Single gender education, revisited

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SF Chronicle article on the benefits of this for boys, HERE

Part of the article -

Single-gender education gains ground as boys lag
Experts worry that coed classrooms geared to girls put their counterparts at a disadvantage
Janine DeFao, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, June 18, 2007

For more than a decade, the conventional wisdom has been that schools have shortchanged girls, who were ignored in the classroom as they lagged behind in math and science.
But now a growing chorus of educators and advocates for boys is turning that notion upside down.
Boys are the ones in trouble, they say. They are trailing girls in reading and writing, are more likely to get in trouble or be labeled as learning disabled, and are less likely to go to college.
The educators, citing emerging brain research, say that the two sexes learn differently and that schools are more geared to girls than to their ants-in-the-pants counterparts. But they are adopting strategies to help boys succeed, from playing multiplication baseball to handing out stress balls and setting up boys-only schools.
"The public schools teach to girls. You have to be able to follow the rules and color in the lines," said Livermore parent Missy Davis, who moved her son, Collin, to the private, all-boys Pacific Boychoir Academy in Oakland after he struggled in coed public and parochial settings. "Boys get labeled immature and disrupting. (Teachers) don't know how to utilize the energy."
Juanita McSweeney, a 30-year teaching veteran, experienced that energy two years ago when she had a class full of "strong boys" who outnumbered the girls in her fifth-grade class at Happy Valley Elementary in Lafayette.
"I was going nuts. ... My salvation that year was two words: Koosh balls," she said, referring to the toy balls covered with hundreds of soft rubber strands.
McSweeney had stumbled across a growing body of literature confirming what she had long intuited -- that boys and girls do learn differently -- and providing strategies to help keep boys, especially, focused and engaged.

end/clip, see link for rest of article

Interesting. I've no immediate opinion, not being a teacher or parent, though I've memories of coed grammar school and a girls' high school.
How about you?

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This hasn't been "new" news in England for about 10 or 15 years, sad to say.

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It really isn't "new" news here either, which I suspect was the idea behind "revisited".

I've seen this in action. I do think schools are geared for girls. I don't think it helps that most teachers are women.

Fine motor skills were the be-all, end-all of Mo's kindergarten class. Coloring pages, handwriting. "Boring" stuff, according to Mo.

If they'd tested him on hammering nails, using a power drill or screwdriver, dissasembling a carburator -- something like that -- I think that they might have learned that his fine motor (no pun intended) are perfectly good.

At the beginning of the year they asked me to bring in a koosh ball or something similar for him to fidget with. I did. I never saw them again. Even after Mo got in trouble for having a hard time "keeping his hands to himself". When I asked after these devices I was told that they were too distracting.

Go figure.

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Some teachers have been trying out limited same-sex lessons within a co-ed structure. For an obvious example, 5th graders were separated by gender for a series of sex ed lessons in the school I was at last year. Also, I've heard of teachers/districts separating classes by gender for math and science lessons only.

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Interesting topic Osso thanks for bringing that up. As a parent of a almost 8 year old i am always interested in such discussions.

Lot of research is going on in this area. Dr.Leonard Sax is an MD/PHD research psychologist cum family physician who saw in his suburban Washington practice that Boys are undermotivated and underachieving c/f girls in the same family. It is happening probably globally I would say. He also notes that samesex classrtooms are better but also notes other factors No. 1 being that boys are not reading for fun vs girls are. You can visit www. boysadrift.com.
Were you interested in discussing samesex education or the question as to why boys are not doing well?

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I was interested ---- in posting the article. I saw some merit to questions re boys education, but - I am not a mother, nor an educator, just tend to be inquiring.

I went to a girls' academy many years ago, a place based on the premise that girls can excel without the distraction of young males. Well, heh, you'd expect nuns to think that...

Kidding, as I remember that there was some real life data to back that up. Or was there?

Frankly, I never thrived until thrown into a big university atmosphere, and not a protective cocoon.

To me, the deal is to have peers regard learning as an ok thing to do.

Wild competition on that seems gross to me, as, surely, does anti-learning seem.

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I think there is relatively strong research supporting same sex education to be more effective. I never had a chance to go to same sex school. I would have enjoyed it more I think but most of the times I have thrived better intellectually among males.( may be that is why just from your posts and not knowing anything else I thought you were a male, really that is a compliment) I somehow lack the social skills codes and cues needed in a female group.
That is besides the subject I think in this day and age when our children are bombarded with promiscous messages it will be very hard to focus on learning without being distracted by the opposite sex.
My son at seven in 2nd grade was writing a journal, I pried, found mentions of all his friends girlfriends and some mention of kissing or attempts at doing so at the upcoming Valentines day party. I started mentioning the subject indirectly at appropriate occasions as " Do you think a 7 year old can really have a girlfriend? No Mom I donot even think He would even remeeber her at 17,18 and then his wife could be really jealous. That being said that was the end of journal writing. MAny attempts at restarting have failed. I have a deep remorse for my unneeded intervention. When I mentioned this to his teacher she said I know you do not let them watch any screen but some of these kids are watching 3-4 hrs of Screen a day.

Anyways I think I would like for him to be in a ALL Boys School by Middle School if possible.

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Adding on I do not believe in Competion at an early age either , So both of them attend Montessori where focus is on being the best that U can Be. Interesting oncce I asked my Son, So you got your grades did you looka t someone elses, With his JAw dropped Eyes wide open replied MOM NOO, What if mine are better then they will feel bad andi f their's are better I will feel bad.

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Competition is part of human nature, and some interest in that can be good - I've no idea about that re age levels. Some competition probably impels some progress...
It can also knock down children who are nowhere near the top but might be beginning to understand spelling, or whatever else, quietly.

Looking at diaries --- now there's a subject. To summarize my not entirely well thought out beliefs, you let a diary be, and foster talk, when wished, at other times. I understand the temptation to look would be great. Sozobe and others are better on all this than I am. I've only been an aunt, I'm just fairly opinionated here on a2k.

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agree taht competition is part of human nature but fighting against some human instincts is part human too. I think emphasis should be competing to do your personal best rather than others.

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I think the emphasis should be on following on where interests lead and the hell with competition with self or others. I think all of that is distraction.

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As a child, I went to an all-boys school. I would never do that to my children, and did not. The world has two genders, and kids should grow in a coed environment, because education is not only about language and math.

As a university professor, in subjects that were social, but had math (economics), I discovered a pattern over the years. Women's grades tended to cluster around the As and the Fs, while men's tended to cluster around the Bs and Cs. I believe the reasons behind that are sociological rather than brain wiring related. Some girls tried harder to excell in a man's dominated world; others just hanged around. Boys were more duty-prone: do enough to pass and keep going.

As a parent, my children somehow obligue to subject gender stereotypes, while being all-around excellent students. My sons are more interested in hard science and math; my daughter, in politics and history. Both the boys went to a school that stressed "democracy" rather than competitiveness, yet they are somehow competitive (specially the younger one); the daughter has gone to more "competitive" schools, she is competitive alright, but not stressfully so. None of them have felt, ever, that their school was biased towards one type of gender learning (I must comment, though, that in my daughter's grade school group, girls were a huge majority, 18 to 7, and boys normally lagged somewhat behind; now on Jr. High, boys are a slight majority, 12 to 11, and grades are evenly distributed: this kind of distinction did not occur in my boys' school).

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I would appreciate it if you could look at this website www.boysadrift.com and let us know what you think. MAy be this phenomenon is happening in US only, because there is some research behind it.

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From what I read on that website, it looks rather like a doctor who has a political agenda.

Too much playing with statistics, IMHO. One can always find data to support a preconceived view, in any side.
For instance, the data about women coping medical and law schools underlooks the fact that women are clearly a minority in engineering and science.
At it reminded me of something that happened in the old Soviet Union. Since the sixties, women were a majority of medicine doctors... and since then the relative income of doctors compared to other professions fell.

My superficial opinion is that girls doing better/boys doing worse is a worldwide trend, A TREND, not a table-turning phenomena. Some rich nations -I'm thinking about the US, but also Scandinavia- lead it.

I don't know how and when it will be solved. But I do think that turning to one-gender schooling is a step back, particularly for girls. I have the feeling (I admit it, it's only an impression) that behind that agenda some interest groups want women to be "behind the door and with a broken leg" (to use an old Spanish adage) or (as the old German adage) to dedicate themselves to the 3 ks: Kirche, Kinder, Küche (church, children, kitchen).

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Me being a women professional who experienced the working women world truly believe that is where our place is Home and kitchen. Look what is happening as more and more women are deciding to leave home. We are exposing our kids to more processed food. No one is cooking from scratch. There is clear evidence that is causing some of the problems like ADD. Then what are we doing with the extra money buying our kids cars, and video games and TV's in their rooms which is further contributung to their decline. I believe that we do need to take a step back. Take care of our homes and kitchens.
As far as single gender education Dr.Sax believes that each child is different and only parents can decide if single gender education is right for their kids. Since my Son is the exact genetic copy of me I do believe it will be right for him. HE is an allboy kind of boy and he will have more fun with all boys. He is distractible like me and distraction offered by opposite sex in a vulnerable period liek middle school may be too much.

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Sorry, luvvy, Dr.Mom, but I think your post is very confused. Even when I parse the sentences and get to the content, I think you are in a whirlwind of confusion.

I'm not without sympathy, but see you being adamant about wafts of points of view.

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church, children, kitchen - I remember that.

I suppose my laughter at that would be eerie to you, Dr. Mom.

I'm not against all of our grandmothers, especially since I qualify in your grandmother time. I see some empowerment in village or city or, more, as indicators that our grandmothers were not only able to discuss what to do with the chicken, or the kitchen, or church, but, given some chance, have voices re the city. That is probably a jump - the city - that you could have a say in that, but it's routine here on a2k.

As to being online --
This gets weird on a2k, as I could be grandmother or older to a lot of people, but would rather act as me through the ages. A lot of the people I talk with here are young. So?

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I'd be interested to see the results of a co-ed school but gender separated classes. Would be difficult for small schools to organise I suppose.

In Oz we have composite classes where children at the upper end of (say) grade 4 are in a class with the children who are at the lower end of grade 5.

A similar thing happens with middle school (Year 8 9 10) at high school.

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Hard to separate out from decades, centuries, of peer pressure... peers being not only students, but teachers.

Difficult. I'm a dullard re math/physics myself, but I saw the nuns not send transcripts for an interested senior peer of mine, lo, those years ago, to a state uni since it was "a little red school house". I think that killed her chances.

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Hi Osso Thanks for your input, Yes I am probably confused about certain issues are'nt we all? I take pride in my confusion. The word intelligence means literally to Choose from. I was trying to convince my husband that my double mindedness often comes from the bulk of neurons and is not all that bad. He laughed.

I am not against women's Lib women should educate themselves as much as possible, work when needed. But who will be raising our future generations. I find the best use of my education and intellect in my kids parenting. That is one issue where there is no confusion. NAda.

I think it goes in cycles. My Mom was a homemaker so She raised me to be a "professional worker class" altough she insisted I learn to clean and cook regardless. I probably would want to raise my daughter differently. Atleast would not want her to be so busy in being Mom, wife and worker( In home and outside) that she does not have time to think who she is as a real person anymore. That is what was happening to me but luckily I realized. I am very satisfied now staying home during the week and working 3/4 weekends. It is working. Will have to make sure my husband does not get too bored. If that happens and I am not responsible for my mortgage , would not mind quitting almost completely.

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Single gender education, revisited

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