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 Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:11 am
There is a lot of debate about whether single-sex or coed education is more effective in children and adolescents. Public vs. Private school aside, which setting is puts a child in a better state of mind to learn? Which is better for them developmentally?
I've gone to an all-girls school since the age of four (I'm 17 now -- in my senior year.) Here are some things that I think single-sex education has helped me with:
-Openness. Since there are no boys to impress and less pressure to conform, the atmosphere is more open to self-expression. This often reflects in classroom discussions where girls feel open to talk about sex, drugs, and other subjects that are often difficult for adolescents to talk about.
-Attention. Let's face it, kids are distracted by sex. At least during school hours, being in a single-sex environment allows for one to be able to at least rid one's self from the distraction of "that boy who might like me," or whatever may have you.
-Presentation. There's no one to impress here except for the teachers. Most of the girls don't care what the other girls do, and teachers are more able to help us present ourselves to adults and peers in a polite, respectful manner.
But there are also many draw backs to single-sex education:
-A lac of social development with the opposite sex. (The most obvoius)
-A lack of varying perspective
-Competition
Just to name a few.
In my own observation I have noticed that the people I have met who go to co-ed schools tend to be less mature than the girls from my school. I don't want to make a blanket statement that single-sex education produces more mature students than co-ed, but it at least seems to be true in my community. However, that can very well be a result of extenuating circumstances that may be unique to my school.
So what kind of education did you recieve? How do you think it effected your life?
Do you think that single-sex education is more effective than coed? Why or why not?
What observations, if any, have you made about the differences between single-sex and coed schools? How are (or are not) the people you know, if any, different based on their education?
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:11 pm
I've always gone to a co-ed school, and I've found that most of my friends now are of the opposite sex. But on the other hand I'm also gay, and can't help but wonder if I were in a single sex school what that would be like. I'd prefer co-ed just based on my opinion that being kept away from the opposite sex does more harm than good in the long run, and that learning how the opposite sex thinks in a school environment is probably beneficial in some form or another, since it makes teachers look at different ways to teach things since the genders tend to have different learning styles.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:47 pm
Eh, I have always been at co-ed schooling and most of the girls in my school tend to focus on sleeping with as many men as possible instead of say studying. So, getting rid of the distraction may be very beneifical, however that may not work. I won't want to go to an all girls' school simply because I enjoy hanging out my guy pals at lunch, they make it interesting.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:01 pm
I've been coed my whole life, and I like it. I understand all the argument against co-ed, but I'm never really "distracted" by boys because I'm so driven. I could really care less what the boys think, and my thought has always been if they're going to like me, they're going to like me for me, not for some show I put on for them, you know?
Plus, I've never had a problem discussing sex and stuff with the oppisite sex, mostly because we talk about it all the time at my church so it's like... I've talked with boys about this and it doesn't really matter. I think have guys gives it an alternative perspective as well.
Both has its pros and cons, and I think it comes down to what's best for you.
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 8:02 am
thelovelyLIZ brings up a good point. I think the real key to figuring out which type of education is better lies in the student. Everyone learns differently so atmosphere is obviously a very big factor. Some kids excel in coed, and others in single-sex.
Also another myth of single-sex education is that it attracts or "makes" more homosexual students. At least in the three or four single sex schools in my area, that's very far from the truth.
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Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:34 am
Hmmm... well, as a coed student, I doubt I'd particularly want to go to an all-male school. Firstly, the concentration of high school male prep-morons would increase dramatically without anything to balance it out - when there's nobody else to befriend, you befriend the popular crowd, and thus, the population grows to huge levels. Dear God, the horror - prep-armies of DOOM! Second, I doubt I'd enjoy having no exposure whatsoever with girls. Hell, some of the smartest and most enjoyable to be around people I know are girls.
Besides this, you can't help but have something of a narrowed perspective without access to the opposite gender. This is a pretty unpleasant disadvantage when you're trying to start out in the real world, kids, and not one I'd willingly subject myself to. Besides, unless you follow up with a post-secondary that's also single-sex, a single-sex regular education it loses whatever good points it has.
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Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 7:16 am
Emperor Fluffzorz Hmmm... well, as a coed student, I doubt I'd particularly want to go to an all-male school. Firstly, the concentration of high school male prep-morons would increase dramatically without anything to balance it out - when there's nobody else to befriend, you befriend the popular crowd, and thus, the population grows to huge levels. Dear God, the horror - prep-armies of DOOM! Second, I doubt I'd enjoy having no exposure whatsoever with girls. Hell, some of the smartest and most enjoyable to be around people I know are girls. Besides this, you can't help but have something of a narrowed perspective without access to the opposite gender. This is a pretty unpleasant disadvantage when you're trying to start out in the real world, kids, and not one I'd willingly subject myself to. Besides, unless you follow up with a post-secondary that's also single-sex, a single-sex regular education it loses whatever good points it has. Well I wouldn't say that you're cut off from interaction with the oppsite sex altogether. Most of my friends happen to be male, actually. I just hang out with them after school. I think a lot of girls, in my school at least, tend to have a lot of male friends as well. My ex-boyfriend happened to go to an all-boys school. It's certainly a lot different from all-girls. However, they weren't ALL preps. Granted, more of them were than at your normal coed school, but I think that was more of a result that the school was private rather than single-sex. (But in America, all single sex schools are private.) There were plenty of kids who weren't preps to socialize with, and I found most of them quite enjoyable.
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 8:25 pm
CleverScreenname Well I wouldn't say that you're cut off from interaction with the oppsite sex altogether. Most of my friends happen to be male, actually. I just hang out with them after school. I think a lot of girls, in my school at least, tend to have a lot of male friends as well. Don't many single-sex schools have social events with other (single-sex) schools, too? Just because you go to an all-girls or all-boys school doesn't mean there won't be sports games, dances, etc. Single-sex colleges are very much like that, too. I was looking into going to an all-girls college, and many of them were located very close to co-ed schools, so there would still be a lot of socializing with the opposite sex. And if there's not a class offered at the all-girls school, you might go to the nearest campus to take that class. Not to mention you may have friends in your neighborhood, in any non-school clubs or organizations, etc. But single-sex classrooms would not completely solve the problems you listed. I don't doubt that it helped you, but I have observed girls, even when there are no guys around, criticizing each other and still competing with each other. And then, of course, that's assuming that the girls are heterosexual. I think the most important benefit you mentioned is openness. While not all classrooms are sexist (and some teachers may even favor girls more, although not always in a completely positive way), I have been in classrooms where the teacher clearly favored male students and obviously didn't think that any girls had much to contribute. A single-sex classroom would solve that problem and, as you said, foster more discussion and even self-confidence. Like I mentioned before, I considered going to an all-girls college. I ended up deciding not to, for a number of reasons, but I still believe that single-sex schools have some benefits. So do co-ed schools. The only problem I have is that some single-sex schools have sexist curriculums -- making the girls' curriculum be more arts and home based while the boys' curriculum is math and career oriented, for example. Everyone learns differently based on who they are, not their sex, and our life goals certainly aren't determined by sex. But if both are equal, well-rounded curriculum, I have no problem with single-sex education.
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:04 pm
Never shall there be an army of preps that I cannot shatter with but a glance. And, in one of my rarer moments, I'm going to go on-topic. I honestly think a mixture of the two would work excellently. Perhaps a school with a coed student body, but single-sex classes. Just a thought. I've done discussion groups since I was a freshman in high school. (Yeah, as a freshman, they were light-hearted and talked about music. As a senior, I averaged three death threats a week.) All of them were with other guys, and yeah, even though I'm bi, I wasn't distracted by the possible sex. It was one more way for us dudes to hang out without the chicks. Trust me, I've caught s**t multiple times for telling a joke or anecdote in a mixed audience, so I enjoy a "just the guys" setting as much as any. And perhaps it's just me, but it takes a mature eye to look at sex and realize that it really doesn't matter.
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:15 pm
Cougar Draven Never shall there be an army of preps that I cannot shatter with but a glance. And, in one of my rarer moments, I'm going to go on-topic. I honestly think a mixture of the two would work excellently. Perhaps a school with a coed student body, but single-sex classes. Just a thought. I've done discussion groups since I was a freshman in high school. (Yeah, as a freshman, they were light-hearted and talked about music. As a senior, I averaged three death threats a week.) All of them were with other guys, and yeah, even though I'm bi, I wasn't distracted by the possible sex. It was one more way for us dudes to hang out without the chicks. Trust me, I've caught s**t multiple times for telling a joke or anecdote in a mixed audience, so I enjoy a "just the guys" setting as much as any. And perhaps it's just me, but it takes a mature eye to look at sex and realize that it really doesn't matter. There's not a man alive I can't leave repeating the word "********" over and over again in a failed attempt to describe his own intellectual limitations and my vast lingual and mental superiorty, however, I still shudder at the concept simply because it could happen. As for the maturity comment, this is only more reason to support coed schools - those of us who are capable of social interaction on a mature level should have the chance to do so, and if the majority is inferior, let them wallow in it. I don't particularly appreciate being forced to obey limitations to make other people feel less inadequate by comparison.
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Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:50 pm
I think they're trying out a single sex classes thing in a city near here where the classes of each student would be arranged so this gender goes to these classes and vice versa.
I personally wouldn't see a problem with it 'cept for the girly distractions on the female side. and whatever guys do in their time for distractions.
and the social thing
And what Fluffzorz said: male stupidity and female catfights over clothes etc. :/
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Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:55 pm
Emperor Fluffzorz Cougar Draven Never shall there be an army of preps that I cannot shatter with but a glance. And, in one of my rarer moments, I'm going to go on-topic. I honestly think a mixture of the two would work excellently. Perhaps a school with a coed student body, but single-sex classes. Just a thought. I've done discussion groups since I was a freshman in high school. (Yeah, as a freshman, they were light-hearted and talked about music. As a senior, I averaged three death threats a week.) All of them were with other guys, and yeah, even though I'm bi, I wasn't distracted by the possible sex. It was one more way for us dudes to hang out without the chicks. Trust me, I've caught s**t multiple times for telling a joke or anecdote in a mixed audience, so I enjoy a "just the guys" setting as much as any. And perhaps it's just me, but it takes a mature eye to look at sex and realize that it really doesn't matter. There's not a man alive I can't leave repeating the word "********" over and over again in a failed attempt to describe his own intellectual limitations and my vast lingual and mental superiorty, however, I still shudder at the concept simply because it could happen. As for the maturity comment, this is only more reason to support coed schools - those of us who are capable of social interaction on a mature level should have the chance to do so, and if the majority is inferior, let them wallow in it. I don't particularly appreciate being forced to obey limitations to make other people feel less inadequate by comparison. If that first part was a challenge, you're on. And the second part...I can see that. What's the percentage of people who are like us? From what I recall in high school, not many.
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Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 3:59 pm
Cougar Draven Emperor Fluffzorz Cougar Draven Never shall there be an army of preps that I cannot shatter with but a glance. And, in one of my rarer moments, I'm going to go on-topic. I honestly think a mixture of the two would work excellently. Perhaps a school with a coed student body, but single-sex classes. Just a thought. I've done discussion groups since I was a freshman in high school. (Yeah, as a freshman, they were light-hearted and talked about music. As a senior, I averaged three death threats a week.) All of them were with other guys, and yeah, even though I'm bi, I wasn't distracted by the possible sex. It was one more way for us dudes to hang out without the chicks. Trust me, I've caught s**t multiple times for telling a joke or anecdote in a mixed audience, so I enjoy a "just the guys" setting as much as any. And perhaps it's just me, but it takes a mature eye to look at sex and realize that it really doesn't matter. There's not a man alive I can't leave repeating the word "********" over and over again in a failed attempt to describe his own intellectual limitations and my vast lingual and mental superiorty, however, I still shudder at the concept simply because it could happen. As for the maturity comment, this is only more reason to support coed schools - those of us who are capable of social interaction on a mature level should have the chance to do so, and if the majority is inferior, let them wallow in it. I don't particularly appreciate being forced to obey limitations to make other people feel less inadequate by comparison. If that first part was a challenge, you're on. And the second part...I can see that. What's the percentage of people who are like us? From what I recall in high school, not many. Nah, I'm pretty much content knowing we're both massive abusers of our gift. As for the percentage... minimal. We're not a common breed, really - maybe 40 out of nearly 1500 in my school meet our standard of intelligence, and only about 15 or so are really on the same level as the members of this guild. Of course, we have bat-s**t insane standards, so that's not exactly shocking.
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 8:30 am
A question on the matter: aren't most single-sex schools private?
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Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 7:36 pm
Emperor Fluffzorz Cougar Draven Emperor Fluffzorz Cougar Draven Never shall there be an army of preps that I cannot shatter with but a glance. And, in one of my rarer moments, I'm going to go on-topic. I honestly think a mixture of the two would work excellently. Perhaps a school with a coed student body, but single-sex classes. Just a thought. I've done discussion groups since I was a freshman in high school. (Yeah, as a freshman, they were light-hearted and talked about music. As a senior, I averaged three death threats a week.) All of them were with other guys, and yeah, even though I'm bi, I wasn't distracted by the possible sex. It was one more way for us dudes to hang out without the chicks. Trust me, I've caught s**t multiple times for telling a joke or anecdote in a mixed audience, so I enjoy a "just the guys" setting as much as any. And perhaps it's just me, but it takes a mature eye to look at sex and realize that it really doesn't matter. There's not a man alive I can't leave repeating the word "********" over and over again in a failed attempt to describe his own intellectual limitations and my vast lingual and mental superiorty, however, I still shudder at the concept simply because it could happen. As for the maturity comment, this is only more reason to support coed schools - those of us who are capable of social interaction on a mature level should have the chance to do so, and if the majority is inferior, let them wallow in it. I don't particularly appreciate being forced to obey limitations to make other people feel less inadequate by comparison. If that first part was a challenge, you're on. And the second part...I can see that. What's the percentage of people who are like us? From what I recall in high school, not many. Nah, I'm pretty much content knowing we're both massive abusers of our gift. As for the percentage... minimal. We're not a common breed, really - maybe 40 out of nearly 1500 in my school meet our standard of intelligence, and only about 15 or so are really on the same level as the members of this guild. Of course, we have bat-s**t insane standards, so that's not exactly shocking. I wouldn't call our standards batshit insane. Me, on the other hand...I held a conversation with my mother, who is on par with any single one of us in intelligence, regarding my beliefs on human reproduction, which are not very unlike those of Eugenics, although my mother went as far as to say they were like Hitler. Hitler had high standards. I just prefer smart people, that's all. Yeah, I'm crazy. I'm hoping to at least get some sense knocked into me by the military. dark.hazel A question on the matter: aren't most single-sex schools private? I don't know about anywhere else, but here they are. At least all the ones I know of are.
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