Co-ed School? Single-sex school?
Single-gender education broadens the perspectives of learning for students. Boys are girls learn differently. Different genders learn differently. Their brains are set up differently in the first place. Boys learn by being in a strict environment where everything are they are supposed to do things within a strict rule. On the other hand, girls normally learn the best in open environment where they are open to several different experiments. Therefore, creating two different environments of education for each gender will enhance their learning experiences. Single-gender schools have their own teaching methods, which can be applied more successfully to that specific gender. Teachers are taught how to teach different genders when becoming a single-gender educator. They know how and what to teach either boys or girls.
Moreover, the single-gender education can broaden the perspectives of learning for students. For example, girls who want to study science or math often face the pressure of having to compete with mostly male students. As a result, they often hesitate to take that specific road. Yet if the girls are only exposed to girls in single-gender schools will no longer feel this pressure since people around them are all girls and the school will simply encourage them to also be part of math and engineering sector in the future. Same thing goes for the boys who want to pursue what we often call as “feminine” subjects, such as poetry or other arts subjects. In all boys school, guys can more easily achieve their dreams of becoming successful in those areas because of less competition.
Furthermore, single-gender schools can foster the best learning. This is especially true for young women when they hit the teen years and are inclined to act less smart so that they can attract the young men. With opportunities to socialize built in, a single sex school will be very beneficial.
Open any school prospectus and you will see the same vision outlined: to prepare children for adult life, both academically and socially. And yet, some people still seem to believe this can be achieved in the highly artificial environment of a single-sex school.
On the other hand, there are ongoing arguments that single-sex school advocates the difference of girls and boys and therefore, encourages the gender inequality within this society. It used to be argued that girls do better academically — particularly in stereotypically “male” subjects — when there are no boys around to distract or inhibit them. But decades of research in the UK and further afield has cast serious doubt on this. The Science research I mentioned earlier reports that such arguments relied on “weak, cherry picked or misconstrued scientific claims” and that, in fact, there is evidence “sex segregation increases gender stereotyping and legitimizes institutional sexism”. As shown in this research, the arguments upon single sex schools creating gender stereotypes are also valid argument that can be made.
In conclusion, single-gender schools have both pros and cons considering that it provides suitable education for both boys and girls and that it also advocates the gender stereotypes. When there is one advantage, there always is disadvantage as well. That is why single-gender schools have both pros and cons.