Seperation of Sex Classrooms
Should there be Separate Sex Classrooms?
Emily Dodson
5/1/11
Period 7
In 2000, a concerned principal at Thurgood Marshall Elementary school in Seattle Washington was alarmed by the amount of office referrals he was seeing daily as well as the poor standings his school was in, in comparison to national standards. Through one simple change he reported: “Overnight. The change in the atmosphere happened overnight.”(Wright). There was no need for new teachers, new kids, or a new curriculum to bring on this change in the atmosphere, just separate gender classes. Because segregation in gender maximizes the quality of children’s education, creates a safe and stable environment for kids to learn in and breaks stereotypical boundaries for both sexes, it is a valid choice schools throughout the world are making in their quest for a better education system. An idea disregarded by many in the effort to perfect education systems throughout the world is to separate classes by gender. One of many reasons why a separate gender class is so successful is because there are substantially less distractions there than in a coed classroom. For example, when boys and girls are mixed together, both sexes are at risk of distraction through flirting with the opposite gender, outbursts made by boys in an effort to impress girls, and rudeness to a teacher of the opposite sex because there was a lack of understanding. However, when boys and girls are not together, there is no need to impress others or flirt. Furthermore, in most cases, when there are separate sex classes, a teacher is the same sex as the rest of the class resulting in a trust and understanding between the pupil and the administrator. The teacher also uses methods that they would otherwise not use in a coed classroom because it cannot relate to the whole class. For instance, at P.S. 140 in the Bronx, Michael Napolitano speaks to his class of 5th grade boys by saying things like: “You-let me see you trying!”
Emily Dodson
5/1/11
Period 7
In 2000, a concerned principal at Thurgood Marshall Elementary school in Seattle Washington was alarmed by the amount of office referrals he was seeing daily as well as the poor standings his school was in, in comparison to national standards. Through one simple change he reported: “Overnight. The change in the atmosphere happened overnight.”(Wright). There was no need for new teachers, new kids, or a new curriculum to bring on this change in the atmosphere, just separate gender classes. Because segregation in gender maximizes the quality of children’s education, creates a safe and stable environment for kids to learn in and breaks stereotypical boundaries for both sexes, it is a valid choice schools throughout the world are making in their quest for a better education system. An idea disregarded by many in the effort to perfect education systems throughout the world is to separate classes by gender. One of many reasons why a separate gender class is so successful is because there are substantially less distractions there than in a coed classroom. For example, when boys and girls are mixed together, both sexes are at risk of distraction through flirting with the opposite gender, outbursts made by boys in an effort to impress girls, and rudeness to a teacher of the opposite sex because there was a lack of understanding. However, when boys and girls are not together, there is no need to impress others or flirt. Furthermore, in most cases, when there are separate sex classes, a teacher is the same sex as the rest of the class resulting in a trust and understanding between the pupil and the administrator. The teacher also uses methods that they would otherwise not use in a coed classroom because it cannot relate to the whole class. For instance, at P.S. 140 in the Bronx, Michael Napolitano speaks to his class of 5th grade boys by saying things like: “You-let me see you trying!”
Bibliography: Gurian, Michael. Boys and Girls Learn Differently! San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Medina, Jennifer. "Boys and Girls Together, Taught Separately in Public School - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Mar.10 2009. Web. 01 May 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/education/11gender.html?pagewanted=2. “NASSPE: Research Single-Sex vs. Coed: The Evidence." 1996, http://www.singlesexschools.org/research-singlesexvscoed.htm#top.