Adolescent females "voice" changes can signal difficulties for teachers and administrators

This article describes the different preferences in learning styles of adolescent females and males, based on the pioneering work on adolescent values development by Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan. Since values education programs are currently considered very important, educators need to explore the philosophical, psychological, and social influences on students' learning preferences before they can introduce appropriate curricula. An indication of problems in adolescent females frequently is the occurrence of voice changes, for example, girls may express viewpoints that do not represent their true beliefs and feelings. Curricular and co-curricular suggestions are presented.