Teaching boys and girls separately-good practice?

[SFG75]

The New York Times has a lengthy, but well-written article on this phenomenon.

Separating schoolboys from schoolgirls has long been a staple of private and parochial education. But the idea is now gaining traction in American public schools, in response to both the desire of parents to have more choice in their children’s public education and the separate education crises girls and boys have been widely reported to experience. The girls’ crisis was cited in the 1990s, when the American Association of University Women published “Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America,” which described how girls’ self-esteem plummets during puberty and how girls are subtly discouraged from careers in math and science. More recently, in what Sara Mead, an education expert at the New America Foundation, calls a “man bites dog” sensation, public and parental concerns have shifted to boys.

 

[Sybarite]

It's simplistic beyond belief if anyone thinks that educating the sexes separately will change performance by females in 'male' academic subjects (which is what the research quoted – and subsequent work – was about). The issue is self-image, and performance by females in traditional 'male' subjects starts to fall off when self-image concerns start to take a hold.

There are massive pressures on girls in particular in our society. In the UK, for instance, recent research by children's charities has found girls as young as nine dieting and worrying about their bodies, while girls as young as six have been found to be discussing cosmetic surgery.

Those pressures do not come from mixed education. And dividing education along sex lines will not remove them.

Generally, as someone whose entire secondary education was in single sex schools, there are some advantages, but there are also disadvantages – I hadn't a clue how to mix socially with male peers.

 

[Gilgamesh]

I spoke about this subject before with my co-worker. And she had went to all girl school. She said that she liked it better because there were no one to be shy about or to impress and she felt that she performed better because there were no males in her school. And I can understand her experience.

Then, the boys and girls are different, academically, until around 7th, 8th grade. Younger girls are better at sitting still. Younger boys do not learn well in current quiet sitting environments and they are always fidgeting.

Doing research on this subject will be difficult and subjective, but, I do believe that they do learn and progress at different rates.