Wednesday, October 25, 2006
commentary: education
I went to a co-ed school, didn't you? Growing up, the only same-sex schools were usually private Catholic ones, and you know how those kids always turned out (ahem).
Co-ed classes became the overwhelming norm after a rule was passed in 1975 limiting the amount of same-sex classes in public schools. Starting November 24, however, those rules will finally relax, according to an announcement from the Department of Education yesterday.
Although there are no public schools (to my knowledge, other than charter schools) that are boys-only or girls-only, a growing number of schools have begun incorporating same-sex classrooms within co-ed schools. In fact, since 1995, the number has grown from 3 schools to 240.
Some of you may remember that within the past year or so, there was a television series special documentary thingy on boys in school (if you remember please post a link or reference). It studied in depth the learning differences between boys and girls and how schools now cater more to the girls style of learning. And with the increase in hours at school and decrease of recesses, the situation for boys is only getting worse.
Could this be the solution to our nation's male-education dilemma? The National Center fo Educational Statistics estimates that girls now outperform boys in every level of school, from elementary through graduate school. 56 percent of all bachelor's degrees and 55 percent of all graduate degrees are now going to women as well. What is happening to our boys?
Of course, the relaxed regulations have caused a decent amount of controversy, especially from the ACLU, which fears that it may be a license for schools to reinstate segregation, this time by gender. Supporters of Title IX, most commonly applied to high school sports, have also expressed that this may bring schools backwards more than forwards.
Of course, some research has been done on whether students actually learn better in same sex settings, and as expected, nothing conclusive has turned up. Based on the research done on boys versus girls learning methods, I think it isn't so much the fact that their classrooms are full of kids of their own gender as it is the way each class should be taught. Right now, it's unfair for boys, who naturally have more energy, to be cooped up for hours at a time, and statistics show it is one of the causes of their poor scholarly performance. It isn't enough to just change who is in the class, but the way classes are conducted must also reflect that. Isn't that the whole point of it?
Co-ed classes became the overwhelming norm after a rule was passed in 1975 limiting the amount of same-sex classes in public schools. Starting November 24, however, those rules will finally relax, according to an announcement from the Department of Education yesterday.
Although there are no public schools (to my knowledge, other than charter schools) that are boys-only or girls-only, a growing number of schools have begun incorporating same-sex classrooms within co-ed schools. In fact, since 1995, the number has grown from 3 schools to 240.
Some of you may remember that within the past year or so, there was a television series special documentary thingy on boys in school (if you remember please post a link or reference). It studied in depth the learning differences between boys and girls and how schools now cater more to the girls style of learning. And with the increase in hours at school and decrease of recesses, the situation for boys is only getting worse.
Could this be the solution to our nation's male-education dilemma? The National Center fo Educational Statistics estimates that girls now outperform boys in every level of school, from elementary through graduate school. 56 percent of all bachelor's degrees and 55 percent of all graduate degrees are now going to women as well. What is happening to our boys?
Of course, the relaxed regulations have caused a decent amount of controversy, especially from the ACLU, which fears that it may be a license for schools to reinstate segregation, this time by gender. Supporters of Title IX, most commonly applied to high school sports, have also expressed that this may bring schools backwards more than forwards.
Of course, some research has been done on whether students actually learn better in same sex settings, and as expected, nothing conclusive has turned up. Based on the research done on boys versus girls learning methods, I think it isn't so much the fact that their classrooms are full of kids of their own gender as it is the way each class should be taught. Right now, it's unfair for boys, who naturally have more energy, to be cooped up for hours at a time, and statistics show it is one of the causes of their poor scholarly performance. It isn't enough to just change who is in the class, but the way classes are conducted must also reflect that. Isn't that the whole point of it?
# posted by ange : 12:44 PM
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hm... i thought it was pretty much proven that kids in same gender classrooms out-preformed kids in mixed. i think it's funny tho. because while, yes, segregating students based on gender might make them do better in school, so would any number of things. more qualified teachers, better books, stricter cirriculum less standardized testing, longer school hours... america sucks in education when compared to the rest of the developed world. and a lot of those countries don't segregate by gender. maybe instead of focusing so directly on the kids, we should focus on wat and how we're teaching them.
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