As I was trying to decide what to write my blog on this week and after looking over topics from the syllabus, I decided to write about something that is close to my family. My youngest daughter is graduating from an all girls school as did I and her two older sisters. My son will be attending an all boys high school in the fall. My husband also attended an all boys high school. What made us decide to attend these schools and send our children to them? I not sure there was really a debate about it. It was just expected that my kids would attend same sex schools. I did briefly look into public schools but the ones I would want my kids to attend were just too far. Plus I like the sense of community I received and I think my girls received from attending a same sex school. I have been friends with girls from high school for more than twenty-five years. Is this because of the religious affiliation or because of gender? I think maybe a bit of both but since my kids are not particularly religious, I would have to lean more towards the argument that it was because they attended a same sex school. The argument against same sex schools is that these kids will eventually be in the 'real' world and have to coexist and work and live with others of the opposite sex and they do not learn how to do that in same gender schools. An article on Instructor Web (
http://www.instructorweb.com/doc/coeducationalschool.asp), describes pros and cons of same sex schools. I took issue with one statement that said "almost everyone today believes that coeducation is by far the best choice for students in their teens, because it recognizes that the two genders live, work, and play together in the real world". I am not sure who 'everyone' is but I think the author needs to visit the south side of Chicago and see firsthand how many kids attend same sex schools. Is this an anomaly just for this particular geographic area? Perhaps, but it does not mean that these students are not getting the best education and do not learn how to interact with members of the opposite sex. I realize these are not public schools and not everyone can afford to send their kids or do not want to since these schools are affiliated with a particular religion. In another article I read, it that stated these schools exclude people of opposing beliefs. This is not true. The schools my family attended accept kids of different religions. I attended a same sex high school and then went on to a public university and graduated in four years. Did I have a difficult time interacting with members of the opposite sex? Absolutely not. My girlfriends and I had a group of guy friends from various all boy high schools and had many male friends in college also. In fact, many of them are still my friends today.
I think same sex schools allow kids to be themselves without having to worry about how they look, how smart they appear to the opposite sex, and all the other normal sexual tensions that teenagers have. They can just be themselves for those six hours a day and not worry about if some boy or girl likes them. Another article I read stated that girls learn better without boys around. They "thrive" in that environment, speak more freely , and have more teacher contact and academic acknowledgment. (
http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/samesex_schooling_pros_and_cons) In the same article though, it stated that girls program are underfunded compared to boys. In my experience, this was the practice when I attended school but it was also true in coed public schools. Until Title IX came into existence this was the fact across the country. This is not true today. The school my girls went to has some of the best sports and extracurricular programs in the state. It is an academically challenging school and 99% of the girls go on to college. Do they end up not graduating because they can't handle being around males and don't know how to coexist? Absolutely not. My daughter is graduating from college this weekend and all of her friends that she attended high school with are also graduating this spring. And they attended coed colleges. So much for the theory that they will not learn how to live in the real world with males.
I am not sure how this could work in a public school setting. I know there are some schools that give parents the choice to place their children in a single sex classroom at the grade school level but these schools have to allow them the choice to learn in a traditional coed class. Not all schools could offer this option due to space constraints. You also have to have teachers that are willing to work in that environment or it would just not work. There are also some public high schools in Chicago that offer this option. This article gives some viewpoints on same gender classes in the public schools:
http://www.singlesexschools.org/chicago_Jan07.htm. Another article that might be of interest to you discusses particular same sex schools and schools with same sex classrooms.
http://www.brighterchoice.org/fileadmin/user_upload/report.pdf
I appreciate your insight and thoughts about same-sex schooling. I wonder, how do your children feel about it? I'd be curious to know their pros and cons!
ReplyDeleteSame sex schools work. The children are focused on their work versus what the opposite sex is doing. "Leonard Sax, the founder of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education, said he believes single-gender programs have a firm basis in science showing the different brain development and learning styles of boys and girls. It also offers parents choices."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2007/12/samesex_schools_see_resurgence.html
I think the boys at my school would perform a lot better without girls around. They wouldn't feel the need to "prove" themselves. Educationally students tend to focus more.
My brothers and I both went to public school from kindergarten to eighth grade. Then both my brothers went to an all boys Catholic high school and I went to the local public schools. It was our choice where we wanted to go to high school. My older brothers choose a single sex private school. When I decided to go the public high school my parents agreed as long as my grades were good, I could go to school anywhere I wanted. All of us turned out with great social skills, able to make friendships and create relationships with the other sex. I don’t think that the school you go to will determine your social skills with the opposite sex. I do think that sometimes teenagers would be less distracted if they were in a single sex school or classroom, but is not a factor of social skills.
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