Becca Burney

EDU 330
Professor Van Spronsen
March 12, 2017
Position Paper #3
Same-Sex Schools

For many years only males were allowed to attend schools, and
only the rich and elite at that. Later on girls were slowly introduced and
that led to coed private and publics schools. Now, there is the debate
on if coed schools are really the best way to go. Research is being done
on the benefits of same-sex schools, all-girl schools, and all-boy
schools.
In an online article by Robert Kennedy, it writes of the different
reasons that all-girls schools are beneficial for students and create the
best learning environment and opportunity for success. The first point
talks about how the female student will have fewer distractions
because the social expectations and stereotypes arent there. Without
these distractions, a female can focus on being herself, finding out
who she is, exploring new worlds, lines of thinking and so much more
(Kennedy). Secondly, a female student can benefit from teachers who
are trained to specifically teacher girls. These teachers are trained to
understand how the female brain works and provide the best
environment for girls explicitly. Next, she will benefit from a focused
educational and community environment. The school only has to
benefit one gender, instead of trying to balance the needs of both
sexes. Fourthly, her career aspirations will no longer be limited or
discouraged. Without males running the show, girls are given the
ability to do things themselves and put themselves into positions of
power, which will translate into post-schooling careers. Lastly, when
girls go to single-sex schools, they stop being the audience and
become the players. Tying into the fourth point, girls are given the
opportunity to do things on their own.
 In a separate article, also by Robert Kennedy, it explains the pros
of entering into an all-boys schools and why it is beneficial for learning.
The first point that Kennedy makes is that boys learn differently from
girls. Teachers who are aware and trained to handle this will allow boys
to excel in this setting, as opposed to being in a classroom where the
learning style is generalized. Second, the focus of the curriculum is
entirely on boys. The curriculum can follow the interests and the pace
of boys and create a more beneficial learning space. Thirdly, the social
pressure is less stressful. It is fairly common knowledge that boys
mature later than girls. So now at an all-boys school, males are able to
mature at a natural rate without the stress of more mature girls. Next,
boys are more comfortable with non-traditional subjects and activites
when girls are not present. Activities such as drama, choir, art, etc. can
be seen as more feminine, so without girls present, boys may become
more comfortable participating in such activities. Lastly, boys learn
that there are many routes to manhood. Kennedy believes that in all-
boys schools, boys can also learn that the strong bonds of friendship,
teamwork and social interaction are what matter most in later life.
In my personal experience, I attended a coed public school.
While I can see how some of those problems might arise in a coed
school, I do believe that there are benefits that cannot being ignored
either. Coed schools allow for social interaction with people who do not
necessarily think the same way that you do. In work or outside of
school, it is not going to be separated by sex, so coed schools prepare
students for that. Boys also tend to be more competitive which can
benefit girls in the classroom. In my experience, it has pushed me to
work harded to keep up or surpas my male classmates. It also provides
a different perspective because males do think differently than females
do. However, I do agree that there are benefits to same-sex schools as
well. Males and females do think differently, and especially for certain
courses, it can be beneficial for students to be with other students who
are the same sex. I believe that a good medium would be to have a
coed school with specific courses that are same-sex. As was mentioned
in a class lesson by Pablo Garcia, it was discussed that girls would
benefit from same-sex math classes and males would benefit from
same-sex English classes. So I do believe that for certain classes, it can
prove to be more beneficial to be in a same-sex classroom.