Single-gender education, more commonly known as single-sex education, is the practice of teaching boys and girls in separate classes or schools. In many countries single-gender education is the norm due to religious or cultural beliefs. The practice has only become popular in the United States public schools within the last decade. However, single-sex education has been continually in practice in many private schools across the nation.
History of Single-Gender Education in U.S. Public Schools
At the time that the nation was founded, only boys received public schooling while the girls were educated at home, if at all. A cultural shift occurred in the early 1800s, allowing girls to attend school in all-girl classes; however, they only received instruction either before or after the standard school day for the boys. The practice of educating boys and girls together began in several communities in the early 1900s for economic reasons. They also noticed that the girls exerted a moderating influence on boy’s behavior (Bracey, 2006), which is now an argument in favor of creating single-gender classes.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, only private schools in the United States had been exclusively all boy and all girl schools, even though there was not a law forbidding the practice in the public schools until the 1972 passage of Title IX legislation. Title IX made gender segregation illegal in almost every aspect of school, including athletics, medical services, admission practices, career counseling, and the treatment of students. Federal funds would be withheld from schools that violated Title IX (Brake, 2001). Title IX pushed the trend of co-education for almost 30 years and is believed to have had a significant national impact ...
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Chadwell, D. (2010). New Voices Single-Gender Classes Can Respond to the Needs of Boys and Girls. ASCD Express, 78-80.
Michael Robert Younger, M. W. (2006). Review of Single-Sex Teaching in Coeducational Secondary School in the United Kingdom. American Educational Research, 579-620.
Piechura-Couture, K., Heins, E., & Tichenor, M. (2011). The Boy Factor: Can SIngle-Gender Classes Reduce the Over-Representation of Boys in Special Education? Journal of Instructional Psychology, 255-263.
Sax, L. (2007). Boys adrift: The five factors driving the growing epidemic of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men. New York: Basic Books.
Whitmore, R., & Bailey, S. M. (2010). Gender Gap : Are Boys Being Shortchanged in K - 12 Schooling? Education Next, 53-61.
Because young boys are more active they often are disciplined, while girls are often quieter and naturally become a teacher’s favorite. This causes problems because classrooms naturally become more attuned to a girl’s style of learning, leaving young boys behind in the classroom from an early age. “Boy Problems” by Ann Hulbert goes into detail over the increasing “gender educational disparity.” Hulbert gives the reader useful information about how and why men are falling behind and the increasing gender differences in education. When fixing a problem one must first realize the problem exists. Now that the problem has come to light, action must be
As time allowed more men and more women to be schooled together, it was evident that a woman's presence alone would not ensure an equally beneficial education. The school systems continue to follow a gendered curriculum, created mainly by men in order to serve men. It is the reinforcement of the gender biases and assumptions through their methodical distribution and teaching of stereotypes and ideas that put the education of men and women on two separate levels. There is no example to follow when it comes to the equal education of children because even though they receive the same education, it is far from equal. It is this along with the lack of recognition towards women who have achieved greatness both in and out of education that creates an outsider status for the female student (Lasser, 1987).
Single sex schools have their pros and cons. Having both sexes in the classroom could be considered a distraction where studies are not considered the main priority and that attraction are more attended to. Single sex schools
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)
There is a long history of single-sex schooling, in which males and females attend specific classes or schools only with members of their same sex. This separation of genders may be done for educational purposes or in combination with other factors, such as social interactions that occur between male and female students. There is some support for the idea that single-sex schooling can be beneficial, especially for outcomes related to academic achievement and more positive academic aspirations (Lee, 2008). Although, there are many benefits of children attending single-sex schools, evidence shows that sex segregation can also gender stereotyping and legitimizes institutional sexism (Kennedy, 2000).
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.
...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)
It is a common phenomenon in coed schools that when an instructor asks a girl to answer a question in a science or math class, some boys always interrupt and answer that question correctly. Many girls at that moment may feel embarrassed, frightened, and even want to be invisible. In many cases, instructors do not punish the boys for their rude behaviors. As The learning environment and teachers’ attitude make girls feel pressure and decrease their Learning enthusiasm. As a result, girls and boys receive a different education even though they have the same class. In the U.S., the discrepancy in academic performance persists across gender. In order to close the gap and provide an equitable and quality education
Stotsky, S. "The Promise of Single-Sex Classes." EBSCO Publishing. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
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...
Single sex education is a controversial battle that will most likely continue for decades. However, research and studies have shown in multiple cases and circumstances that single sex education is an extremely important tool that should be utilized in numerous situations. Many people think that dividing students based on sex will perpetuate gender discrimination; however, this kind of education may bridge more gaps than people realize. Not only do boys and girls develop and function differently, they are distracted by one another. Eliminating distractions and making classrooms conducive to each gender and learning style will ultimately result in a tremendous incline in academic grades and student participation.
Sokol, Marlene. "ADVOCATES DEFEND SINGLE-GENDER EDUCATION; Criticism of the Approach as Being Ineffective Will Only Heighten, a Proponent Predicts." St. Petersburg Times [St. Petersburg, FL] 9 Oct. 2011: 1B. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Dec. 2013.
...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.
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...