Single-Sex Education: The Pros and Cons

"wow, there is some great stuff in this article but I personally would hate to have to go to a single gender schools. for 1) i like boys WAY too much to go to school w/o them and 2)i like being put with boys because it gives me a chance to show that I can do just as much and as well as them. I've gone to co-ed schools all my life and I have maintained a 4.0 i like competition and boys are definantly fair game."

"i dont think there should seppret classes cause girls and boys would not know how to interact with eachother later in life"

"We should not support this because what will we do when we get into the real world with both genders?"

"I attend a single-sex (girls) selective entry (as in you have to pass a test to get there, you can't pay your way in) government high school in Melbourne, Australia. I hate the fact that there are no boys. Worse is that none will talk to me while I'm in my school uniform because of way people stereotype us as nerds. We have a brother school a little over fifteen minutes away but we never do anything with them. The only reason that I do not leave is that the government school I am zoned for, though it is coed, is a hole and I cannot afford a private school. I know I'm there for my education but I feel that in the future, many people who attend single sex schools will not be able to communicate with the other gender."

"i dont think single sex schools are approprite in our everyday lives for the future and may affect how we react and communicate with the oppisite sex"

"I went to a single sex school and being with all girls gave me so much confidence. I felt like I could be myself and I did not have to adhere to any gender stereotypes. I now have mature interactions with men and was glad not to have to deal with the drama that happens in coed schools. "

"single sex sx schools are abad idea"

"'lol'"

"wow"

"when there are cooler tempraturs are boys more optimised or are they staring at somthing"

" i think that single sex schools sre combletly stuoid becuse boys and girls work beter togrther some times"

"This is a great website!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"this was a very helpful website."

"Classes should be mixed girls and boys learn better and it is more fun."

"This is my first year at an all girls catholic high school, and I love it! My parents did not have to push me to go to an all girls high school; I made the decision myself. There is not as much pressure in school. There is barely any drama and you can be yourself. You don't have to worry about looking good or competing for a guy. There are absolutely no distractions. We have to wear an uniform and when we have our free dress days, I feel comfortable in wearing sweats. I know that no one is going to judge me. In the end, I feel I learn much better in a same sex school than an co-ed school. "

"I support the single-sex education for the reason being that co-ed education courses distract kids from learning, specifically this topic. And what about the issue of teaching kids to be a bit conservative-that their bodies are private and should be discussed in private? I remember sitting in class in grade school and feeling so violated having to discuss 'my' body with the boys in the room, with the girls giggling. I did not rememer anything in that class other than how uncomfortable and embarrassed I was. With this subject, I think it's best to separate the kids. This is not to attack the issue on gender separation issue, but there are plenty of opportunities that kids face together in co-ed classes and this is not something that would disrupt their thought process on fighting for what they believe in, but rather provide privacy. I agree, I think kids should choose which class they would be comfortable sitting in. To some kids, it might not be a big deal, to others-it may ! be. Schools-Show the kids that their feelings and input matter. "

"What is missing in this article is the experience in other nations which practice single gender schools. My experience in Singapore is that the best schools are single gender. The ages from 13 to 18 are full of raging hormones and a different pace of development so it helps to segregate. I taught for five months in a mixed gender middle school in the US and I spent most of my energies tackling behavioural issues rather than teaching knowledge or skills. There are, of course, other reasons for the lack of discipline in America's schools but I believe mixing the genders in schools is a major one. If America does not tackle this issue of indiscipline, then all other efforts at improving education will be in vain. "

"Sex was taught to me at high school level with boys in the classroom. I was so embarresed. Children should get the choice!!"

"My daughter is strong, independent, smart and sensitive. Beginning this year, third grade, there have been some distractions because certain boys in her class are being raised to believe that boys' opinions and education matters more than girls' opinions and education. This bias from a family with two sons and a daughter allows us to talk to our daughter about bias, male privilege. These 'teachable moments' are difficult and important. While we have considered a girls only school for middle school, we are leaning toward a traditional, public middle school precisely to give her the opportunity to come up against this type of bias and to learn from it."

"I'm glad that your staff writer, Ms. Stanberry, kept the nature issue out of this article vs her article,'Are Boys and Girls Wired to Learn Differently'. Their probably are genetic factors; however, her comments and references did little to illuminate that in her last article. What I am most interested in is whether there are outcome studies that show a difference in objective measures of learning between single sex education for boys and girls. I believe there are such studies and they tend to support girls gaining more than boys (especially in Math/ Science) when given single sex education. I hope that GREAT SCHOOLS can shed more light on this subject by referencing rigorous studies in educational research and presenting them in a simplified way that is easier for parents to understand and apply to their children."

"If we fought so strongly against racial segregation in our schools, how can we possibly think that gender segregation could be the right thing to do? Moreover, saying it will help destroy stereotypes by bringing girls up to par in math and boys in poetry, isn't that just fueling the gender stereotypes we're aiming to destroy? Single-sex education is one, giant paradox. "

"This page was very helpful for my project."

"I did comment earlier on my 10th grade son (if there was a choice he would be in a class with boys due to his chatty/disruptive behavior) and failed to mention I went to an all girl school for 9th grade and would have liked to continue but was pulled out because a co-ed priv. school offered discounts for each additional child (there were six of us). There were opportunities with joint dances from all boy schools. I do feel it is not a segragation matter at all. It depends how each student/child learns the best. If I could afford it my children would be going to a private boys school. I think the best option would be to have the core classes offered with the option of same sex classes and leave the other classes as mixed that way they would have the best of both. The advanced placement classes could be left alone due to the obvious reasons that those children are not having issues being in a mixed class."

"If I had the option I would definately choose single sex class for my son. He is to chatty, disruptive in class with the girls and has been since middle school (he is now 10th grade). His grades have suffered. "

"I support the separation of genders especially at the intermediate, middle school, and junior high level. I am in my second year of teaching middle schoolers, and I have found that the fundamental cause of distraction/loss of focus is the opposite sex. Will everything be 'fixed' with the separation of genders? No, but a major obstacle to student success will be removed. There are plenty of opportunities outside of school for teens to interact socially. Teens always find a way. And as for having to work together in the workplace, there are always challenges in the workplace and people learn to deal with them. There are many adults who have been educated separately, this is not a new and innovative approach to Education. It's just one that I think needs to be seriously revisited, debated, and ultimately implemented at this grade level. "

"I am against segregation of the genders. We are all human beings and we need to be able to work and play together all our lives. This removal is not a good experiment. Women fought hard to be included in all aspects of society; instead of utilizing adult, problem solving skills we are just reverting back? I find this a sign of our times. We don't seek resolution to the issues that they state exist, we segregate, we compromise instead of fix? What century did I wake up this morning in? Heh, you parents that have both gender kids - are you going to set up a household within a household to segregate? What about you bad parents that let your toddlers bath together? This is where the problem started from, possible? I know I sound stupid and so do the people that are proposing this mess. So it is just a step away, that in the business world, men should be segregated from women? What are you thinking (or should I ask drinking or smoking?)? I just can't express how astounded and shocked that this is even a discussion here among parents. This is another smoke screen thrown up by the educated to cover the deficiencies that they have created in the educational field. So lets go back to the turn of the century, when women didn't continue higher education because they were the MOMs, which kept the household, and the girls won't be a problem for the educational field. And all the boy's issues will disappear with that said. Not. Do any of you read the school data right here on this web site? When you see that nationally we fail to see to graduation over 30% of our kids, doesn’t it make you sick and mad? It does me. Then look at the stats for the kids making it. Only 50% are on grade level and starting middle school the numbers continue to slid backwards.. Here in just 3 short school years our nations schools have to make that 90%. They know they can not do it so they are puffing smoke up ours to lay the blame somewhere other than at their doorstep. There is a disease in our educational field and the fox is watching the hen house. The educational field is not our friend. They have created the fix they are in, yet they are unwilling or worse, unable to self diagnose and take action. Remember in Florida, the teacher graduates were unable to score a passing grade for the grade level they were licensed to teach for? The union stopped that testing practice! But for our kids testing is everyt! hing. I don’t really believe that this is the answer. As the testing bar has, just like the limbo bar, become impossible for the average kid. The graduated teachers couldn’t do it! Yet as parents we let the school districts have free rein, believing (wanting to believe) that they know best. They are proving with zero tolerance, lack of adequate supervision, failure to listen to the community on practically every issue that they don’t know best. But then it comes back to us, the parents to have to be involved on a daily basis. But the kids that are succeeding do have that parent that asks about school, looks at the homework, helps proof it and show the errors their child made. ONE on ONE, it is the only thing that helps a kid who is lost at school. They get so far behind that they do the human thing, they give up and just doin time, till they age out. Believe me I have talked to educators who agree that is what happens. The district doesn’t have enough doll! ar resources to make a change. That’s because they won’t ! change. They have to be omniscient. You certainly have questioned something in your child’s education? Please honestly, didn’t you get the impression that you weren’t qualified to have an opinion? This didn’t happen overnight. We went from basically a set of mothers who loved to teach, to an assembly line process and humans are more fragile than metal and plastic, so the discards from the assembly process just have to find their own way. That is what happens to them. When you take a kid (remember minor under the age of, someone’s little boy or girl no matter what their age) and you make that kid fail for years on end, what magic wand do you wave that enables them to success? My son’s school, the principal gives a little “pep� talk every morning. He closes with ‘it’s your choice�. Well girls, it is not their choice. They are driven like cattle with prods all day long. There are fights among students every week. The school withholds bathroom supplies! due to vandalism. They have three minutes to change classes, no exceptions; you’re not in your seat to detention you go. Ask the teacher to use the rest room? The attitude from the teacher? You can wait.. These things happen everywhere. Your kid isn’t going to tell you because “it will get them in trouble at school�. I go for lunch and visit with my child and I observe. It is not good. Does the staff mean it to be this way? I don’t think so, but they are human too and they maybe took a job that they didn’t really understand. A job where the teacher’s are stated as crying during the day. What? ( I have to take a time out and comment the educational field has to have the largest job dissatisfaction rating listening to teachers, and pay is the number one complaint. When is enough, enough) And this is not an inner city, struggling school. Suburb nice homes, parents with jobs. Excepting of course the 120 that are not bused, but their neighbor hood is sliced into 7 pieces and attached to other neighborhoods and the school provides transportation. Their parents are cut off from the school because it is 30 minutes away from their homes but that decision was not there’s but they have to live with it. And we are right where we started. What do we do as parents? Go to the PTSO meetings (be prepared though if your not there to be a yes getter), go to SAC or other councils (again be prepared) and try for a difference from the bottom up. The problem of course no one wants to align himself or herself publicly with the “trouble maker�. I did one year enlist 30 parents who promised to stand firm and stay the time, they gave up before Thanksgiving. It takes a rhino hide and a strong stomach because the mantra is “no one else is complaining other than you� is delivered a lot to you. I still believe in parents, I know your there, you know your needed, you just have to step up to the plate and start swinging. Swing for your kid and you’ll be making homeruns for everyone’s and mine. We just need you to find your voice and use it. And use it a lot. Remember when our kid’s were two? They asked you a hundred times a day to explain it to them. They need us to co! ntinue to do that for them a hundred times a day still. They may not appreciate it as much but they need us back. Can we do that? "

"I have seen research about this topic in the past, and my opinion is as follows: In elementary school, mixed genders is fine. I find the fact that more girls in the room makes for a better atmosphere, and would tend to agree with it. HOWEVER, once a child hits middle school, then high school, given the option, I would DEFINITELY send my son to a same-sex school. Less emphasis is placed on trying to attract the opposite sex, and more emphasis is on learning. I attended high school in my freshman year at an all-girls school. (In Louisiana, many high schools were segregated.) However, the following year, high schools were combined and mine was the last graduating class of an all-girls system. Freshman year was great! No makeup to worry about - who cares about one's appearance,per se, as in the intent to attract male attention. Morale began to slip downhill when the boys came in. Just my opinion and my experience. RW"

"As a current high school student, I cannot say I would agree with the idea of Single-Sex Education. Although the idea of having boys and girls being taught completely differently based on their gender may sound like it would work, it most likely wouldnt. A child's understanding of the concept and the enviroment they are taught in greatly affects their teaching, but it is not whether there are people of the opposite gender in the class which may make it seem like they are not understanding the concept. The teacher's teaching style, personality, and the classroom affect the child's learning capability. And in some cases, its not even the opposite gender, but the same gender that puts pressure on a student. The pressure to fit in and in some cases, girls or boys dumb themselves down. So I think that Single-Sex education should not be applied across the nation."

"As a girl, who did great both in science and literature, I would say that my best and most challenging company at school were boys, who were also doing good in science, history, literature, etc. It is not realy gender that determines what you excell in and seperation by gender in my case would simply lead to lowered standards for knoweledge. My daughter will not go to single sex school, does not matter what is she good at."

"I think it is a strategy that can only help, but will need training teachers how to approach the differences. And since the majority of teachers in k-6 are female, it is clear to me, based on my experiences, that (we) female teachers in general need a complete overhaul on how to teach and respect the needs of boys. I do not think we have been trained very well, and we are resistant to the idea that we can be inherently discriminatory in how we treat boys. I do not believe it is too great a statement to say that the feminized curriculum and culture of school is anti-boy, and it has become institutionalized. I know this is a political and polemic issue which raises the hackles of feminists and women's advocacy groups, but the facts are the facts, and if the achievement gaps were reversed we would be in the throes of a national emergency to save the girls. So frankly, I am just skipping the hostility from feminists on this issue, and getting educated on how to work with and! empower boys, and having them in a class room to themselves would be great."