Essay About Single-Sex Schools And Opposite Gender

Single-Sex Education
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Alexa SpencerHour: 2Single-Sex EducationAre single-sex schools meant for good of for harm? Single-sex schools are a bad idea because they don’t give chances for kids to have friends or relationships with the opposite sex. They cause more drama with girls, and cause more fighting with boys. If you send your child to a coed school, they’ll encounter more diversity, which gives them more respect, sympathy, and understanding for the opposite gender and the real world. (Stanberry, 1998-2013)When students attend single-gender schools, they become limited in their abilities to successfully interact with the opposite sex. This could promote an inability to understand each other, which increases negative future interactions. But according to Leonard Sax, 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.” Now depending on one’s point of view, this statement could go either way, against or for. Part of the idea of going to school is to prepare your child for ‘real life’ when they leave. There is no doubt ‘the real world’ is mixed gender rather than single sex and so that means the best way to do this would be to emulate the school. (Springer Link, Unknown)Although, researchers have proved that girls attending girls’ schools were significantly more likely to attend a four-year college compared with girls attending coed schools (Cohen’s d = 0.5, p < 0.01). The boys’ results turned out very similar with the girls’ results. Single-sex schools are causally linked with both college entrance exam scores and college-attendance rates for both boys and girls. Compared with coeducational schools, single-sex schools have a higher percentage of graduates who moved on to four-year colleges. (Springer Link, Unknown)They say single-sex schools are good for academic reasons, and that may be true. But studies have shown that in the last decade, 130 independent schools that were single sex have either become co-educational or closed down. Studies all over the world have failed to detect any major differences. Girls’ schools can make ‘exaggerated claims’ because of their excellent league table positions. But, according to Smithers, they do well because many are independent or grammar schools. The report will conclude that gender has very little impact on how well a school performs. Ability and social background drive results. (Stanberry, 1998-2013)In different people’s perspectives, single-sex education could be used for good or harm. You’ve seen the negatives and positives of this education. The single-gender format is better for some students, and coed is better for others. For some kids and parents, it’s a distraction for the other sex to be in the same learning room. (Unknown, NASSPE, Unknown) Hopefully if your school ever considers this idea, you’ll be prepared for what’s coming. Do what’s best for the kids, not for the bother, or the distractions. Works CitedStanberry, K. (1998-2013, Unknown Unknown). Great Schools. Retrieved March 28, 2013, from