single gender education

Single-gender schools can helps students achieve a better education as well as a better learning environment. This form of educational institution helps students to focus on their academics without the distractions of the other gender. Historical data from Harvard University and other institutions, suggests that single-gender schools are more beneficial to a students’ education than those of co-educational schools. (David Tyack and Elizabeth Hanslot, pg.14) Co-educational schools distract students from getting the most out of their education. The students are being distracted by the other gender, due to examples such as, sexual harassment and the inappropriate appearance and dress code of students. Single-gender schools can help teachers to gear their instruction to a specific gender, rather than generalizing it to please both genders. While co-educational schools can assist students to be interactive with the other gender, single-gender schools can be more beneficial towards a students’ education.

Many people don’t know that single-sex schools actually originated before co-educational schools. Usually it was only the boys who went to school, while the girls stayed home and worked. In the seventeenth-century, Male dominated Massachusetts believed that girls should not be able to attend public schooling. Massachusetts also happens to be the home of Harvard University, which back in this time, only admitted males. (David Tyack and Elizabeth Hanslot, 13) Harvard didn’t begin to accept the applications of women until the late 1970’s.

Most colleges have become co-educational, but this didn’t occur until the late 1900’s. Some colleges like Yale and Princeton didn’t become co-educational until 1969. (“History of Coeducation”, par....

... middle of paper ...

...can encourage students to be collaborate with the other gender, single-gender schools can further benefit a students’ education. The merits of single-sex schools include classrooms focused on only one gender, a sexual harassment free environment, and a place for students to focus on school and not their appearance. In an interview with Vanessa Vogel, she stated, “I think that in schools like mine [single-gender] the students are not afraid to ask questions that they might be embarrassed to ask in front of the other gender. This helps me to learn more about the specific subject. This is especially helpful in mandatory classes like health.” Additionally, Studies have shown that students in single-sex schools and classrooms are more likely to receive higher scores on quizzes and tests, than students in co-educational schools and classrooms. (Jim Rex and David Chadwell)