SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLS; THE PROS AND CONS. (From News Shopper)

SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLS; THE PROS AND CONS.

11:48pm Tuesday 31st January 2012 in Opinion & Blogs

Single-sex schools are a rather traditional way of educating children in Britain. There are many single-sex schools in Kent and its surrounding areas, especially those that are private or grammar schools. However they are becoming less and less common, and may be viewed as an educational relic sometime in the future.

According to the Department of Education, in 1966, there were 2,500 single-sex schools in the UK and in 2006 there were about 400. Is this necessarily a good or a bad thing, and what, if any, advantages do single-sex schools hold over mixed-sex schools?

Mr. Paul Henderson, The Headmaster of the all-boys private school Eltham College, recently stated that; “If you are a parent of a school-age boy, then it would be wise to consider the advantages of single sex education”. Some of the numerous advantages he cites for single-sex schools include; the notion that teachers will adapt their teaching styles to the specific educational needs of boys which will help them pay attention and learn better and that teachers can use more relevant props that “will keep boys interested”. The Headmaster also states that “a well-run boys’ school has a culture in which boys feel comfortable about themselves, are more confident about their abilities and therefore do better in the class-work”. Finally, the Headmaster rather amusingly states how, “With no girls to impress, boys can get on with being themselves.”

Though there may be a lot of credibility and strong logic contained behind the Headmaster Paul Henderson’s claims, single-sex schools are not necessarily very advantageous in comparison to mixed schools. Although boys and girls do generally differ in the way they learn best, there is no significant evidence that suggests that the difference in their styles of learning should be taken as far as enforcing gender segregation in schools. In fact this can have some major negative effects on boys and girls later on in life. Students at an all-boys/girls school lack the daily interaction with the opposite sex that occurs in normal classroom environments. A single-sex school may not fully prepare students for the real world. Students entering college or the workforce must know how to socialize and work with the opposite sex. Single sex schools often delay male and female socialization, which can lead to problems between sexes in the future and a certain feeling of alienation felt by one gender towards another.

I personally go to an all-boys school; however my school has recently started accepting girls into the sixth form, so its pupils are not completely comprised of boys. From my experience the presence of girls in my year has led to many of my fellow male pupils becoming much more mature and conducting themselves in a much more sophisticated manner than before. Impressing girls, as the Headmaster mentioned, may therefore not necessarily be a bad thing as it may mean that a boy’s behavior and academic rigour may improve in order to do this.