While parents may think a single sex school for their children would be a great idea for their academic career, they may not think about what their children would be missing out on. The Educational Forum in our reading for the week talks about single sex education. Further into the reading it states "Participants in this study suggested lack of social experience with the other sex, increased behavior problems, and cost of implementation as SSE weaknesses. (Crawford-Ferre and Wiest, pg. 311)" The biggest concern with single sex schools would be the lack of communication with the opposite sex. If boys are only around boys, how will they know how to talk to a young lady? If girls are only around girls, how will they know how to talk to a young man? Boys tend to be more aggressive with one another and that is no way to talk to a lady. Girls can have a bit of an attitude and that is no way to treat a man. In order to develop the skills to successfully communicate with the opposite sex, they need day to day interaction.
http://classroom.synonym.com/disadvantages-single-gender-education-schools-2087.html
You present a valid point as school is a major agent of socialization in society. However, there are a couple points of contention that I have with your argument.
ReplyDeleteAlthough school is a big agent of socialization, it is not the only agent of socialization. Therefore, interactions between boys and girls can come from other areas of life. I understand that boys and girls traditionally interact the most at school, but there are a variety of extracurricular activities, institutions, and events in which children can still interact with the opposite sex. Furthermore, in the (probably unlikely) chance that single sex education becomes the norm, students will probably still have many opportunities to interact with the opposite sex.
Secondly, I feel that it is dangerous to generalize attitudinal and agressive behavior to women and men respectively. Even if those attributions are in some cases true, those behavior types are not likely to be negated through coed schooling. As the primary function of school is to educate, I personally consider that to be more important than the reinforcement of gender norms. Learning how to "treat a man" is not something that should be taught or reinforced through formal schooling as it implies submissiveness (which is not right in my opinion). To me, if single sex education poses a threat to the education of children involved, then there is a stronger case for staying away from it.