“Gender Matters” by Amy Standen
While looking for an interesting article to read for this blog, “Gender Matters” automatically caught my eye. This article was very informative because it gave opposing arguments as to why there should be gender-segregated schools and why there should be co-ed classes. Some researchers, such as Whitney Ransome, felt that "…Girls' schools expect the best from their students, expect them to achieve, and expect them to be participants in the nontraditional subjects." In regard to male students, other research, like the books Hear Our Cry: Boys in Crisis and The War Against Boys, “argue that coed schools actually discourage boys from self-confidence and success.”
I feel as though I am in a conflicted stance in regards to this issue. On the one hand, I am a female and a minority so I am against segregation because everyone is equal and no gender or ethnicity needs help because they are all equal, but the obvious problem is that not everyone is treated equally. The issue of conflict for me is that these gender-segregated schools have produced environments that eliminate distractions and in result have these immaculate students. In our Foundations class, I remember hearing from a female and male student that attended gender-segregated high schools and they only had positive things to say. They had the same responses: there were no distractions inferring that the opposite sex poses a distraction. When most of us think back to high school, it was a time in our lives when we were able to slack off and concentrate on the social aspect so naturally the interest of dating was a part of the high school years. Of course segregation is wrong, but if this type of separation is helping both genders academically, I am all for it. The 49ers academy that primarily caters to low-income students is brilliant. My friend that tutors at various Newport News schools informed me that last year only 17 black males graduated from 3 different high schools in Newport News. 17 total!!! I did not look up the empirical evidence, but to even know that it may be true is painful in itself. It is unfortunate that most low-income families tend to be minorities, but it is comforting to know that the 49er Academy has eliminated some distractions and has helped. Basically as educators, we need to do what works and this type of segregation seems to be working.
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You might be interested in Chapter 3 of American Eudcation (from Foundations Class) that gives some insight to same-sex education. It talks about how in the beginning years, girls are ahead of boys in academic achievement and psychological health, but by the end of high school, girls suffer a greater decline than boys in self-esteem, coming from many different aspects including the way they are treated by teachers and faculty. One way to overcome this is the same-sex education, and there are many proponents for it. But opponents believe there is the possibility that single-sex education might result in greater academic achievement for girls but doing nothing about sexist attitudes among men. This is just a snippet of what is covered in Chapter 3: I'm sure you'll find it interesting.
I am also conflicted, but to a lesser extent. I agree that we should do what works, however, in this instance I think it is a cop out which will only make things worse. My experience in high school was that the opposite gender only really effected behavior in the halls and after school and in non-academic situations. I think it's more of an inability on the part of teachers to engage and teach than it is for students to pay attention. In my high school, girls tended to be either apathetic or always raising their hands while guys tended to be apathetic or goofing off to impress each other more so than the opposite sex.
To me, same gender situations are very dangerous, and a lot of research supports this. The book "Our Guys" follows a rape case where a bunch of male athletes who didn't really have sisters or strong women in their lives ended up penetrating a mentally handicapped girl while those in the group that had sisters left before it got to that point. Another study which I can't think of pointed to frats where the brothers don't tend to have girlfriends as significantly more dangerous than those frats where most of the brothers were in relationships. We need to be bringing the genders closer together and not segregating them. I would be interested to see how learning would improve if the teachers from all girls schools taught co-ed schools.
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