Single-Sex Education: The New Separate, Yet Equal

Is single-sex education inherently unequal?

The new trend for middle school seems to be single-sex education, one math class for boys and one for girls. Proponents argue that gender stereotyping leads to girls being unwilling to pursue math and boys being afraid to take drama or creative literature.  Supports also claim that separating the genders, and fostering different curriculums to the students they are more likely to succeed. They also claim that behavior problems decrease. (see the CNN article for more information)

My criticism is that separating children based on gender is inherently unequal. We wouldn’t separate children directly based on ethnicity, race or income levels, so why gender? It seems to me that the same arguments made pre Brown v Board of Topeka Kansas are being made with gender, that there is equality in being separated to focus on differences that are socially created.  Giving entirely different text books and curriculum is the same prejudice that was already suffered in the US. It also denies equal access, especialy if one text book or teaching plan is better than another.

Secondly, this does not teach students that value of working together with people of all types. Boys and girls will compete in the workforce, so why not have them interact in schools? I would also suggest that a better solution is to learn to improve teaching techniques and encourage students to participate.

Thirdly, single sex classrooms only reinforce gender stereotypes. It ignores that some girls are competitive, and that some boys are shyer. By making broad claims based on gender to separate students, this encourages people to pigeonhole students.

See below for more information:

Starting about gender @:  4:24 -8:07 http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/studentnews/12/09/transcript.thu/index.html?iref=allsearch

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/jan-june03/classrooms_05-19.html# 

http://www.aclu.org/womens-rights/aclu-represents-students-challenge-sex-segregation-kentucky-public-school