The buzz around town is that girls and boys learn differently. Some people feel they should be taught separately and not allowed to interact with each other during the school day except for lunch. I agree with this somewhat. I believe that girls and boys do learn differently; however, I don't think it necessary to isolate them from each other during the entire day. They should have more interaction other than at lunch. After all, if the gender separation is done at the elementary school and the middle school that these students will attend does not practice this type of grouping, then the students may not know how to interact peacefully with each other. If the separation is done at the midddle school level and the high school does not practice it, then the situation may even be worse. I can see separating by gender for core classes, especially math and Science, but there should be some flexibility with elective courses. We know that there are colloeges that practice gender separation, but even some of them allow the other gender to attend classes on their campus. So then what was the purpose of creating the single gender school in the first place?
I've taught middle and high school. There can be some distractions from both the male and female sides. Sometimes girls don't even get along with other girls, but I've rarely seen that problem with boys. They are usually immature and play around too often. I would like to see some concrete data verifying that students perform better when they are separated by gender. One of our neighboring school districts is in its third year of practicing this at one of their middle schools. This year it was supposed to extend to the high school level, but I don't think that idea went over well with the students. The parents had their own ideas about what they wanted, but the bottom line is that the students have to be receptive in order for it to work-especially at that age level. What are your feelings about single gender classes?
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The idea of seperating them also brings into question, the develoment of their social skills. This components is often overlooked, but if they are not socialized together how will they know how to act together? Will they nkow how communicate with each other? I am not a believer that this type of knowledge is instinct, and I am not discussing their ability to date. Imagine what a dance would be like, akward! I too would like to see more sound research that shows conclusive evidence that there are significant learning gains mad by having single gender programs.
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