Single Sexed Schools: An Old Idea Reborn

Annie

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Nov 22, 2003
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I must admit, if my classes were all boy or all girl, my lesson plans would change, dramatically. This article nails the boy issues, while the girls need more 'empathy' than 'action'.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070930/ap_on_re_us/single_gender_classes

S.C. leads in single-gender classes

By SEANNA ADCOX, Associated Press WriterSun Sep 30, 2:51 PM ET

David Chadwell believes boys and girls can get through the awkward middle school years better when they're separated, learning in classrooms tailored to the learning styles of each gender.

As the country's first and only statewide coordinator of single-gender education, Chadwell is helping to make South Carolina a leader among public schools that offer such programs. About 70 schools offer the program now, and the goal is to have programs available to every child within five years, he said.

The theory is that by separating girls and boys — especially during middle school years typically marked by burgeoning hormones, self doubt and peer pressure — lessons can be more effective because they are in unique classroom settings.

For example, Chadwell explains, research shows boys don't hear as well as girls, so teachers of all-boys classes often use microphones. And because boys' attention spans tend to wander, incorporating movement in a lesson, like throwing a ball to a student when he's chosen to answer a question, can keep them focused.

In one recent boys' class, a group of gangly seventh-graders sprawled on the floor around a giant vinyl chart, using skateboard parts and measuring tape to learn pre-algebra. In a different school a few miles away, middle school girls interviewed each other, then turned their surveys about who's shy and who has dogs into fractions, decimals and percentages. Classical music played softly in the background.

Teachers in all-girls classes say they've learned to speak more softly, because their students can take yelling more personally than boys. And the educators gear their lessons to what students like: assigning action novels for boys to read or allowing girls to evaluate cosmetics for science projects.

"Boys like the activities. They like moving around. They like something dramatic," said Becky Smythe, who teaches all-boys and all-girls English and history at Hand Middle in Columbia, which launched single-gender classes this year in its sixth grade. The school plans to expand the program to seventh grade next year...
 
I think SOME of the parts of that article are pure ridiculousness, particularly about the girls and the cosmetic ads, I have a feeling thats a MINOR part of why this gender divide works, but they have to sell papers. What IS true is that girls and guys learn differently and that girls and guys benefit from being seperated whilst their hormones are raging so they can concentrate on their school work. It's just the truth. What needs to happen though is there has ot be some kind of re-integration in highschool so that boys can not develop the kind of stupid sexism that seems to come later, rather than earlier in life.
 
I think SOME of the parts of that article are pure ridiculousness, particularly about the girls and the cosmetic ads, I have a feeling thats a MINOR part of why this gender divide works, but they have to sell papers. What IS true is that girls and guys learn differently and that girls and guys benefit from being seperated whilst their hormones are raging so they can concentrate on their school work. It's just the truth. What needs to happen though is there has ot be some kind of re-integration in highschool so that boys can not develop the kind of stupid sexism that seems to come later, rather than earlier in life.

I am going to have to think about this issue. there are many pros and cons here.
 
I think SOME of the parts of that article are pure ridiculousness, particularly about the girls and the cosmetic ads, I have a feeling thats a MINOR part of why this gender divide works, but they have to sell papers. What IS true is that girls and guys learn differently and that girls and guys benefit from being seperated whilst their hormones are raging so they can concentrate on their school work. It's just the truth. What needs to happen though is there has ot be some kind of re-integration in highschool so that boys can not develop the kind of stupid sexism that seems to come later, rather than earlier in life.

Not 'cosmetic ads' but rather using cosmetics for chemistry lessons, a very good idea. In social studies the boys overwhelming are drawn to war, weapons, technology; the girls to individuals, styles of clothes, hair, and 'homefront'. Not saying it to be cute, but it's recurring throughout any era we discuss in their reports.
 
The research on this which I have seen -- although this was 20 years ago -- came up with mixed results on the question of whether single-sex schools are better for kids. (As such research often does on almost any question about society.)

My own prejudices are that single sex schools will be better for girls, and worse for boys, since boys need more socializing and civilizing than girls do.

On the other hand, I have had bright women who went to single-sex schools tell me that they later realized that they had not been really challenged with cutting-edge thinking there, they way they were later in the mixed environment of university. I think they meant peer-interaction, not teaching.

Where I live in the UK, the public (government-run) schools are mixed, and many of the private schools are single-sex (although this is changing, for market reasons).

I tutor kids from both kinds of school, but I couldn't draw any conclusions from the different experiences of my tutees, because the state schools are so awful in their own right. I did once teach part-time in an all-boys state school, and the atmosphere there reminded me of the brief time I spent in prison, except there was less discipline and more of an ambience of just-below-the-surface violence since the authorities in the school, thanks to various wonderful reforms over the last few decades, had little recourse against the thugs.

My solution: school vouchers for all, and let parents and teacher-entrepreneurs arrive at the best equilibrium mix that they can.
 
Its been said that girls and boys learn differently, so if that is true, it is wise to have separation in schools.
Think of the sexual tension in high school. How can anyone learn while hormones are at their zenith?
 
Its been said that girls and boys learn differently, so if that is true, it is wise to have separation in schools.
Think of the sexual tension in high school. How can anyone learn while hormones are at their zenith?

It's called "self-control"
 
There are how many total transgender children in the world today. Five? Six?

And children with gender identity issues are made, not born. Those kids have bigger problems than bias at school. Look very close to home.

Personally, I've always said that the UK's penchant for same-sex boarding schools results in the little-known fact that most British men have had at least one homosexual experience in their lives. And may account for the low birth rate over there as well.

Just MHO.
 
There are how many total transgender children in the world today. Five? Six?

And children with gender identity issues are made, not born. Those kids have bigger problems than bias at school. Look very close to home.

Personally, I've always said that the UK's penchant for same-sex boarding schools results in the little-known fact that most British men have had at least one homosexual experience in their lives. And may account for the low birth rate over there as well.

Just MHO.

probable has more to do with priest than private schools
 
and what about transgender children and children with gender identity issues
where do you suggest we place them ?
That is solved by my answer to the issue.
NO separate gender Schools. We don't have a world where the genders are separated, (except for personal things like restrooms, and a couple of wayward countries whom I beleive are very wrong. , and I'm not at all certain that is a good Idea. )

I do beleive that there are LIMITED circumstances where it is best to separate the genders such as gender (so-called SEX) education where there is a pronounced embarrasment factor However Both genders should be taught the identically same things, including male things to females, and female things to males. (all being age appropriate.)
 
There are pros and cons to both types of education.

My oldest son completed his education at a segregated military school and it was exactly the thing for him.
 
There are pros and cons to both types of education.

My oldest son completed his education at a segregated military school and it was exactly the thing for him.
That might well be, but this thread, and subject is about PUBLIC Schools.

Private, military, and finishing schools are up to the parents, and not on the public dole.
 
That might well be, but this thread, and subject is about PUBLIC Schools.

Private, military, and finishing schools are up to the parents, and not on the public dole.

So those that are assigned to public schools, must tow the line in spite of evidence of better alternatives?
 
I think this is a bad idea. Schools are to prepare children for the world. We don't live in a single-sexed world.
 

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