I remember back to the days at Sunnyside Elementary when it would be the girls vs the boys during recess actives. Trying to see who could out beat one another in races, running games or tag. P.E for me was always more interesting with the boys since I would be just as good or in some cases better. We would also see who could “shake/shook” each other when playing our favorite game throughout 4th and 5th grade, Sharks and Minos, Freeze Tag etc... The Co-ed experience was the good life for me for sure! Co-ed schooling got me to a whole other world of critical thinking because of the different opinions I would hear from the two different sides. I’m very pleased of the choices my parents made to enroll me into a multi-sex school. I believe that many students benefit from coed opportunities because of the following reasons: reduces stereotypes, creates a real world environment, and less competition/aggressiveness in the classrooms.
By having single-sex schools it creates a harmful environment of stereotypes to the different genders. Michael Kimmel wrote an article about how children may be a tomboy or a boy who doesn't necessary likes certain sports. In the CNN article it states that for example, “According to a brief filed by the ACLU in 2010, boys in one Louisiana school read ‘Where the Red Fern Grows’ while girls read ‘The Witch of Blackbird Pond’ because ‘boys like 'hunting' and 'dogs,' but girls prefer 'love stories’" (Kimmel 2). This is important to know because by having separated sex school it increases more labels to males and females. By having girls reading romance novel It makes it as if girls appear as quiet and fragile. By having boys reading a more “hardcore” book, it now automatically assumed that boys are strong and “manly” it leaves people assuming that's the only thing girls and boys care about. It makes girls appear as soft and fragile and boys strong and diehard. As you can see by dividing the sexes into two separate environments it will create false assumptions to each other. And I thought we were suppose to be fighting against stereotypes?
It's important to know that when going to the work force there will no longer be a wall between females and males, meaning than you are going to have to work with the different gender. In the article by ASU it discusses the pros and cons about single sex and coed schooling. But one point that really stood out to me in the article was when they claimed that, ”The cost of single-sex education is not only a burden on schools, but within society if children fail to learn to work with other-sex individuals, said Carol Lynn Martin, ASU School of Social and Family Dynamics professor and ACCES co-director of school relations.One study looked at ‘buddy up’ time when boys and girls are paired together to work on projects in classrooms. One boy who said he ‘didn’t like girls’ was surprised to find out his female buddy wasn’t so different from him and they became good friends, Martin explained. ‘This boy learned that there are many more similarities between the sexes than differences’” (1). This clearly proves my point that if we keep children from teaching one another it will result into being scared later in life to work/be near each other. From keeping children away from each other will not benefit them anyway later in life. What if you do get a opposite sex co worker how will you be available to communicate with one another if you didn’t learn as a child? It's a life skill that everyone should master. In the article written by ASU by combining the genders it creates a stronger reality to the students. They claim that “If you want to bring people together and engage in positive contact, school is a good place to do that,” Martin said. The curriculum focuses on building relationships, problem solving and enhancing communication and collaboration” (1). School is a place meant to interact and learn with/from one another. By going to a Co-ed school you get more ideas from the different perspectives from each gender leading to an accessible communication.
Co-ed schooling is the better choice for students because it’s less competition with one another and less aggressiveness. A writer from New York Times brings up the problem of how deeply misguided sex segregation is. He claim “...the article said, is that it reduces boys’ and girls’ opportunities to work together, and reinforces sex stereotypes. ‘Boys who spend more time with other boys become increasingly aggressive,’ the article said. “Similarly, girls who spend more time with other girls become more sex-typed” (Lewin 1). This proves my point of by keeping genders apart it increases too much tension between the sexes. In Co-ed there isn't a lot of conflicts between the students. In the article “Women and Men in the Classroom: Inequality and Its Remedies” Catherine G. Krupnick did a study at Harvard university between the two different social groups, boys and girls. Her studies prove that there is competition between the genders when sharing out in a classroom. “Aries noticed something else as well when observing single-sex groups: she found that groups composed entirely of women students tended to have a ‘rotating,’ participatory style in comparison with male groups. In other words, in these groups women took turns in an egalitarian way, and each spoke for more or less equal amounts of time throughout the class hour. Male groups appeared more contest-like, with extremely uneven amounts of talk per man. They competed by telling personal anecdotes or raising their voices. In dividing the hour unevenly, they established hierarchies of access to the discourse. All these characteristics remained stable over the course of several months. And what happened in mixed groups? Unsurprisingly, the male competitive style won out. Apparently, it's as hard for men to give up the habits of competition as it is for women to learn them” (Krupnick 1). From Krupnick’s studies, it proves that there is a tension between males and more of a “rotating” feel in voices for females.. Also you don't get to hear different perspectives and let everyone have a voice in a compelling issue. Which can lead to bias towards males or females without having the other opinion to be present.
According to CRC Health a single-sex supports they claim “In 2001, a British study concluded that almost every girl regardless of her skill or how much money her family made did better in single sex classrooms than co-ed ones. The study of 2954 high schools and 979 elementary schools showed that while boys who scored low academically improved the most in single sex schools, single-sex education was very helpful to girls. Every one of the top fifty elementary schools and top twenty high schools in Britain are single sex schools” (Health 1). However, according to Huffington post “...there is very little gap between what girls and boys can learn, and herein lies the rub. In fact, the differences are most pronounced in young children, and as children grow older, their home environment, their interests and their peers have the greatest influence over their behavior. By the time children are in the 12th grade, the differences between boys and girls are very subtle. Understanding these subtle differences can help educators guide their students in a positive way, meeting them and their needs where they are” (Gross 1). The learning gap between genders are very insignificance, and really no proof of how much each gender comprehended because everyone has different learning styles.
By having all schools as Single-Sex it raises stereotypes to the next level. Freeden Oeur states “Some warn that single-sex schools increase gender stereotypes. It's a true concern. Thought the teachers at Urban Charter actively fought stereotypes, not simply of boys but of black boys. The school staff was well aware of typical stereotypes of their young men -- as rappers and basketball players -- and so the school culture promoted individual interests. At weekly assemblies, the achievements of the mock trial team were celebrated along with those of the basketball team” (Ouer 2). Yes this does help of helping stereotypes, however, this would only target certain people and it's not inclusive to everybody at school. In the article from Huffington Post Hayley Krischer claims “The concept is based on the different learning styles of boys and girls as well as cuts down on ‘distractions such as flirting.’ In one class in Missouri, the boys class does a "camping" theme and the girls do an ‘under the sea’ theme. And according to the article they're even separated based on athletic interests: "When preparing for a test, the boys may go for a run, or engage in some other activity, while the girls are more likely to do calming exercises, such as yoga.’ The ACLU -- unwilling to wait and see if the next step would be to paint the girls' classroom pink and the boys' classroom blue, or worse, enroll the boys in shop and the girls in home ec -- decided to launch a national campaign, Teach Kids, Not Stereotypes, in May, and sent cease-and-desist letters to school districts in Maine,West Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi and Virginia” (Krischer 1). As you can see by going to a single sex school it creates a space of thinking of boys are rough and girls are the weaker gender mentally and physically.Single sex schools set a high standard of stereotypes to everyone no matter where they stand Clearly the Co-ed schooling is the better way to go, and doesn’t support gender stereotypes.
Mixed sex schools are more beneficial than single sex schools for numerous of reasons. Co Ed prevents fewer stereotypes to the genders, its is more accurate to a real life situation and less competitions/aggressiveness. Education is crucial when living in a world with both sexes to learn how to understand each other. By sending your child to a Co-ed school it allows the individuals to interact on a social system that they will always be subjected to. In order to make all schools change to Co-ed we would have to make petitions and get 1,000 signatures from people who agree with this problem. We can also educate people who aren’t as aware about this issue of Co-ed or Single Sex schooling. After getting our signatures we would have to talk to the board of education in order to have schools change over to a diverse learning experiences. Co-ed schooling is the way to go!
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