When I was in 1st grade, during recess at McKinley Elementary, the girls would always play “House” under the slide of the play structure. “House” never seemed fun to me as a little girl, I thought it was dumb acting like a sweet little family. I looked across the yard to see the boys playing tag, running around the spinners and the bright orange monkey bars. I slowly walked over to the group of boys expecting them to ignore me or not allow me to play with them. “Um, Hi! I was wondering if I could join your game” I said waiting for a response. “Uh, yeah. We are gonna start a new round soon, so just follow me” said my future friend, Sam. The second I put my foot in for the “bubblegum-dish choosing” for a game of tag, little did I know I had created a part of my future that I will always enjoy looking back on. More girls that were under the slide trickled into the group after that. Nearing the end of 5th grade, my favorite thing to do at recess was to play sharks and minnows with the same group of boys who let me play tag with them and the girls that were playing “House” under the slide. Running around with the rush of adrenaline from the blasting music. Dodging all of the people in the yard who were playing kick ball and yelling. It is still one of my favorite memories from elementary school. Co-ed schooling is your average school, with a mix of boys and girls in the classrooms. Single sex schooling is when a school is specifically meant for a certain gender and only allows one gender to attend the school. It was extremely mainstream before the 19th century. Single sex schooling is becoming very popular in the U.S. among parents and students and is thought to be “better than co-ed.” Co-education has begun to be overlooked as an option of schooling for students. Co-ed schools are better for students compared to single sex schools because they prepares students for the the world outside of school, they stop and help prevent stereotypes and they create more diversity in learning and development.
Unlike single sex schooling, co-ed schools stop the enforcement of stereotypes. In the article, “Don’t segregate boys and girls in the classroom” written by Michael Kimmel, he describes the differences between single sex schools and co-education and how co-ed is a better way of teaching. He says,“Single-sex classes reinforce harmful stereotypes about boys and girls. A 2011 article in the journal Science concluded that ‘sex-segregated education is deeply misguided, and often justified by weak, cherry-picked, or misconstrued scientific claims rather than by valid scientific evidence. There is no well-designed research showing that single-sex education improves students' academic performance, but there is evidence that sex segregation increases gender stereotyping and legitimizes institutional sexism’”(Kimmel 2). This show us that single sex schooling validates negative behavior in schools such as stereotypes against women. Making young girls believe that it's okay to be treated unequally and differently than boys. If girls are put into single sex schools, then they will encounter more stereotyping in their life outside of schools and in general. This is important in demonstrating that co-ed schools are better for students by showing how single sex schools increase stereotypes and sexism. In “The Pseudoscience of Single Sex Schooling” a magazine article published in ‘Science,’ the many authors, (Diane F. Halpern, 1 *† Lise Eliot, 2 Rebecca S. Bigler, 3 Richard A. Fabes, 4 Laura D. Hanish, 4 Janet Hyde, 5 Lynn S. Liben, 6 Carol Lynn Martin) describe how gender stereotyping is created in both classrooms, coed and single sex, but show how more prominent it is in, in single sex classrooms and schools. They state, “Some proponents of SS education claim it is well suited to countering sexism found in co-educational classrooms that may promote gender stereotypes. Teachers may interact less often with girls than boys (with low-achieving boys who interrupt class) (22) and highlight gender through labeling (e.g., “Good morning, boys and girls”) or classroom organization (e.g., lining children up by sex). But gender divisions are made even more salient in SS settings because the contrast between the segregated classroom and the mixed-sex structure of the surrounding world provides evidence to children that sex is a core human characteristic along which adults organize education”(Bigler 2 et all). This proves that it is impossible to fully avoid gender stereotyping, but in classrooms with just one gender, it is made clear to the ever-so-observant children, that gender is a way that adults construct education. Girls might notice that the boys they hang out with after school, might be able to have “stretch breaks” during class, compared to having to stay seated throughout the whole class period. Also, boy students might end up bragging about what they learned to what their friend learned at their girls school, which can create disagreements and argument between them such as “I’m smarter than you.” This supports the fact that co-education stops stereotypes in the learning environment because it shows that they even the playing field between each gender so everyone is treated and taught equally.
The second reason why co-education better than single sex schooling is that co-ed schools prepare students for the real world by having their classes with both genders. In the article “The Pseudoscience of Single Sex Schooling”, the authors write about the effects of your future, based on if you attend a single sex school or a co-ed school. “SS education is that it reduces boys’ and girls’ opportunities to work together in a supervised, purposeful environment. When teachers make children’s sex salient, students choose to spend less time interacting with other-sex peers. Beyond fostering academic skills, public education has many goals, including preparing children for mixed-sex workplaces, families, and citizenry. The idea that there are far-reaching consequences is supported by a large-scale study in the UK showing that men in their early 40s were more likely to be divorced if they attended SS rather than co-educational schools (30)”(Bigler 3 et all). This information displays that co-ed schools provide a safe environment for children to work together. It also shows us that in co-ed schools we pick up important life lessons and probably the most important one of all, how to work hand in hand with the opposite gender. The evidence also shows a consequence of going to a single sex school, divorce. If we had a world where everyone went to a school based on their gender just imagine how many disagreements and problems would occur. We wouldn't be able to cooperate with each other and that is a central reason of why the human race is still around. Our ancestors worked together and had children, worked ideas off of each other. It is crucial that co-education exists and that it is the priority option of schooling, so children learn at an early age about cooperation and teamwork with the opposite gender so they know how to act in the world outside of school. The NEA, the National Education Association, had a debate with the question “Do students learn better in single-sex classrooms?” between Robert Kirschenbaum and André Boyd. Boyd asked the questions, “In the classroom, learning experiences need to resemble real-world life experiences. How can we prepare students for future families, homes, and workplaces without exposing them to members of the opposite sex? How can we expect them to learn to respect and appreciate gender differences as adults if we do not teach them to form healthy relationships and have positive interactions and appropriate dialogues now?”(Boyd 1). This indicates that classrooms should act like a mock real world, where students can learn how to work with the other sex. School should prepare students for their future, if they are separated by gender, that experience of interaction is lost. If students are separated it would be extremely difficult to work together and create the cure to cancer, if they weren't able to bounce ideas off of eachother. To keep the innovation going in future generations we need to make sure children learn to work well with each sex, and to do that, we need to have them go to co-ed schools.
Some people might say that single sex schools allow there to be no competition between the genders, helping students become more confident. For example in “The Many Advantages Of Single-Sex Schools” an article written by CR Health, “Girls take over all the positions of leadership in an single sex school, whether it’s drama, sports, yearbook, or debate team, and they are more likely to major in math and science in college. After ten years of studying sexism in classrooms, professors Myra and David Sadker concluded that girls stay confident and learn more in single sex schools – ‘where girls are the players, not the audience’”(CRC Health 2). But in reality, the only reason girls are filling the roles is because they are the only gender that are offered the roles at schools. Also, some girls might want the competition against boys and the pride in knowing they got there spot fair and square. Having a competition between both genders also helps students prepare for the real world, such as applying for a job that both men and women are applying to. Again, they have to learn how to work together with the other gender to succeed in the real world. “Most importantly, single-sex schooling reduces boys’ and girls’ opportunities to learn from and about each other. Boys and girls must learn to work together, and the classroom is the ideal setting for such practice because it is both purposeful and supervised”(Bigler 2). Despite what others say it is clear that, co-ed schools are better for students compared to single sex schools because they allow students to compete with one another and learn from one another in a safe environment.
Another reason of why schools should be co-ed is so children are able to gain more diversity in their development and learning. In “The case against single-sex schooling”an article posted by The Washington Post, the authors Rebecca Bigler and Lise Eliot describe their stance on single sex schooling. They were both co-authors of “The Pseudoscience of Single Sex Schooling” and they are both experts on this topic. Bigler states, “Second, research on peer relations indicates that children who interact mostly with same-gender peers develop increasingly narrow skill sets and interests. For example, boys who spend more time with other boys become increasingly aggressive; girls who spend more time with other girls become more sex-typed in their play. Developmental research finds better mental health outcomes among children who develop a mix of traditionally masculine and feminine skills and interests — like playing competitive sports and discussing emotions — compared to more one-dimensional peers”(Bigler 2). This means that children who went to co-ed schools were around kids with different skills and different interests. This allows children to be open to more things as they are children, making it easier for them to be around different sets of people as they grow up. When they are still developing their personalities there won't be a set of interests that they are allowed to like, but instead they will be able to be who they really want to be. This matters because if you put your kids into a co-ed school then they will grow up with a more diverse mindset and they will be happier because they would be able to fully express their interests. Andre Boyd is a teacher at Johnson Middle School in Timmonsville, South Carolina. He recently gave in opinion in on a debate article on the NEA website. Boyd states, “In a diverse classroom, there are countless questions, different perspectives, and a variety of interests, which all add to the excitement of learning. Our students have much to contribute to each other, and students of all ages benefit from being engaged in activities and learning in the company of the opposite sex”(Boyd 1). There are many different perspectives in the classroom making the classroom environment more interesting. There is a large variety of ideas floating around making students think more on a topic such as opinions on immigration. This matters because they are the future leaders of our world and they should be able to have a education full of diversity. They should also be able to have the ability to learn from one another and learn how to work with one another.
Others like to argue that the separation of students allows the teachers to focus on specific learning styles for each gender. In “The case against single-sex schooling” written by Rebecca Bigler, The Franklin Academy for Boys in Tampa states that, “the typical teenage girl has a sense of hearing seven times more acute than a teenage boy,” and continues with this claim, ‘Stress enhances learning in males. The same stress impairs learning in females’”(Bigler 1). However, conclusion is based on the misguided belief that girls are better at hearing than boys. It furthermore jumps to the conclusion that stress actually stimulates learning in boys instead of impairing learning abilities like girls. These assumptions can be very harmful to the learning of children. For instance, Bigler, a professor of psychology and women’s and gender studies at the University of Texas at Austin states that, “Scientists agree there is much more overlap than difference between boys and girls in their brains and behavior. That is, boys differ more among each other in academic and social skills than they differ from girls, and vice versa. Placing children into classrooms based on their gender and — and making assumptions about their physiology, brains, interests, and learning ability — will virtually guarantee that teachers’ expectations are biased and their gender-based practices are misguided for most of their students” (Bigler 1). The assumptions made by teachers can lead kids to failure in school. Being classified with other male brains, where they function under stress, but you get crushed by the same amount of stress. Or being forced not to fidget during class or draw on your paper, when it is actually something that keeps you focused during a long class or presentation. If you want your child or children to be successful throughout school and their life outside of school you should enroll them into co-ed schools.
In conclusion, co-ed schools are better for students compared to single sex schools because they prepare students for the the world outside of school, they stop and help prevent stereotypes and they create more diversity in learning and development. Co-education is crucial because it allows students to learn to work together with one another in a world with both genders. Also, the skills you learn in school such as communication and teamwork are extremely important in being successful once you graduate. It's extremely difficult to accomplish or make a change in the world without knowing how to work with both genders. This can affect how we interact with other countries and their leaders. We can gain more allies if we know how to work with their leaders both men and women. In “Do single-sex schools provide a positive social experience ?” written by Anna Patty, she discusses personal experiences of people who went to single sex schools and of people who went to co-ed schools. She compares how the two experiences impacted their lives once they joined the workforce and the outside world after graduation. According to Patty, “Co-educational schools demystify the opposite sex. What they may lack in academic benefits, they more than make up for in the social experience they provide, for both sexes. Those benefits include helping students deal with the opposite sex in the workplace. Women working in male-dominated environments can especially benefit from their co-educational school experience. Butting heads with boys in the classroom and the playground and sharing in their practical jokes are invaluable social skills for girls to take into a rough and tumble workplace”(Patty 1). The work place is hard to maneuver but when you are able to joke around with workmates it makes it easier. The skills that students learn in school prepare them for their future. It is important that we allow our children to be set up for a successful career. In order for a better future for the children and the world, parents must place their children in co-ed schools.
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