girls do better in English than boys On the other hand women do better on reading comprehension and vocabulary than men do. APA report state that some verbal tasks show substantial mean differences favouring females. Whitepaper on gender differences in achievement Social class and ethnicity according to Cole (2006, p.29) states that Gender is not the strongest predictor of attainment. Social class attainment gap at key stage 4 is three times as wide as gender gap. DfES (2007, p.3) Analysis of the attainment data shows that other factors or a combination of factors, such as ethnicity and social class, have a greater bearing on educational achievement than gender considered on its own. Gender differences in educational achievement are far smaller than social class differences in educational achievement. Students of both sexes who are eligible for free school meals are far less likely than students of both sexes ineligible to be successful at both levels of the education system. Some ethnic differences in educational achievement are also greater than gender differences in educational achievement. Statistics on the gender gap between boys and girls Attainment at each end of the distribution of grades also varies by gender. Girls are more likely than boys to gain an A* grade at GCSE. Boys are a little more likely to gain a G grade at GCSE or to gain no GCSEs at all. The largest gender differences (a female advantage of more than ten percentage points on those gaining an A*-C GCSE) are for the Humanities, the Arts and Languages. Smaller gender differences (a female advantage of five percentage points or less) tend to be in Science and Maths subjects. Some of these achievement patterns have been relatively stable over six decades of exam results, particularly in English Language and Literature, French, Art and Design and Religious Studies. There have been changing patterns over the years. In Maths, there has been a shift from a male advantage averaging 4 percentage points prior to 1991 to a slim female advantage of 1-2 percentage points in recent years. In Geography, there has be en a widening of the gap in girls favour, and in History, there has been variation but with girls now doing much better than boys. This research will explore possible solutions we can use to solve this gap such as single sex schools which may help girls to speak out. Times online (2004) Girls in mixed classrooms refrain from speaking up and answering questions. Another way of solving the gender gap is by having single sex classes in mixed schools so that teachers can meet different learning styles for boys. Research has shown that girls obtain better results in single sex schools in comparison to mixed schools Curtis (2009). Odone (2004) conversely, that boys do not want to study foreign languages or shine in English literature in case they are mocked as poofs. Garner (2008) Differences in how male and female brains work mean single-sex schooling will make a comeback leading head mistress in the Independent. However the disadvantages of sex schools Blair (2006) Girls schools feature highly in the league tables because they are highly selective, their children come from particular social backgrounds and they hav e excellent teachers. BBC News (2006) While both single-sex and co-education have passionate advocates, half a century of research has so far revealed no striking or consistent differences one way or the other. Odone (2004) Children, will inhabit a mixed society later, so let them start young, with mixed classes. Younger et al (2005, p.89) found that boys and girls may feel more at ease in single sex classes, feel more able to interact with learning and feel free to show interest in the lesson without inhibition. It was felt that there can be positive effects on achievement for boys in modern languages and girls in science and maths. (Dcfs (2007) Methodology The methods that will be used to gather research for this project will be as follows: the use of books to get information on issues affecting gender differences in achievement at schools and what theorist have already found around this agenda. The internet will be useful for this research project because you can research recent and up to date statistical information on the gender gap and get government published on this debate. Journals will be useful for the research project to collect recent data and changes in the debate around boys and girls achievement in schools and narrowing down the gap. These methods of researching are called secondary research. Secondary research is the use of material, which has been researched by someone else. The different research methods for secondary research are as follows: technology based research is to do with researching from the computer to get your information, which has a lot of benefits such as the internet provides online libraries; e-books, journals and encyclopaedias such as infed. The main electronic databases that will be used for this research are as follows education research complete, education online and SwetsWise. The key read that will be used will be based on gender differences and achievement in school also how the search found a number of journals, but some were irrelevant, to the research topic. Search engines help you through the mass of information on the internet two most popular search engines are Bing, google advanced search and google scholar also on the internet you can search for newspaper articles. However web sources may not always be reliable so researchers need to find out how accurate the information there are number of ways to assess the accuracy of the sites. According to Walliman and Buckler (2008, p.92) compare the data with other sources and is it biased many use the web to promote ideas. The reasons for choosing to do the research project as a desk study were as follows: to find out what has already been researched in this field and arguments that have already been produced around this agenda. However the reasons for not choosing the fieldwork approach method were because it will be time consuming and availability of schools to carry out the research is limited and difficult to get a place in schools to do observations. The advantages of the desk study approach are as follows; able to collect, understand and interpret data also to limit costs such as travelling costs. The disadvantages of desk study may be the availability of books from the library In contrast the advantages of the interview approach (structure and unstructured) advantages of structured interviews are time management can be controlled, results are simple to gather and the questions are securely set in advance. the disadvantages of structured interviews are there might be other questions to ask and you cant develop on questions. The advantages of unstructured interviews are there is a lot of time, you can develop questions and it is a relaxed method. Disadvantages of the interview approach are as follows: The disadvantages of unstructured interviews are the interview can simply be a chat, not all the participants are asked the same questions and only some of the questions are asked. Indirect observation is when a participant gets their information from viewing from far. Direct observation is when a participant obtains information by combining with the circumstances they are watching. Advantages of the observation approach (direct and indirect) the advantages of observations are actions can be seen in the normal surroundings and observations can both be direct or indirect. Disadvantages of the observation approach (direct and indirect) the disadvantages of observations are they are lengthy and not consistent. Qualitative vs. quantitative Analysis There was clear evidence that in the era of the 11+ pass marks were set higher for girls than for boys so as to prevent girls from taking a disproportionate share of Grammar School places. From the early 1950s until the late 1960s girls were less likely than boys to be entered for GCE Ordinary Level examinations. In any case in the 1950s and early 1960s many pupils left school at age 15 having taken no official national examinations. The candidate pass rate in GCE O Level examinations was higher for girls than for boys from the early 50s to the late 1960s so that despite the higher entry rates for males the percentages of male and female school leavers actually passing 5 or more GCE O levels were fairly similar although females did usually outperform males by 1-2% each year. This overall statistic masked the facts that girls outperformed boys by considerable margins in Arts and Humanities subjects and that boys usually outperformed girls but by smaller margins in Mathematics and Scie nce subjects. In order to analyse the relative educational improvement from the 1980s onwards we must distinguish between factors accelerating the rate of female improvement and factors restricting the rate of male improvement. Females and males educational achievements have improved but the rate of female improvement has been faster and this widened the female-male achievement gap especially at GCSE level. Remember, however, that gender, social class and ethnicity are interconnected. Girls are more successful than boys in all ethnic groups but middle class boys are still more educationally successful than working class girls in all ethnic groups. Gender differences in educational achievement are smaller than social class differences in educational achievement and some ethnic differences in educational achievement. Research has shown that Of the 71,286 girls who sat GCSEs in single-sex schools over the three-year period, on average all did better than predicted on the basis of their end of primary SATS results. By comparison, of the 647,942 who took exams in mixed-sex schools, 20% did worse than expected. This means that girls in single sex schools can be expected to do better in their school, in comparison to girls in mixed schools. Studies have shown that girls in mixed sex classes tend to refrain from speaking up and boys dont want to study English to avoid being mocked as poofs', therefore single sex schools would help to resolve this issue as they will remove this pressure between the genders and allow both boys and girls to participate freely. Also Single sex schools will benefit students as male and female brains work differently. Girls can relate to emotions more and are seen as caring and talkative they can sit and talk about emotions whereas boys are more likely to do practical things instead of talking of emotions, hence why boys fail in English. So perhaps, as this leading head mistress, quoted in the Independent suggests, single sex classes need to be implemented to meet the learning strategies of the different sexes. Mainly English and foreign languages is where I believe that pupils need a gender based curriculum as was suggested by the DFES (2007) report it remarks that of the core subjects, the gender gap is widest in English; overall, the differences in language and literacy skills are given as the main cause of the gender gap in attainment. It is suggested that there is around 10% children leaving education with 5 Cs and above girls since 1968 have been slowly achieving better than boys according to Dcfs report into gender. It is a step towards the well researched idea that genders learn differently therefore it is possible to suggest that gender specific learning amongst boys and girls will close the statistical gap of attainment. Although the dfes report suggest that is no substantial evidence to back this up I believe that children will benefit from this approach. Another issue that I found is that boys tend to do better on spatial skills; they find mathematics and science more interesting to learn about. But on the other hand girls to better on verbal, comprehension and vocabulary skills than boys do. This table shows the gap in 1989 was just 6% but 10yrs later it had increased to 10%. It is suggested by S. Ball (2008) that this gap is an overall statistic and not subject specific he suggests that in 2004 the deviations of this gap was just 1% and that in some subjects boys achieve better results than girls therefore it is not valid to say that all boys or all girls achieve less in GCSE levels Conclusions In conclusion doing this research project on boys and girls achievement in schools and narrowing down the gap. The research found that there is not as big as a gap as people thought. The main factors that affect boys achievement are peer pressure and schools too feminised. The research also found that single sex schools and classes do not make that much difference but it found that girls have more confidence to participate in class discussion. In conclusion, the history of the gender gap shows that the gender gap itself has always been present in education, but was hidden by the advantage given to boys in 1960s, and it was often harder for girls to progress into further education, since it was not expected of them, therefore affecting the gender gap in the sense that there were lower numbers of girls then boys progressing. Over the years boys have improved and so have girls, maintaining the gender gap but showing that boys are adapting to the changes and are working harder to keep up. The gender differences in boys and girls does show that they learn in different ways, and these differences are, now more then ever, taken into account in teaching methods, lesson planning and assessment methods, and there is evidence showing that Boys are fighting back at A levels, with their results improving more rapidly than girls (BBC, 2004),however, it is important to recognise that there are girls and boys who wont fit into these gendered patterns and therefore focus should still be placed on the individual and not the biologically predisposed expectations, (Phoenix, 2004, pg 34). We could also conclude that this improvement could be the first sign that boys are now realising they will have to fight to maintain their place in the workforce, as history shows women have been seen as servants to the state (Steedman, 1 985, cited in Arnot and Ghaill, 2006, pg 19). This oppression of women, like other cases where parts of society have been repressed (e.g. repression of the afro-Caribbean population), resulted in women fighting or rebelling for their place in society, which is not something the male population has had to do. Therefore acting as a source of motivation for women to make sure they are treated as equals and to progress in life, where as men have missed out on this and until recently, have lacked the motivation to fight for their place. Now men are in a place of competition with women and are now beginning to see that its not particularly clever to under-achieve (BBC, 2004).

Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 12

What happened then was interesting. Mary-Lynnette got to see the sisters do all the things she'dmissed earlier in the clearing. All the hissing and the clawed fingers. Just like the movies. Except that when a vampire hissed, it sounded real. Like a cat, not like a person imitating a cat. All three girls jumped up and stood ready to fight. There wasn't any weird grimacing. But Jade and Kestrel were showing teeth that were long and beautifully curved, coming to delicate feline points that indented the lower lip. And something else. Their eyes changed. Jade's silvery-green eyes went even more silvery. Kestrel's golden eyes looked jewel-yellow, like a hawk's. Even Rowan's eyes had a dark light in them. â€Å"Oh, boy,† Mark whispered. He was standing beside Jade, staring from her to Ash. Ash said, â€Å"Hi.† Don't look at him, Mary-Lynnette told herself. Herheart was pounding wildly and her knees were trembling. The attraction of particle to antiparticle,she thought, remembering a line from last year'sphysics lass. But there was another, shorter namefor it, and no matter what she said to herself, she couldn't keep it out of her mind. Soulmates. Oh, God, I really don't want this. Please, please, Ididn't ask for this. I want to discover a supernova and study mini-quasars at the Gamma Ray Observatory. I want to be the one who solves the mystery of where all the dark matter in the universe is. I don't want this. It should have happened to someone like BunnyMarten, someone who spent timelonging for romance. The only thing Mary-Lynnette longed for wassomebody to understand †¦ †¦ to understand the night with you,a distant part ofher mind whispered. And instead here she was, stuck with a guy whose own sisters were terrified of him. It was true. That was why they were standingpoised to fight, making threatening noises. Even Kestrel was afraid of him. The moment Mary-Lynnette realized that, anger washed out the trembling dismay inside her. Whatever she felt about Ash, she wasn't afraid of him. â€Å"Don't you ever knock?† she said and walked toward him. Strode toward him. She had to hand it to her new family. Both Jadeand Kestrel tried to grab her and keep her from getting close to their brother. Protecting her. MaryLynnette shook them off. Ash eyed her warily. â€Å"Oh. You,† he said. Unenthusiastically. â€Å"What are you doing here?† â€Å"It's my uncle's house.† â€Å"It's your aunt's house and you weren't invited.† Ash looked at his sisters. Mary-Lynnette could justsee little wheels turning in his head. Had they already told about the Night World or not? Of course, if they hadn't, their behavior should be giving somebody a due. Most human girls didn't hiss. Ash held one finger up. â€Å"Okay. Now, listen† Mary-Lynnette kicked him in the shins. She knew it was inappropriate, she knew it was uncalled-for, but she couldn't stop herself. She just had to. â€Å"Oh, for God's sake,† Ash said, hopping backward. â€Å"Are you crazy?† â€Å"Yes, she is,† Mark said, abandoning Jade and hurrying forward to take Mary-Lynnette's arm. â€Å"Everybody knows she's crazy. She can't help it.† He backedup, pulling. He was looking at Mary-Lynnette as if she'd taken all her clothes off and started to dance the mambo. So were Kestrel and Jade. Their eyes had gone ordinary, their teeth retracted. They'd never seen anyone treat their brother quite this way. And to have a human doing it †¦ If the girls had superhuman strength, Ash was undoubtedly even stronger. He could probably flatten Mary-Lynnette with one blow. She still couldn't help it. She wasn't afraid of him, only of herself and the stupid floating feeling in her stomach. The way her legs wanted to fold under her. â€Å"Will somebody just tell her not to do that anymore?† Ash was saying. Kestrel and Jade looked sideways at Mary-Lynnette. Mary-Lynnette shrugged at them, her breath coming quickly. She saw that Rowan was looking at her, too, butnot in the same dumbfounded way. Rowan looked worried and surprised and sorry. â€Å"You've met,† she said. â€Å"I should have told you,† Mary-Lynnette said. â€Å"Hecame to our house. He was asking my stepmotherabout you and your friends-saying that he needed to approve them because he was head of the family.† All three girls looked at Ash with narrowed eyes. â€Å"So you have been around,† Kestrel said. â€Å"Forhow long?† Rowan said quietly, â€Å"What are -you really doinghere?† Ash let go of his shin. â€Å"Can we all sit down and talk about this like reasonable people?† Everyone looked at Mary-Lynnette. She took a deep, calming breath. She still felt as if her entire skin was electrified, but her heart was slowing down. â€Å"Yes,† she said and worked at looking normal so they'd know her temporary insanity was over. As he helped her to the couch, Mark whispered, â€Å"I have to tell you, I've never seen you act so immature before. I'm proud of you.† Even big sisters have to have some off time, Mary-Lynnette thought. She patted him vaguely and sat, feeling tired. Ash settled in a plush-covered chair. Rowan andKestrel sat beside Mary-Lynnette. Mark and Jade shared an ottoman. â€Å"All right,† Ash said. â€Å"Now can we fast introduce ourselves? I presume that's your brother.† â€Å"Mark,† Mary-Lynnette said. â€Å"Mark, that's Ash.† Mark nodded. He and Jade were holding hands. Mary-Lynnette saw Ash's eyes drop to their intertwined fingers. She couldn't tell anything from his expression. â€Å"Okay. Now.† Ash looked at Rowan. â€Å"I'm here to take you back home, where everyone misses you violently.† Jade breathed, â€Å"Give me a break.† Kestrel said, â€Å"What if we don't want to be taken?† and showed her teeth briefly. Mary-Lynnette didn't find that strange. What she found strange was that Ash didn't return the smile. He didn't look lazy or sardonic or smug right then. He looked like somebody who wants to get a job over with. Rowan said, â€Å"We can't go home, Ash.† Her breathing was slightly irregular, but her chin was high. â€Å"Well, you have to come home. Because otherwisethere are going to be some fairly drastic consequences.† â€Å"We knew that when we left,† Jade said, with aslittle emotion as Rowan. Her chin was high, too. â€Å"Well, I don't think you've really thought itthrough.† Ash's voice had an edge. â€Å"We'd rather die than go back,† Jade said. Kestrel glanced at her quickly, one eyebrow raised. â€Å"Oh, well, fine, I'll just make a note of that,† Ash said tightly. Then his expression darkened. He lookedmore determined than Mary-Lynnette would have thought he could look. Not in the least like a big blond cat. Like a lanky, elegant pale tiger. â€Å"Now, listen,† he said. â€Å"There are a few smallthings that you don't understand, and I don't have any time to play games. So how about we send yourlittle friends home and then we can all have a fam ily talk.† Mary-Lynnette's hands clenched into fists. Mark clutched at Jade, who pushed him awayslightly with her elbow. She was frowning. â€Å"I think maybe you'd better,† she said. â€Å"I'm not going to leave you.† Rowan bit her lip. â€Å"Mark †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I'm not going. Don't try to protect me. He's not stupid, sooner or later he's going to find out that we know about the Night World.† Rowan drew in her breath involuntarily. Kestrel's expression never changed, but her muscles. tensed as if for a fight. Jade's eyes went silver. Mary-Lynnette sat very still. They all looked at Ash. Ash looked heavenward. â€Å"I know you know,† he said with deadly patience.†I'm trying to get you out, you poor sap, before I find out how much you know.† The sisters stared. Mary-Lynnette opened hermouth and then shut it again. â€Å"I thought you didn't like humans,† Mark said. â€Å"I don't; I hate them,† Ash said with brittle cheer. â€Å"Then why would you want to cut me a break?†Ã¢â‚¬ Because if I kill you, I have to kill your sister,† Ash informed him, with a smile that would have fit in perfectly at the Mad Hatter's tea party. â€Å"So what; she kicked you.† Ash stopped tossing answers back like footballs. â€Å"Yeah, well, I may change my mind any minute.† â€Å"No, wait, † Jade said. She was sitting with legs folded under her, staring at her brother fiercely. â€Å"This is just too weird. Why would you care whathappens to a human?† Ash didn't say anything. He looked at the fire place bitterly. It was Rowan who said softly, â€Å"Because they're soulmates.† An instant of silence, then everybody started talking explosively. â€Å"They're what? You mean, like what Jade and Iare?† â€Å"Oh, Ash, this is rich. I just wish our father were here to see this.† â€Å"It is not my fault, â€Å"Mary-Lynnette said. She found everyone turning toward her, and realized that her eyes were full. Rowan leaned across Kestrel to put her hand on Mary-Lynnette's arm. â€Å"You mean it's really true?Mark said, looking from Mary-Lynnette to Ash. â€Å"It's true. I guess. I don't know what it's supposed to be like,† Mary-Lynnette said, concentrating on making the tears go away. â€Å"It's true,† Ash said moodily. â€Å"It doesn't meanwe're going todo anything about it.† â€Å"Oh, you've got that right,† Mary-Lynnette said. She was glad to be angry again. â€Å"So let's all just pick up our toys and go home,†Ash said in the general direction of his sisters. â€Å"We'llforget all about this; we'll just agree that it neverhappened.† Rowan was watching him, shaking her head slightly.There were tears in her eyes, but she was smiling. â€Å"I never thought I'd hear you say something likethat,† she said. â€Å"You've changed so much-I can't believe it.† â€Å"I can't believe it, either,† Ash said bleakly. â€Å"Maybe it's a dream.† â€Å"But you have to admit now that humans aren'tvermin. You couldn't be soulmates with vermin.† â€Å"Yes. Fine. Humans are terrific. We all agree; nowlet's go home.† â€Å"When we were kids, you were like this,† Rowan said. â€Å"Before you started acting like you were better than everyone. I always knew a lot of that was just show. To hide how scared you were. And I always knew you didn't really believe a lot of the horriblestuff you said. Somewhere inside, you're still that nice little kid, Ash.† Ash produced his first really flashingsmile of theevening. â€Å"Don't bet on it.† Mary-Lynnette had listened to all this feeling shakier and shakier. To conceal it, she said to Rowan, â€Å"I don't think your aunt thought so.† Ash sat up. â€Å"Hey, where is the old hag, anyway?I need to have a talk with her before we leave.† This silence seemed endless. â€Å"Ash †¦ don't you know?† Rowan said. â€Å"Of course he knows. Ten to one, he did it,† Kestrel said. â€Å"What is it that I'm supposed to know?† Ash said, with every sign of being about to lose his patience. â€Å"Your aunt's dead,† Mark told him. â€Å"Somebody staked her,† Jade added. Ash looked around the room. His expression said he suspected it was a practical joke. Oh, God, Mary Lynnette thought numbly, when he's startled and bewildered like that he looks so young. Vulnerable. Almost human. â€Å"Somebody †¦ murdered †¦ Aunt Opal. That's what you're telling me?† â€Å"Are you telling us that you don't know?† Kestrel asked. â€Å"What have you beendoing all night, Ash?† â€Å"Banging my head against a rock,† Ash said. â€Å"Thenlooking for you. When I walked in you were talking about me.† â€Å"And you didn't run across any livestock tonight?Any-let's say-goats?† Ash gave her a long, incredulous look. â€Å"I fed, if that's what you're asking. Not on a goat.Whatdoes this have to do with Aunt Opal?† â€Å"I think we'd better show him,† Rowan said. She was the one who got up and lifted the fold ofrug away from the goat. Ash walked around thecouch to see what she was doing. Mary-Lynnette turned to watch his face. He winced. But he controlled it quickly. Rowan said quietly, â€Å"Look at what was in the goat's mouth.† Ash picked up the black flower gingerly. â€Å"An Iris. So?† ‘Been to your club recently?† Kestrel asked. Ash gave her a weary look. â€Å"If I had done this, why would I sign it with an iris?† â€Å"Maybe to tell us who did it.† â€Å"I don't have to kill goats to say things, you know. I can talk.† Kestrel looked unimpressed. â€Å"Maybe this way the message has a little more impact.† â€Å"Do I looklike the kind of person who wastes time turning goats into pincushions?† â€Å"No. No, I don't think you did this,† Rowan said inher quiet way. â€Å"But somebodydid-probably whoever killed Aunt Opal. We've been trying to figure outwho.† â€Å"Well, who have we got for suspects?† Everyone looked at Mary-Lynnette. She looked away. â€Å"There's one who's pretty prime,† Mark said. â€Å"Hisname's Jeremy Lovett. He's a real-â€Å" â€Å"Quiet guy,† Mary-Lynnette interrupted. If anyonewas going to describe Jeremy, it was going to be her. â€Å"I've known him since elementary school, and I would never,ever have believed he could hurt any body-especially an old lady and ananimal.† â€Å"But his uncle was crazy,† Mark said. â€Å"And I'veheard things about hisfamily-â€Å" â€Å"Nobodyknows anything about his family,† Mary-Lynnette said. She felt as if she were struggling to keep her head above water, with barbells tied to herwrists and ankles. What was dragging her downwasn't Mark's suspicion – It was her own. The littlevoice in her head that was saying, â€Å"But he seemed like such a nice guy†Ã¢â‚¬â€œand which meant, of course, that he wasn't. Ash was watching her with a brooding, intent expression. â€Å"What does this Jeremy look like?† Something about the way he said it irritated MaryLynnette beyond belief. â€Å"What do you care?† Ash blinked and shifted his gaze. He shrugged minimallyand said with forced blandness, â€Å"Just curious.† â€Å"He'svery handsome,† Mary-Lynnette said.Gooda way to let out her anger and frustration. â€Å"And the thing is that he looks very intelligent andsensitive-it's not empty good looks. He's got hair that's sort of the color of Ponderosa pinecones andthe most wonderful brown eyes†¦. He's thin andtan and a little bit taller than me, because I'm normally looking at his mouth†¦.† Ash didn't look pleased. â€Å"I saw somebody vaguelylike that at the gas station -in town.† He turned to Rowan. â€Å"You think he's some kind of outlawvampire?† â€Å"Obviously not a made vampire because MaryLynnette has watched him grow up,† Rowan said. â€Å"I was thinking more that he might be renegade lamia.But there's not much use in trying to figure it out from here. Tomorrow we can go and see him, and then we'll know more. Right?† Mark nodded. Jade nodded. Mary-Lynnette took adeep breath and nodded. Ash nodded and said, â€Å"All right, I see why you can't go home until this is solved. So, we'll figureout who killed Aunt Opal, and then we'll take the appropriate action, and then we'll go home. Got it?† His sisters exchanged glances. They didn't answer. As she and mark walked back to their house,Mary-Lynnette noticed that Sirius had lifted abovethe eastern horizon. It hung like a jewel, brighterthan she had ever seen it before-much brighter. Itseemed almost like a miniature sun, flashing with blue and gold and violet rays. She thought the effect must be psychological,,until she remembered that she'd exchanged blood with three vampires.

Impact Of Social Media On Communication - 827 Words

Impact of Social Media on Communication Topic: Impact of social media on communication General Purpose: to inform Specific Purpose: to inform audience on how social media has changed the way we communicate with others Thesis: Social media has impacted the way we as a society use communication in our daily lives as well as in our business relationships. I. Introduction: a. Attention getter: You’re sitting at home bored and you don’t know what to do so you text your best friend to hang out. Or maybe you don’t understand a concept that was covered today in class so you email your professor. Regardless social media is your primary form of communication. b. Relevance of Topic to Audience: Living in this day and age it’s impossible to escape social media. We use it all the time to communicate with our peers, professors even family members. Businesses even use it as their main form of advertising. c. Establish credibility: As a student, I use social media all the time to communicate with my peers for group projects, and my professors when I have questions regarding material we have covered in class. It’s the fastest way to share and receive information from others and with a schedule like mine I don’t have time to waste. d. Thesis: Social media has impacted the way we as a society use communication in our daily lives as well as in our business relationships. e. Preview: Social media has changed our social interaction in two ways i. How we interact with people everyday ii.Show MoreRelatedSocial Media And Its Impacts On Communication1446 Words   |  6 PagesSocial Media, and its Impacts on Communication and Interaction in our Society Introduction The introduction and the spread of the Internet have revolutionized the way individuals communicate and interact with each other. 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