Teacher Resources: Lesson Plan

Title IX: Examining the Inadvertent Effects of Court Rulings

Overview

Often, Supreme Court Rulings have unintended effects. Using The Court and Gender Essay as an anticipatory set, students will examine the unintended effects of past rulings. Students will then examine the Supreme Court rulings on Title IX, which affected women's and men's sports programs. Students will determine if the actual outcomes of the ruling match its intended outcomes.

National Curriculum Standards met by this lesson

For a list of standards that this unit addresses, click here.

Time Required

1-2 50-minute class periods, plus time in or out of class for research

Materials

The Lesson

Anticipatory Set

  1. Ask students which sports they like to watch. Create a list of their responses on the chalkboard/overhead.
  2. Next, ask them which sports they like to play. Write a second list next to the first.
  3. As a class, discuss the lists. Are the lists similar? Are they different?
  4. Finally, examine the lists for male and female opportunities. Mark the sports that have only male teams with an M, only female teams with an F, and sports that have both male and female with a B. Using the lists, ask the following question:
    • Do males and females have equal opportunities to play a variety of sports?

Procedures

  1. Explain that they will be examining court rulings that affected U.S. society differently than the court intended.
  2. Pass out the narrative, The Court and Gender. Have the students read it quietly or read it aloud to the class.
  3. Once the class is finished, have the students reread the narrative, marking it as follows:
    • ! -- facts that were surprising
    • ? -- passage that needs clarification or student has a question about the fact
  4. Ask the class which parts of the narrative they found surprising. Use their responses to hold a short discussion about the women's rights discussed in the narrative.
  5. Ask students for their questions, and respond to them.
  6. In the "Family, Marriage, and Gender Differences" section of the narrative, discuss Wallingsford v. Allan and the passage on dower rights. Point out that in both of those cases, the court's rulings led to a change in U.S. society that was unintended.
    --Wallingsford v. Allan--advanced equality for women unintentionally
    --Dower rights--began the legal independence of women, including married women
  7. Today, Title IX is a much-debated Supreme Court ruling. Title IX law is included below as a reference, taken from the website Find Law website at:
    http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/20/chapters/38/sections/section_1681.html

Note: These numerical and alpha references are taken as excerpts from the whole law.

(9) Institution of higher education scholarship awards in ''beauty'' pageants this section shall not apply with respect to any scholarship or other financial assistance awarded by an institution of higher education to any individual because such individual has received such award in any pageant in which the attainment of such award is based upon a combination of factors related to the personal appearance, poise, and talent of such individual and in which participation is limited to individuals of one sex only, so long as such pageant is in compliance with other nondiscrimination provisions of Federal law.

(b)Preferential or disparate treatment because of imbalance in participation or receipt of Federal benefits; statistical evidence of imbalance

Nothing contained in subsection (a) of this section shall be interpreted to require any educational institution to grant preferential or disparate treatment to the members of one sex on account of an imbalance which may exist with respect to the total number or percentage of persons of that sex participating in or receiving the benefits of any federally supported program or activity, in comparison with the total number or percentage of persons of that sex in any community, State, section, or other area: Provided, That this subsection shall not be construed to prevent the consideration in any hearing or proceeding under this chapter of statistical evidence tending to show that such an imbalance exists with respect to the participation in, or receipt of the benefits of, any such program or activity by the members of one sex.

(c) ''Educational institution'' defined

For purposes of this chapter an educational institution means any public or private preschool, elementary, or secondary school, or any institution of vocational, professional, or higher education, except that in the case of an educational institution composed of more than one school, college, or department which are administratively separate units, such term means each such school, college, or department.

The purpose of Title IX was to prevent an imbalance in the treatment of educational programs based upon gender. For example, women's sports teams in high schools and universities should be given equal treatment with male sports teams.

Since its implication, Title IX has been highly controversial. Opponents of the ruling argue that it is having unintentional negative effects on sports programs by causing the elimination of opportunities for both male and female athletes. Proponents claim that the ruling is necessary in order to advance opportunities for women.

8. Students will research Title IX, writing a 2-3 page double-spaced typed report. In their research, students will discover:

In addition, students will form their own opinion of the ruling based upon their research.

Possible Internet resources are listed under Related Works below.

Assessment

Name: ______________________

Date: ______________________

Title IX Research Project Rubric

 

Poor

Fair

Okay

Good

Excellent

Summary of Title IX ruling

1

2

3

4

5

Description of the Ruling's Intentions

5

10

15

20

25

Description of the Actual Results of the Ruling

5

10

15

20

25

Student's opinion, based on Research

5

10

15

20

25

Grammar & Spelling

3

6

9

12

15

Bibliography

1

2

3

4

5

Total: _____________

Comments:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Related Works

This website is run by the Women's Sports Foundation, which is a major proponent of Title IX. It lists facts and other information related to Title IX:
http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org

National Center for Policy Analysis--this website lists arguments against Title IX:
http://www.ncpa.org/pi/edu/pd080999b.html

American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance--this group discusses the implications of Title IX and updates any "threats" to the ruling (court cases challenging it):
http://www.aahperd.org/nagws/title9.html

411 Volleyball--this link is to an opinion piece in favor of Title IX:
http://Home.earthlink.net/~tfakehany/9.html

The Center on Congress at Indiana University--good article with background information on Title IX:
http://Congress.Indiana.edu/radio_series/title_nine.php

Interdisciplinary Works

Language Arts: students could hold a debate on the effects of Title IX.

Technology: As an enrichment activity, students could create a PowerPoint presentation of the opinion of the effects of Title IX.