Single Sex Schooling

Single-Sex Schooling: Neither the Best or the Worst

Single-Sex Schooling: Neither the Best of the Worst

This research paper examines two opposing sides of the controversial subject of single-sex education. One group believes that single-sex classes are the best option especially for girls because they offer an environment where girls can learn without being distracted by boys. The secondgroup thinks that single-sex classes are extremely harmful because they provide an unreal world where boys and girls are both left unprepared to interact in the real world with the opposite sex. Rather than concluding with a specific answer to the question of whether single-sex education is beneficial or not, this research paper provides information about both sides of the argument. Analyzingopposing arguments over single-sex education and trying to find a definite answer is not that easy as it seems because it is difficult to differentiate between fact and strong opinions. Single-sex education might not be better than coeducation, but coeducation doesn’t prove to be better than single-sex education either. Data was mainly collected from two books, Same, Different, Equal: RethinkingSingle-Sex Schooling by Rosemary C. Salomone, and All Girls: Single-Sex Education and Why It Matters by Karen Stabiner, from a UT study and other web sources.

Single-Sex Schooling: Neither the Best or the Worst

The controversy over single-sex schooling focuses on one main concern, whether it truly produces educational benefits for girls and boys, or not. One of the most frequent questionsconcerning this argument is if girls and boys are different in cognitive abilities, and if so, do they need separate educational approaches?

A good place to begin with is related to the most frequent question about gender: cognitive and behavioral differences. According to Rosemary C. Salomone, professor of law at St. John’s University School of Law, and former faculty member of the Graduate Schoolof Education at Harvard University, girls enter kindergarten with evident advantage in specific skills such as reading skills, and fine and gross motor skills. On the other hand, boys are usually more “restless” and “have shorter attention spans.” This indicates that boys are at disadvantage. (Salomone, 86) Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson, authors of the acclaimed book Raisin Cain, and WilliamPollack, author of Real Boys, discuss the difficulties that young boys go through in adapting to a school that is moves to the faster speed of girls. These authors admit that girls and boys each have different neurological advantages. For instance, girls might be better at reading, while boys are better at sports. Supporting Salomone’s statement of boys being at disadvantage, these authors also notethat boys mature more slowly than girls. (Salomone, 81) Both books suggest that the expectations of most coeducational schools, particularly elementary schools, tend to favor female students’ speed of learning, which means that boys are not provided with the sufficient time and attention for them to achieve successful understanding of what is being thought. In other words, a single sex-classroomor school could provide boys the time and attention they are more likely to need in order to acquire a well-grounded education.

Now, moving to early adolescence, boys and girls start to change psychologically, especially girls. According to Carol Gilligan, author of In a Different Voice, a book that “energized the modern day debate over education and gender”, girls are more likely than boys toreact negatively to stressful situations, and to show psychological problems such as depression and eating disorders. (Salomone, 71) This suggests that a single-sex classroom or school for girls can provide them extra attention, which could help them overcome such situations that could eventually lead to severa psychological states.

Supporters of single-sex education for girls claim that...