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Do you prefer co-ed vs. single gender schools
Education in a single-gender classroom can be very different from education in a co-ed classroom. In the real world, men and women work side by side, and teaching them to only work beside one sex in high school gives them an unreal perspective on work in the real world. 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 limits their opportunity to work cooperatively and co-exist successfully with members of the opposite sex.
The experts suggest that segregating students by sex can actually increase gender stereotyping. The children are strongly affected when the surrounding environment makes gender divisions explicit, even though they are already well aware of gender. These effects are likely to have profound impact on the kinds of learning experiences and personal relationships, the children have down the line. There are long-term effects of gender stereotyping on school infrastructure and curriculum as a down side of separating boys and girls in the classroom. Women receive fewer quality resources, and many single-sex schools and classrooms exaggerate and encourage sex stereotypes by emphasizing competition and aggression among boys and passivity among girls or by setting the expectation that boys are not good at writing. The education is the primary reason that children are required to attend grade school, but another major benefit of school is to meet others, interact with others, and learn social skills. Sending a child to a single-sex school will not only inhibit them from meeting potential friends of the opposite sex but could make them feel strange around opposite-sex members.
Effective teaching often depends on getting children engaged and excited about learning the material and for that, each teacher has to work with each child’s motivations, interests and preferences. Women in particular benefit from a single-sex education. Researches show that they participate more in class, develop much higher self-esteem, score higher in aptitude tests, are more likely to choose ‘male’ disciplines such as science in college, and are more successful in their careers. The inclinations of children in the formative years, between 7 and 15, are to gravitate towards their own sex. They naturally tend towards behaviour appropriate to their gender. It is therefore easier to implement an education strategy geared specifically towards one gender. Certain subjects are best taught in single-sex classrooms, such as sex education or gender issues.
Boys and girls distract each other from their education, especially in adolescence as their sexual and emotional sides develop. Too much time can be spent attempting to impress or even sexually harassing each other. The academic competition between the sexes is unhealthy and only adds to unhappiness and anxiety among weaker students. Single-sex schools for women are a natural extension of the feminist movement. There are co-educational schools, men have had their own schools, why should women not? It would still be discrimination if there were only male single-sex schools; as long as both genders are catered for, this discrimination is redressed. Teachers themselves are often discriminated against in single-sex schools. A Boys’ school will usually have a largely male staff where women may feel uncomfortable or denied opportunity, and vice versa.
Thus, there are advantages and disadvantages of both single sex and co-ed schools. It depends upon the children and their parents to choose a school of their choice which requires a lot of thinking especially on the part of the parents. What is important is that the parents should trust their children and instead of being authoritative to be friendly with them. The children should also confide in their parents and never break their trust. The basic goal of attending the school is to study which should never take a backseat.
------------- Dr. Anjali Dewan
St. Bede’s College
Shimla