Free Republic

DENVER - Preliminary results are in from a Denver evaluation of single-gender classrooms for seventh-grade students in a public school, and they show more than just better grades. The tests going on at Sheridan Middle School resulted in math scores for both boys and girls increasing more quickly than for classmates in mixed-gender classes. But teachers also are reporting better attendance in the single-sex classrooms, particularly by girls, and there is more leadership being developed among students. "We're definitely starting to see some leaders emerge among the girls," said math teacher Steve Beaudoin, one of two teachers that got the...

JAWANZA Kunjufu certainly tried to pack as much controversy as possible into his speech at Morgan State University's Murphy Fine Arts Building. Kunjufu denied that slavery destroyed the black family and proclaimed loudly (and bravely) that "the greatest demon in black America is fatherlessness." That was covered in the last column. Left uncovered is another Kunjufu topic that's sure to roil the waters. "In Baltimore," Kunjufu said, "we've designed a female pedagogy for large numbers of male students." Kunjufu -- an author, lecturer and educational consultant who divided his junior year in college between Morgan and Towson University as an...

One year ago, Clarksville (Ind.) Middle School began a quiet experiment with its seventh-graders, separating boys and girls during math, English, science and other core courses. Genders were mixed only in classes like music and art, and they could socialize in the halls and at lunch. By the end of the first semester, most teachers and staff were sold: 78 percent of girls and 60 percent of boys passed all subjects for that semester, compared to 69 percent of girls and 46 percent of boys when they were sixth-graders. "I don't think you can argue with those kinds of numbers,"...

<p>SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Disgusted by what they see as the extinction of the all-male Southern military college, some graduates want to build one of their own, based on the way The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute used to be.</p>

<p>Teenagers need to learn to make important choices for the right reasons, without being unduly influenced by peer pressure, traditional gender roles or the fear of being different. Boys and girls gain invaluable educational and social experiences when they can resist the temptation of conformity.</p>

When sixth-grade student Mayosie Davis showed up for the first day of school at Atlanta's King Middle last week, she could hardly believe it. There weren't any boys in math class. None in language arts, either. Social studies? A boy-free zone. The entire sixth-grade class has been separated by gender this year for everything but lunch and an elective course. Boys take their core academic classes in one area, girls in another. "I miss them," Mayosie says with a sheepish smile. "I'd rather hang around boys than girls." King is the only public school in metro Atlanta and one of...