"If you don't know how to cope with a dude that's, like, annoying you, when you grow up, boys will be bugging you all the time" -wise words from a frustrated student, nick news
Blast from the past! This morning, I came across an email entitled "Linda Ellerbee and gender-segregation." For those of you who may have forgotten Linda Ellerbee is the host of Nick News, the issue-based news program geared towards Nickelodeon's audiences (Oh nerdy childhood memories of specials like "Kids Pick the President" *sigh.*)
With one click of a mouse, I was watching Linda Ellerbee and her crew of tiny tots duke out single-sex vs. co-ed education, a topic bothering education advocates since Bush's 2006 weakening of Title IX/acceptance of voluntary separate, but equal education. (Nick news should NOT be hitting these issues before Obama, btw!)
Throughout the show, kids and experts alike try to argue that gender differences are significant enough to affect the learning process. Arguments included "girls require cooperative environments and boys need competition," "girls prefer to be taught as if they're being comfortably parented, while boys prefer the military, drill-Sergent style" and "boys like to sprawl out around the classroom, while girls prefer to sit properly."
As someone who is passionate about giving all children the opportunity to live up to their highest potential, I firmly believe in doing whatever it takes to get kids to the top (just not this.) Aside from rumors that "separate, but equal" national policies haven't always worked out for this country, here's some other reasons why I am not a fan of single-sex ed:
*Single sex education only exaggerates gender stereotypes (and puts emphasis on gender differences, as opposed to what's in common.) While teaching, I've seen a range of personalities in both boys and girls. Not all boys prefer competition, not all girls prefer cooperation. There are times that both both boys should play up each characteristic, therefore; everyone should be taught and expected to do both well.
*There is not any proof that single-sex education produces better results. Often schools that practice sex-segregation have other factors working in their favor (privately funded, smaller class sizes, more master teachers, computers in every room, parental-involvement programs, etc...)
*"Distraction" is an easy, but inaccurate excuse. No matter the company around them, younger boys and girls will find subjects to distract them (popularity, sports, tv, etc...) Women and men will need to interact in the work place and (for the better or worse) hormones do not disappear after college. That already awkward time in middle school/high school is a great time for learning about relationships without drastic professional consequences.
*Research show no difference in how boys and girls learn and that teaching the two differently even has negative consequences. Teaching with two separate learning style means that information and skills taught can never be exactly the same. It may even be as simple as boys taking more verbal exams, while girls becoming more proficient in written testing. Small as this may seem, the job market is competitive and future employers will hold everyone to the same skill-set expectations.
Moral of the story, once again, separate is never equal. TO SEE NICK'S PINT-SIZED LESSONS ON THE ROLE OF GENDER IN EDUCATION, CLICK HERE!
photo credit: slimmer_jimmer on flickr.com
