New federal guidelines have made it easier for schools to offer a same gender program. What are the results?
Becoming Popular
Single-sex classes and schools are becoming more and more popular across the United States. Why?
Single-sex classes boost test scores.
Single-sex classes boost self-esteem.
Those are two very good reasons to try the "separate but equal" classroom methods.
Carla Rivera of the L.A. Times writes that in 1995, only three public schools in the nation offered the single-sex classroom option. Today, the National Association for Single Sex Public Education boasts of 253 schools available.
Research has shown for a long time that girls are not assertive about their education if boys are in the classroom. Girls also receive less attention from teachers. Studies have shown that teachers wait longer for boys to give an answer than girls.
U.S. Dept. of Education Gives OK
A recent ruling by the Department of Education clears the way for public schools to offer single-sex curriculums. In the past, these classroom settings were banned and the ACLU even prevented single-sex classrooms from being offered.
Criteria
With the approval come some restrictions. The classes
must be geared toward improving achievement
must meet the needs of students
must treat male and female students equally
must be enrolled on a volunteer basis
School Choice
This is great news for promoters of all school choice. Many feel that more choices in education improves the system. No Child Left Behind endorses same-sex classrooms.
They Are Just Plain Different
Anyone that is involved with young children understands that boys and girls are very different. Rivera writes that girls have unique characteristics:
comfortable asking questions in class
respond to shopping questions
thrive in a relaxed environment
work in pairs or alone
Boys, on the other hand,
do better in competitive environments
enjoy action-based lessons
enjoy time-oriented tasks
prefer to wait with asking questions to avoiding looking less smart
respond to sports questions
Skeptics
Of course, for every new idea in education there are those that are skeptical that anything other than the status quo can be successful. Before we condemn a new idea, let's sit back and see how this plays out.
Copyright article 2006 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
The copyright of the article Single Sex Classrooms in Classroom Issues is owned by Barbara Pytel. Permission to republish Single Sex Classrooms in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
This material seems to be biased in the same way of the civil rights movement where the authority's are deciding which way an individual should be educated based upon gender which is hardly different than basing these views upon race,religion or sexual orientation. It is a form of descrimination in itself. If these proposed views take effect there is valuable social and acedemic knowledge being deprieved from the students. Please reconsider on these views.
Apr 28, 2008 9:32 AM
Barbara Pytel :
Here is what South Carolina is doing with this issue.http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/state_wide_samegender_classes
Apr 28, 2008 9:58 AM
Guest
:
One thing that jumps out to me is that the system only teaches to the stereotype of a gender. This is the land of the free and home of the brave and we shouldn't be stereotyping our children.
May 1, 2008 7:41 AM
Guest
:
I see some of the positive concepts of single sex classrooms, but I also see some of the negative concepts. What if the single sex classroom was put in effect now, and 50 years down the road its still in effect. Because of this there is a racial dispute between men and women like what happened with white and black people. Could our world deal with that kind of a dispute? And women in some cases are still now struggling for their rights as a free woman. I think we need to think things through more than whqat we have and think outside of the box for what negatives effects it could have on society.
May 1, 2008 7:46 AM
Guest
:
what are these kids going to do in the future when they have a job, and need to work with the opposite sex?
May 5, 2008 4:27 PM
Guest
:
i am a student involved in the single-sex classrooms and i think it is very stupid and i strongly dislike it. my grade have remained the same and i don't think the program needs to continue any longer.
Aug 26, 2008 12:06 PM
Guest
:
Our school has just implemented single sex classrooms. It also has the option for those parents who want mixed classrooms. I've only had two major complaints raised. The first come from the boys in the all boys classroom. They miss the presence of the girls "watching them is easier on the eyes than paying attention to the teacher". The other was from a parent who felt that her son would feel threatened by the bigger boys in the room because of his own sleight stature. She felt the presence of girls in the room would help her son feel more "safe" in the classroom. She opted for the mixed classroom. Go where you want with those statements.
I have 6 children in the Public Schools. Two are in same gender classes. My daughter who is in the 6th grade came home and said. Wow! It is so much quieter in the classroom without the boys. We really got a lot done, today. My son (8th grade) doesn't care one way or the other. He still has to cover the same material and knows he is expected to learn it whether a girl sits next to him or not and besides the segregation ends with the core classes. Electives are filled on a mixed basis. Recess and lunch also take care of the social matters.
Our highschool probably won't implement it and there really isn't much need to do it in the elementary until the 4th grade when course studies begin to be more challenging and are divided by various teachers.
The less distractions my kids have the better. My feeling is their job is to learn how to learn and to learn as much as possible. I hope that for the cause of one the majority is not left behind. May Common Sense not have to leave the premisis just because Political Correctness has entered its domain.
Sep 13, 2008 6:08 AM
Guest
:
I am starting to thin that the all boys classroom is a great idea. My son is in 1st grade this year. Last year the school he goes to decided to implement an all boys 1st grade. I opted not to have my son join because I felt he wouldn't get along with all the boys. A girl a work with put her son in the all boys class and has seen a total 360 in his behavior at school. Last year he was suspened about 3 times in kindergarten, this year has loves school, he is paying attention. Me, well my son is having a hard tim paying attention in his mixed classroom. I try to talk to him to see what he is learing, all he can talk about is how this girl keeps kissing him.
I am really looking into switching him to the all bos classroom.
Oct 1, 2008 11:03 AM
Guest
:
Single sex schools promote segragation which was supposed to be done away in the late 60's also single sex schools apprehend the growth of social skills including male and female interaction. Lets face it we develop our social skills through social interaction in our schools and/or our jobs. If you are going to create single sex classrooms then you are going to have to create single sex occupations because many of these students who attended these single sex schools develop apprehension when it comes to heterasexual social interaction
Oct 1, 2008 1:01 PM
Barbara Pytel :
Multiple studies will disagree with you. Girls are more likely to select male dominated fields like math and engineering when attending all female classes. Boys find it easier to focus when in an all male setting. Thank you for expressing your concerns. However, they are not validated by data. That is why the entire state of South Carolina is going to offer single gender classes.
