I wish I had something fun and exciting to write about. My mind is so focused on this paper that I can't really think of anything else. So I'll briefly babble about that.
This semester I'm taking "Gender & the Law". It was supposed to be my "fun" class, but has turned out to be more work than any of my other classes. The up side is that you get to pick any topic relating to gender and law for the final paper. I decided to write my paper on "Public Single-Sex Education" because it's something that I can actually related to.
I went to a single-sex school from 1st grade through 12th grade...yes, I'm serious. The school from 1st-8th grade had single-sex classrooms but it was co-institutional, meaning that we saw boys during lunch and recess. High school was strictly all-girls so if you didn't have guy friends from junior high or from your friends at co-ed schools, you only saw the military boys that came to our school dances. Nice.
Scientists say that are all kinds of benefits for both girls and boys through single-sex classrooms. Apparantly girls perform better in math and science (typically boy's subjects) and boys perform better in English and foreign languages(typically girl's subjects). There are also studies that students are discriminated against in the classroom. For fear of intimidating female students, some teachers may unintentionaly call on the boy students much more often that girl students. Additionally, some female students are afraid to participate in class for fear of answering the question incorrectly and what people will think of her as a result.
Looking back at my education, I think these schools did wonders for me. But since it's all I knew, I can't really say I would have performed differently if I went to another, co-ed, school. But I know college was a shocker when I suddenly was surrounded by boys and couldn't rock my plaid skirt everyday. But I wasn't afraid to answer questions and performed well. I can totally see the argument against single-sex education. It's easy to argue that it perpetuates stereotypes that girls can only excel if they are separated from men. You could also argue that it fails to prepare students for the "real world" which is not separated by gender (though can you imagine if it was...how bizarre would that be).
Did any of you attend or wish you had attended a single-sex school? And do you think it was good/bad? Since I have so many personal opinions on this topic, I'm curious to see what other people think.
And wish me luck.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I would be curious to see what life is like at a same-sex school versus co-ed. Friends went to an all girls high school and liked it.
I went to a co-ed high school and I'm glad I did... I'm not sure what it'd be like to grow up around girls only and then when college hit be surrounded by boys.
I just have a feeling I would have gone CRAZY wild... as if I didn't already :-)
I had a full scholarship to a all-girls college and I just couldn't do it. I would have killed someone.
I went to private and Catholic schools but they were coed. I have to say that I probably would have done better had it been all girls. However, I did great in my creative classes as it was and seem to lean in that direction in life as well. I'm sure it was a huge shock to go to a coed college though. wowsers.
what's funny is that my mom went to all girls schools from the beginning to end and she is an accountant. She claims to be completely uncreative and only excels in numbers. hmmm.
great post.
i went to an all-girls catholic high school. despite the fact that girls are still self-centered bitches without boys around, i ended up treating guys like girls, snd never learning to filter myself (i.e. menstruation is never a taboo topic!). i wasn't shocked at all going to college either. it was a relief seeing them.
nevertheless, i hated high school and will never ever send my kids to single-sex schools.
I can't imagine going to a single-sex school, but then again, I think I would have been much better off if I didn't have girls distracting me for years on end.
Post a Comment