What do you think about gender-segregated classrooms?

[Killearn Kitties]

I'm surprised to hear you say there are no statistics available on the effect of segregation on students' success. I have always been under the impression that girls perform better, while boys perform slightly less well in segregated classes.

[smokey the elder]

Statistics were in fact quoted last night for a school (I don't remember which one.) Without knowing the sample size and how they were collected, at face value they seemed pretty impressive. I think it was 100% graduation vs. 68%, and 86% going to college vs. 31%, for a specific charter school (girls only) vs. the public school.

I think it's a good idea with the usual caveats on making sure the resources are allocated fairly between boys' and girls' schools. At the end of the day, it should be up to the parents (and perhaps the student him/herself) if single-gender classes are right for them.

[JenBKR]

I think it's a great idea - studies show that girls and boys learn differently, and with some classes being segregated teachers can concentrate on teaching to that particular gender. Also, I think once puberty starts, many kids (boys expecially!) concentrate more on kids of the opposite gender than on their studies. They've been talking about this a lot on the radio this morning, and there are lots of people supporting it here. I should also add that I personally think it would be best if only some classes are segregated, then have some time with boys and girls together.

[Zippy]

Bad Idea!!!
It just isn't right.It is like if you put the white kids in one room and the black kids in one room.I think the all girls class would fight all the time and I think the all boys class would goof off the whole time.

[Logan]

As the mother of a teenager, I could be totally "for", seperating the girls and boys in all class situations, not just Sex Education and Health.

Logan

[mugsy]

Ok, I have to chime in...(you're surprised right? )

Interestingly enough, in our 8th grade team meeting yesterday, we had this exact discussion. I think it's a good idea. Less distraction, and more focus on the subject at hand. I am FULLY in agreement that P.E. classes should be segregated. I know that the tension in my classroom is often due to the mixed genders. I don't think that it hurts them...they have the ability to mingle at lunch and in the hall during passing periods. I'm not against socializing students of opposite gender, but, I don't think that's what it's about. I know when I teach, each class gets the same information (sometimes presented differently because of special needs kids) and it doesn't matter to me if it's mixed genders or if it is single gender.

Over all the approximately 15 people in the room were in full agreement that in the best interest of the students (which is why we're here!)it's a good idea.

[Laura's Babies]

I think it is a great idea.

[catnapper]

I think its a good idea as well. I listen to my husband's frustrations of how the kids spend more time flirting than they do studying. The girls are all hanging their breasts out to attract the boys. He can't say anything like "please button up your top" because if he did, that means he noticed (believe me, its hard NOT to notice when some of these girls are a D cup, wearing a pushup bra and plunging neckline - all in whats supposed to be the school's uniform!)

I also hear my daughter's frustration when she and the other girls want to learn but a group of boys are busy goofing off and making lewd comments all throughout the class. Both my girls boyfriends actually attend different schools than they go to. They don't rely on school to be their primary social factor. In fact my youngest doesn't have any friends from school - all her friends are from her sports teams.

I helped my husband with a college paper last year on different learning styles and its proven that boys learn differently than girls. It would be great to get them into environments where their learning styles are emphasized to have a greater impact.

School is for learning first and foremost, socialization comes as a secondary benefit.

[Miss Z]

There's plenty of girls-only and boys-only schools around here, in fact I nearly went to one myself. In the state system, single-sex schools generally out-perform mixed schools by far (in the private sector, like my school, there is generally no difference).

My school actually used to be a boys school, it's only been co-ed since 2001, so there are no more than 20 girls in each year. I think there's 14 girls in my year to about 100 boys.

Personally though, I think a strict school uniform has a better effect on keeping boys and girls apart during school than separation.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

Statistics were in fact quoted last night for a school (I don't remember which one.) Without knowing the sample size and how they were collected, at face value they seemed pretty impressive. I think it was 100% graduation vs. 68%, and 86% going to college vs. 31%, for a specific charter school (girls only) vs. the public school.

I think it's a good idea with the usual caveats on making sure the resources are allocated fairly between boys' and girls' schools. At the end of the day, it should be up to the parents (and perhaps the student him/herself) if single-gender classes are right for them.

But, they only used two schools to compare this information, which wouldn't hold up statistically.

I would like to see a controlled study of many different classrooms with different ages and subjects...

[Pembroke_Corgi]

Overall I'm very surprised at how many people find it a good idea!

There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but don't you wonder how students who never have to have any contact with the opposite sex will manage when they get older? Our workplaces aren't gender-segregated.

[Lady's Human]

It's gender separation while during classtime. It's not like you're sending the girls to the arctic and the boys to Antarctica!

There's still mixing of the sexes, just not IN the classroom.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

It's gender separation while during classtime. It's not like you're sending the girls to the arctic and the boys to Antarctica!

There's still mixing of the sexes, just not IN the classroom.

Well, that's true, but no one can deny that the reason children go to school is to learn how to be a productive member of society- they are educated with facts and they are socialized. Class time is an important part of that socialization.