Single Sex Education free essay sample

Women did not attend school; rather, they learned the skill of reading and writing, and some acquired mathematics through private lessons or a tutor, but if they were rich they were sent to a boarding school where the emphasis would be on elegant accomplishments like music, dancing, drawing, painting, embroidery, and even sometimes French. Women were not allowed to further their education after grammar school. If they wished, they could continue their studies privately because a womans thinking is argued, intuitive, rooted in emotion and intensely subjective. A mans thinking is allegedly analytic, freer from emotion and more objective. For this matter women and men were taught separately. ?Single sex education was used for providing an excellent education to the man and sometimes the women in those years. Although single gender schools â€Å"threatened the principle of equal access,†(Stabiner 18) it also strengthened the minds of those sitting in the classrooms by having so many admirable advantages. We will write a custom essay sample on Single Sex Education or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page By the end of the 18th century some girls were able to attend elementary schools, but only before and after the boys’ had their classes. In 1974 Congress passed The Equal Educational Opportunities Act. It prohibited discrimination against faculty, staff and students, including racial segregation of students, and required school districts to take action to overcome barriers to study equal participation† (Salomone 10. ) The civil rights movement brought about controversies on busing, language rights, desegregation, and the idea of â€Å"equal education† (Salomone 12. ) The groundwork for the creation of the Equal Educational Opportunities Act first came about with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination and racial segregation against African Americans and women. In 1968, the U. S Department of Education, once the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, issued a declaration saying that school officials are responsible for providing equal educational opportunities for all, regardless of one’s nationality, race, or color(Salomone 15. ) Although these laws gave each person the right to attend a school of his or her choice, the creation of single sex schools brought a new definition to education. â€Å"The single-sex format creates opportunities that don’t exist in the coed classroom† (Sax 1/11). Students who attend single sex high schools have a greater chance of being less distracted than in a coeducational high school. Boys tend to lessen their aggressive edge and become communal in a single sex setting. They can just be boys and not have to worry about what girls may say because they are not in the same school. Boys can enjoy poetry and play in an orchestra. This is a tremendous contrast to a co-educational high school setting. ?Girls drop their shyness and begin to take risks in a single sex school setting. They become more competitive. They embrace sports like field hockey and soccer with enthusiasm without worrying about appearing like tom boys. Young Teenagers are subjected to an inundation of pressure to become adults before they are ready to do so. They grow up too swiftly. Single sex education is a gentler, more controlled atmosphere. On the contrary: some public schools which have adopted single-sex classrooms, without appropriate preparation, have experienced bad outcomes, said Dr. Leonard Sax (9/11. )Simply putting girls in one room, and boys in another, is no assurance of anything excellent happening. Dr. Leonard Sax states that merely placing boys in separate classrooms from girls accomplishes little, but single-sex education enhances a student’s success when teachers use techniques geared toward the gender of their students. Some research indicates that girls learn better when classroom temperature is warm, while boys perform better in cooler classrooms. If thats true, then the temperature in a single-sex classroom could be set to optimize the learning of either male or female students (4/11). Some research and reports from educators suggest that single-sex education can widen the educational prospects for both girls and boys. A quality education is about much more than test scores and transcripts: it ought to open doors and keep them open for as long as possible† (Stabiner 3). Advocates claim co-ed schools tend to reinforce gender stereotypes, while single-sex schools can break down gender stereotypes. For example, girls are free of the pressure to compete with boys in male-dominated subjects such as mathematics and science. On the other hand, boys can easily pursue traditionally feminine interests such as music and poetry. The child’s happiness should be one of the most important factors in choosing a school with a quality education. Equally important is finding a school with inspiring, gifted teachers and this may lead the parents of the teenagers to consider three other factors: letting the child be themselves, the teaching style and what is being taught and, finally, the socialization of the children. Researchers at Stetson University in Florida completed a three-year pilot project comparing single-sex classrooms with coed classrooms. All relevant parameters were matched: the class sizes were all the same, the demographics were the same, all teachers had the same training in what works and what doesnt work, etc (qtd. n single-sex vs. coed 2/11) What’s really important at most coed schools is the game of who likes who, whos going out with whom, whos cool and whos not. That’s hardly ever the case at single-sex schools. Edison Trickett and Penelope Trickett, compared students in private single-sex schools in the United States with students at private coed schools in the United States (5/11), and fou nd that students in the single-sex schools had a far more positive attitude toward academics than did students in coed schools (5/11). This discovery held for both boys and girls. The students at the single-sex schools also developed better decision-making skills, and were more occupied in classroom activities. ?Single sex education has advantages that co-education cant reach. Single-sex schools provide better circumstances; teachers can tailor their teaching to suit students’ leaning styles, improve students’ academic performance and develop conductive skills and personalities.