Gender Education Essay

The world is made up of girls and boys, and men and women. Most schools in the United States have the same goal: to prepare students for their life in the future. The different types of schools, such as single-sex or coed, want students to succeed in college and/or at a job. The main reason for separate gender classes is to conquer obstacles of each gender in a customary class setting. Leonard Sax, the founder of National Association for Single-sex public Education said that “Whenever girls and boys are together, their behavior inevitably reflects the larger society in which they live.”

During the 1700s, coeducation was first practiced in New England. Following the Revolutionary war, support for education for females increased. Many citizens thought female’s education was a pivotal tool in transforming generations in the future to be good civic leaders and citizens. Private schools began to offer coeducational schooling. The system of private schools was only open to wealthy families until the 1840s, when Horace Mann from Massachusetts, and Henry Barnard from Connecticut, felt all children would benefit from education. By the end of the 19th century, free public schooling at the elementary level was open to all American children. By 1918, all states had passed laws requiring children to attend at least elementary school. All schools were on board, except for the Catholic schools. Many Catholics were against coeducation because of moral and religious grounds such as claiming that the principle of difference was rooted in religion. They also claimed females had different purposes to fulfill in life. Therefore, most Catholic schools remained single-sex. The Educational Amendment of 1972 prohibited discrimination on the...

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Although there are many advantages of single-gender schooling, there are just as many disadvantages. Many researchers found single-sex schooling generates disrespect for the opposite sex. When sexes are separated, they question the worth of one gender over another. For instance, when student get a job, they may feel disdain for the opposite gender’s work. Single-sex classes do not provide students with necessary experience in the mixed-gender environment that is typical in a workplace. Student also miss opportunities to work together and develop vital social skills need for the future. Single-sex classes make exclusion of the opposite gender acceptable. Outside of school, the world is coed and students need the ability to interact with the opposite sex without being uncomfortable.