Posted on 06/29/2006 5:43:06 PM PDT by Graybeard58
The US is about to start an experiment to quell a gender war over whether schools favor boys or girls. The Education Department will soon issue rules to expand the number of single-sex public schools. But will such segregation really end this debate?
In the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Congress allowed students in failing public schools to have access to different learning situations such as single-sex education.
The coming federal regulations are really the result of a debate that began in the 1970s over whether traditional classroom teaching creates low self-esteem for girls. One classic claim has been that teachers favor boys because they tend to raise their hands more. By the 1990s, as schools began to cater more to girls, that debate swung back in favor of arguments that boys were the victims in schools, partly because of attempts to feminize them out of certain "boy habits." Both sides cited data to support their claims, with each calling for either "girl-friendly" or "boy-friendly" classrooms.
The latest salvo in this gender war came last week with a study by the progressive think-tank Educator Sector. Researcher Sara Mead looked at national education data and concluded that boys are not doing worse than girls, but girls are simply doing better. "With few exceptions, American boys are scoring higher and achieving more than they ever have before," she writes. Her analysis, going back to 1971, is based on test scores and other academic data in the federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress.
What's more, she contends that the boy-vs.-girl debate distracts attention from practical ways to help both boys and girls, especially the many black and Hispanic children who are really the groups falling behind.
Single-sex public schools had all but disappeared by the 1980s, but they have slowly returned, with about 44 in the US this past school year. With many schools expected to adopt the idea, a constitutional challenge is likely over whether girls and boys can be offered similar opportunities for education when separated, and perhaps taught differently.
The larger issue, though, is whether such schools can provide better educational benefits. The research on that must be carefully tracked.
Many public schools simply try a variety of new ways to tailor teaching to each gender. More fathers, for instance, are being asked to read to sons at home. Such techniques begin to acknowledge that each student needs her or his own learning focus, based on the idea that both sexes can express masculine and feminine qualities in unique ways.
Grown-up expectations of children - such as young boys are hyperactive, or teen girls are mean-tongued - may tend to stigmatize children, limiting their potential. Such narrowing expectations are becoming stronger because of recent scientific research on the child brain that claims certain behaviors are "hard-wired." Such research should be used cautiously.
Single-sex schools, too, should be approached cautiously. Most of the time, children are just children, and that greater, shared experience of wonder and joy should be encouraged. Such schools may not be right for every child. And the ultimate goal of reducing all types of learning disparities should not be lost.
Is that the kind where the teacher must be unmarried to have sex with a student?
Or is it the kind where the teach has sex with a student ONLY ONCE?
The Michigan legislature is passing legislation that would provide for single-gender education.
Our local TV news expressed concerns that it would violate Brown V Board. Obviously they weren't awake during the lecture that covered Brown, otherwise they'd have known that it doesn't apply to gender issues.
Talk about a way to poison the debate!
Anyway, they never responded to my critical emails on the subject.
This idea is worth a shot, anyway. Look at all the fancy private schools, they're "segregated" and nobody boo-hoos about the 'separate but equal' nonsense.
This is so Stupid. What you end up with is Young adults who do not learn how to relate to the opposite sex. In real life terms that means a lot of marital problems. And lot of unhappy children that they produce. Learning to all get along and relate to each other is even more importaint than the 3 R's.
I have to disagree. They should be learning that at home from mom and dad.
Personally, I'll be keeping my kids out of their system anyway. However, look at the unhappy, maladjusted people that the current system produces. Look at their marital problems. You can't be advocating the status quo, can you? This is not to say that I am in favor of gender separated schooling, but at least someone's trying SOMETHING. And thankfully, it's not as gay as it COULD be...
Dumb idea.
"However, look at the unhappy, maladjusted people that the current system produces."
That has to do with other things. Like what they learn at home. What they are taught in the media. And even what they learn in school these days from the educational system...Gender based or not. Also the world today has a lack of real religious teaching. Even those who go to church often learn nothing trully useful because a lot of churchs now are not spiritual at all.
This teacher agrees with you mostly.
This is a big debate in Korea.
"This is so Stupid. What you end up with is Young adults who do not learn how to relate to the opposite sex."
BS.
I am proof to the contrary. Do you have ANY experience with single-gender education? Or do you simply believe what you've heard in the MSM?
Well one thing is for sure. Many kids now days are "experienced"
I would be worried this could encourage homosexuality.
The way (IMO) to decide if this might be worth a try , is to sit back and see who yells the loudest against it. If the ACLU and PP don't like it them it can't be that bad of an idea:')
I only know one person who went to an all boys school. I will give you that he definitely interacts in an interesting way with girls. Mainly when he is drunk he is far more likely to be rude. One of his ex-girlfriends has told me he is much nicer in a one on one situation but kind of shows out in front of the boys. Of course that part of it seems pretty normal regardless of where one went to school.
"I would be worried this could encourage homosexuality."
Bingo!
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