From Wellesley to Smith to Barnard to our very own Mount Holyoke, the concept of single sex education has now more than ever before seemed to interest me. Understanding the reasoning behind why a school would choose only to educate women is one that baffles me. Founded in 1837, when the concept of women’s education seem more than revolutionary, Mary Lyon established the Mount Holyoke seminary known today as Mount Holyoke College. Currently, more than 2,000 students attend the prestigious liberal arts school located in the quaint town of South Hadley. Many see Mount Holyoke as the (establisher?) of women’s education as it was the first of what is known today as the Seven Sister schools. My question is very simple, if college is supposed to prepare one for the real world, one that we have to face once we graduate then why create a space such as this one so different from the real world? Why create a space where you don’t need to prove yourself to be stronger, better and as witty as the other gender, and why create an environment in which you feel so protected that you don't feel ready for the real world. In today’s day and age, what is so good about the so called women’s education system that such schools glamorize.
Women’s education has been seen as a way for all the focus on all the attention and opportunity on the students that attend the college. It is seen as a way to eliminate the need to compete with their male peers, with no one to compete with these colleges argue that women have the ability to hold all of the leadership positions on campus which provide them with a valuable experience to apply their future cultures and post-graduate lives. The environment provides women with stronger role models they aren't typically p...
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...sors I’ve had a chance to work with and beautiful buildings I’ve had a chance to work in, I can’t seem to shake the concept of single-sex education. Despite there being multiple positives or as some might say pros of attending a women’s college, I feel the negatives definitely outweigh the positives. The colleges, much like Mount Holyoke promote an extremely healthy message and their passion for women to move forward in the world is one that I definitely admire, and though this might be a proven way to do so, it’s one that doesn't seem to agree with me. The concept of being in such an unnatural environment has made me more of an introverted person which seems to hinder from most of the daily activities I should be able to, but can’t do. Surely, there are multiple people who this sort of environment is perfect for, but I for one am definitely not one of those people.
“In the United States and several other countries, women now actually surpass men in educational achievements” (Josh, “Harvard Summer School”). Some women are more educated and qualified for most
‘Keep Wellesley as a special place as it is, keep it as a place where young women can feel as free as we felt to explore…(Clinton, 2013)” Those were the words from the former first lady and actual U.S secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Female colleges from Clinton’s perspective is that they are magnificent places where women freely develop leadership roles without being distract from the male presence. These single sex colleges offer a huge range of development areas for women in order to become them excellent leaders and efficient professionals at whichever area they wish to perform. The issue is not to compete between the education quality offered by female colleges and coed-schools. Both of them offer a good educational curriculum, but they might offer a different environment which influences the skill development of girls. Hence, by analyzing a variety of results from students coming from women colleges allowed to state that Female colleges are empowering effective tools for women, because they help them to fully develop their academic, communication and leaderships skills oppressed by society.
All-male colleges once represented the dominating type of schools and education before the coed education became the norm. However, during the 1950's many all-male colleges began to accept female students. Hence the number of all-male colleges has sharply decreased since then. There are only 3 non-religious, four-year men's colleges by 2008; they are Hamden-Sydney College, Morehouse College and Wabash College. Though there are only three all-male colleges in nation and some of them are considering accepting female students, I strongly believe that all male colleges should not be abolished because of the significant growth and development they bring to male students, the distinctions among genders the tighter bond they build among males
When I was about to enter kindergarten, my parents initially wanted to enroll me into an all-girls preparatory school. However, my parents changed their mind and believed that co-ed schools had better opportunities and a better way to create more diversity in our society. Some may argue that single-sex schools have been proven to have students attend and graduate from four-year universities. This then allows both respective sexes to focus on their studies rather than their appearance and physical attraction. However, single-sex schools are only going to lead to segregation and separating genders in the classroom should not be a place for it to bloom from. communication with the other sex is important to where it preps students for the real world. Though single sex and co-ed schools have both pros and cons, co-ed schools provide a more realistic portrayal of what would happen in the professional working field. Co-ed schools provide and develop social communication skills between both genders instead of one.
According to Leonardo Sax, the founder of the National Association for Single-Sex Public Education, “...whenever girls and boys are together, their behavior inevitably reflects the larger society in which they live” (Stanberry, 3). (1) It is a part of nature for girls and boys to socialize and get prepared for the real-world and develop skills to interact with another gender. (2) In the real-world it is conventional for both genders to work together and communicate everyday. (3) According with the journal “Forbes”, when students are separated by gender, they miss an opportunity of working together with different perspectives and developing their own, new, and unique thoughts as well as ideas (Saunders, 1). (4) Advocates often argue for schools to be a reflection of a ‘real’ world to prepare young adults for the future (Jackson, Ivinson, 15). (5) When both genders learn together, they learn from one another and benefit from absorbing various learning styles (Saunders, 4). (6)
In this paper I will use a multitude of research that shows scholarly evidence on why single sex education is harmful to one’s over all wellbeing and physiological health throughout one’s life. Single sex education is defined, as “the practice of conducting education where male and female students attend separate classes or in separate buildings or schools”(Pinzler, p. 785, 2005). The controversy over single sex education involves aspects such as its effectiveness and social ramifications of binary genders. Supports of single sex education believe that there are fewer distractions because everyone is of the same sex. Supporters also believe single sex education is also seen as a way to break down stereotypes such as women not doing well in the math and science field. They believe that single sex education helps males also break out of typical gender roles such as hyper masculinity. However, proponents believe separating girls and boys makes little to no difference in their academic achievement and is actually more harmful to your identity.
Throughout the 20th century, there was an assumption that Co-Education was the only choice for education. It had reached the point that Single-Sex Education was discriminating, and was considered to be inherently. Finally, in the last decade, the federal guidelines of Education have become more relaxed and are now allowing Single-Sex Education. In the past decade, a number of schools have offered and also experienced with Single-Sex Education. Single-Sex Education is a great offer for schools, and should be used more often.
...gues in the women’s studies program and other contexts has enriched my life far beyond the classroom. In my future work, I will encourage others to learn from the history of feminism and to apply feminist pedagogy in the classroom. My experiences being the only African American (and sometimes the only male) in many professional and personal settings have reinforced my conviction that the best hope for future progressive change is to build alliances that celebrate human commonality, and demonstrate for our students that (as June Jordan has written) “freedom is indivisible.” While we all can benefit from the comfort and even the catharsis that single-sex and single-race settings can provide, our students and our society are best served by cooperative, feminist-inspired work by women and men to challenge sexism, racism, and every other threat to freedom and justice.
Education is the main base for everyone in today’s society. There are several factors that could affect one's education. Statistics show that single sex schools have been shown to receive higher test scores than their coeducational counter-parts, therefore, one of the most important factors that could affect one's education is whether they attend a single sex or coeducational school. The separation of genders during education has been considered a great importance because it has been shown to be able to increase a student’s educational achievements and quality of his or her work. The use of single sex education has been used since the 19th century, with the common idea being that if boys and girls were separated during the school day, it would allow for fewer distractions in the classroom. To this current day, many people still believe in the use of single sex education, which is still being utilized in many areas of the United States. This issue is on a national level due to it being an issue that needs to be addressed by the whole country. In light of the increase of single-sex schools, the United States government must require schools nationwide to offer a less distracting environment without the opposite sex in all subjects, which provides each sex with greater self-confidence and higher academic success.
Critics of single-sex education are concerned that single-gender education will not prepare students for the “real world.” They are worried that by separating students by sex, it will be a disadvantage to them trying to navigate in a world that is full of the opposite sex. Since women and men are going to have to interact in the workplace, school can be an environment in which gender differences are understood. An example of this would be how a male would react to having a female supervisor. Students can learn to deal with the social issues instead of avoiding
I can 't imagine how many times I have wondered what attending a single sex school would be like. It 's exciting to think that being part of an all girls school would allow me to grow as an ambitious and confident person due to the fact that there were no boys around. But it also reminded me how lucky I was to have met some pretty cool people in grade school, already, and how I would not have been able to meet them if I had gone to a school with only girls as my peers. Coming from a timid family, I often look back at how forgetful I could have been in an all girls class and how I would have to have gone the extra mile to remind my teacher how much I would be learning in their class. Being a part of a coed school community, I feel as though
Finally, there is no one sex school is going to be right for every student. There are many advantages and disadvantages mentioned in that essay before. But it's thought all over the world that the coeducation is preferred worldwide. About 90 % of schools all over the world are stuck to co-education. Mixed-sex education has achieved higher success rate. They also graduate students who are settled emotionally and able to deal with the real society. "There are not any dominant blessings for single-sex schools on academic grounds. Studies all over the world have failed to expose any major variations.'' - Academician Alan Smothers, director of education and employment analysis at the University of Buckingham 2011.
The proponents of single-sex education argue that boys and girls have differing needs and that their styles of learning are different. Education which respects personal differences must take this into account. ( Mullins 124) Single-gender schools seem logical, than, to a public that accepts that gender differences are real and likes the idea of expanding choices. (Silv...
Some people think that single sex schools are good because girls and boys feel free to talk, ask and raise their hands without being made fun of, "The theoretical approach termed 'girl power' argues that girls lag behind boys in some subject in co-ed classrooms." (predit, 2014). However, Single sex schools are very bad because it affects children attitude, they will find difficulty in communicating with their colleagues in college as they were secluded and didn't interact with other sex in school. Boys and girls should know from a young age how to deal with the opposite sex, instead of facing that when they become adults, and don't have experience on what to do. Students in single-sex classrooms will one day live and work side-by-side with members of the opposite sex .Educating students in single-sex schools restrains their chance to work helpfully and cooperate effectively with parts of the inverse sex. "It is not long before the youth of today will be the parents, co-workers and leaders of tomorrow" (strauss, 2012). "Anything we organize along any variable, if we're saying boys he...
...having a hard time in their early educational career due to the lack of focus or lack of a comfortable environment, single-sex education should be highly considered. In order to obtain our goal, we must be willing to try these new routes of education; you never know what can happen and you just might enlighten the student in their educational course by changing the environment in which they’re learning in.