Erick Bertn Ortega Polito

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Boys and girls should
attend separate schools. Use specific reasons and examples to support your
position.

Trying to keep old traditions in education

When I was a little student I considered natural to share a classroom with boys
and girls. My teachers belonged to male or female gender. School mirrored the
real life and how people interact. However, not all the students have the same
experience because they attend schools exclusively for boys or girls. In what
follows I shall provide three reasons for rejecting this situation.
First of all, if we separate boys and girls in the schools, we discriminate them
because of their gender. Boys and girls will probably acquire the belief that this
kind of discrimination can be justified. An advocate could argue that
substantive differences between boys and girls justify his/her position. For
example, girls develop sexually earlier than boys, so they have different
cognitive necessities. Nevertheless, I find difficult to accept these arguments
without falling in an unjustifiable discrimination.
Secondly, schools should be a preparation for adult life. In real life both women
and men work together, take important decisions, and see each other every
day. Then boys and girls could have this preparation if they are not separated
and learn to share a space together. Moreover, children incorporate social skills
that involve cooperation and toleration. Many decades ago women began to
fight for their right to be educated and be treated as equal to men. Thus school
should reflect our achievements as human beings.
Thirdly, children from mixed schools not only develop socially better, but also
learn better. For instance, every child has many doubts concerning his/her
environment because it offers stimuli. Part of the learning constitutes
answering these doubts. An environment that includes female and male
classmates is richer than one with only boys or girls. A radical traditionalist
could still believe that separation benefits the learning process of children as it
was thought before. But we do not live those times anymore.
Finally, I expect that these reasons convince anyone that boys and girls should
not attend separate schools. Dividing genders means discrimination, a
distortion of real life and an obstacle for developing social and learning skills.
Though during many years people maintained these ideas, we must value them
as wrong. A cumbersome old tradition has to be abandoned for the utility of
everyone.