Single Sex Education Essay

INTRODUCTION

Many parents and educators are led to believe that single-sex education can eliminate the distractions for students in the classroom. There is evidence that suggests that there are significant gains for children who attend single-sex schools, especially girls, and that these schools encourage the students to flourish. However, there is an ongoing debate about the impact that single-sex schools have on both the academic achievement and social skills, and there are studies that suggest with an increase in gender stereotyping comes problematic behaviors. (Van Thompson, Demand Media)

Coeducation is seen as improving educational efficiency (Woody, 1929) and encouraging a positive social relationship between boys and girls. However, some studies, such as that by Coleman (1961), indicated that coeducation had a negative effect on girls’ academic achievement due to the peer pressure to prioritise relations with the opposite sex rather than schoolwork.

Those who are in favour of single-sex education not only believe that separating boys and girls, increases students’ achievement and focus but also their academic interest, (Pahlke, Hyde, Allison, 2014). This increased academic interest is important for student motivation and is reflected differently for boys and girls. While an all boys’ school may see an increased interest in the study of languages, an all girls’ school is likely to see an increased interest in subjects such as math and science. (Smyth, 2010)

Research by Myra and David Sadker suggests that girls tend to flourish in same-sex settings, while boys' academic performance is unchanged or, in some cases, slightly worse. (Failing Fairness, Myra and David Sadker).

Consequently it seems it is important to assess t...

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...nd overcome this by introducing girl and boy only classes for some subjects. This attempt to create the advantages of single-sex education while maintaining a mixed social stance was originally aimed at stimulating the progress of girls in such classes as mathematics and science.

This approach does seem to stimulate the girls confidence and allows them to receive more teacher attention, due to less time being spent on managing the boys the behavior’s, Sukhandan et all (2000). However, on the other hand the girls are no long able to gain the perspective of the boys in the class.

There appears to be very little consensus on whether single-sex education is advantageous to girls’ or boys’ academic achievement. However, there does appear to be, at least tentative, evidence that attitudes to subject areas may become more gender-stereotyped in a coeducational setting.