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This essay discusses about the advantages and disadvantages of single sex education....

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Single-Sex Education: Yes or No? Discussions and arguments on the superiority of single-sex education against coeducation has been around for decades. Several studies have been carried out by researchers on this matter but the result is still undetermined as to which choice is better (Heneghan, 2014). Reason being the choice between both types of schools has a very significant implication for the academic, psychological and social development of the students (Owens, no date). Hence, advantages and disadvantages of single-sex education will be further discussed throughout this composition. Students in single-sex schools are likely to be more focused as far as academic matters are concerned. Based on the findings of the literature review by the U.S. Department of Education (2008), single-sex schooling is beneficial especially for the result correlating to academic attainment and aspirations. The learning approach for a girl and a boy differs due to their dissimilarities in autonomic nervous system functions (Sax, 2006). Boys have to be attended with an emphatic approach whilst girls needs to be consulted with a softer approach, as stated by Dr. Leonard Sax (2006). On the contrary, for coeducational schools, teachers implement the same strategy in teaching, regardless of their gender, which will affect the students’ devotion towards learning. Thus, proves that teachers are important in determining the success of the students, despite their gender. The principal of a public school in Seattle – which was originally a coeducational school but then separated by gender as an observation – Mr. Benjamin Wright, expressed that after the segregation, teachers are able to focus more in educating the students compared to before, where they were always busy handling the social crises in the school such as bullying ( Advantages for Boys, 2016). Distractions from the opposite gender would also affect a student’s performance (Signorella, Hayes and Li, 2013), primarily to the girls. In a girls-only school, the students will feel more relaxed and relieved as they can create their own lifestyle without having to deal with the nuisance of boys in the 1

classroom (Streitmatter, 1999). Therefore, academically, single-sex education clearly has its benefits. Another advantage of same-sex education is that it breaks down gender stereotypes. Some developmental psychologists call it “gender intensification” which suggests that when both genders are with each other, they are well aware of what the existing tradition says is proper for them (Advantages for Girls, 2016). In the absence of gender stereotypes, students will have more options ( Single-Sex vs. Coed: The Evidence, 2016) and liberty in looking into new subjects that is against the culture (Advantages for Girls, 2016). Many analysis shows that women from single-sex institutions have higher desires about college and career, frequently associating with non-traditional sectors such as mathematics, science and engineering (Caplice, no date). Other than that, in an all-girls school, students get the chance to strengthen their leadership skills by exposing themselves to positions which is conventionally appointed to boys (Caplice, no date). However, this does not befall only to the female students but also to the males. The most common received idea about a boy in a coeducational school is either he is a dork or a popular sportsman but rarely both (Advantages for Boys, 2016) and these labels are usually given by the girls. Hence, in an allboys school, students will get to be more of themselves and pursue their passions in arts, music and everything related to it without being concerned of their manliness (Advantages for Boys, 2016). To sum up, single-sex education evidently gives positive impacts to the pupils. However, not everything is positive. There are also disadvantages in single-sex education and the most obvious flaw is students will lack of social development and gender interaction. There are remarks from a report stating that teenagers from a gender-segregated school will have difficulties coping with the sex-integrated environment in their respective universities (Asthana, 2006). These teenagers are most likely to be females because of their 2

well-known traits which are shy and reserved contradicting to the males which are more brash and open. Graduates from an all-girls school will face this problem more as they are less encountered with youth subculture, specifically the physical attraction to the boys, compared to the coeducational school graduates (Booth and Nolen, 2010, cited in Coleman, 1961). Unlike the single-gender schools, mixed-gender schools includes preparations for their scholars in becoming accustomed to mixed-sex workplaces and society in their education package (Halpern et al., 2011) as it is very important to have good socialising and interacting skills with the opposite gender. This can be validated by a report done by Sax (2007) which indicated that men aged around 40 years old are probably going through a divorce if they graduated from an all-boys rather than a coeducational institution but is without parallel for women. To conclude, single-sex schools are not always the best choice for the children. Parents are not advised to be sending their children to sex-separated schools during their delicate teenage years (Booth and Nolen, 2010) as they could possibly gain some benefits from coeducational schools which could not be attained in single-gender schools. For instance, the suppression of sexism in the society. Commonly, girls are more sex-typed when they occupy most of their time with each other (Martin and Fabes, 2001) but has no parallel to boys. Reason being girls naturally feel much at ease when they are only by themselves. The presence of the opposite gender will simply make them feel very uncomfortable. Sexism will lead to a deficiency of egalitarianism which is defined as favoring the equality to all human beings and that people has to be treated equally (Arneson, 2013). There are findings on this matter which proclaimed that young men and women own less egalitarian attitudes if they come from an all-boys and all-girls school, as compared to those who are from the coeducational schools (Karpiak et al., 2007) mainly because they do not fully understand the nature of the opposite gender which easily get them intimidated with one another. Thus, it is

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true that being in a gender-segregated institution would not only bring good but also bad influences to the students. All in all, there are no clear winners between the single-sex and coeducational educating system. Single-sex education does not offer the interaction and communication skills to the learners as coeducation does, which leads to disadvantageous implications. On the other hand, mixed-gender schools hinder individual’s academic and curricular developments due to the gender intensification that is known to be disrupted in the singlegender schools (Karpiak et al., 2007). Hence, it all depends on the parents or individuals to choose which school is best suited for their children or themselves as both types have their own advantages and disadvantages. (1000 words)

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References Arneson, R. (2013) Egalitarianism. Available https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egalitarianism/ (Accessed Date: 29 December 2017)

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Asthana, A. (2006) ‘Why single-sex education is not the route to better results?’, The Observer, 25 June, p. 8.

Booth, A. and Nolen, P (2010) ‘Choosing to compete: How different are girls and boys?’, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 81 (2), pp. 542-555. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268111002010 (Accessed: 29 December 2017)

Caplice, K.S. (no date) ‘The Case for Public Single-Sex Education’, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, 18(1), p. 227.

Halpern, D.F., Eliot, L., Bigler, R.S., Fabes, R.A., Hanish, L.D., Hyde, J., Liben, L.S. and Martin, C.L. (2011) ‘The Pseudoscience of Single-Sex Schooling’, Science, 333, pp. 17061707. doi: 10.1126/science.1205031

Heneghan, C. (2014) Are Single-Sex Schools Better than Co-ed Schools?. Available at: https://www.noodle.com/articles/are-single-sex-schools-better-than-co-ed-schools (Accessed Date: 29 December 2017)

Karpiak, C.P., Buchanan, J.P., Hosey, M. and Smith, A. (2007) ‘University Students from Single-Sex and Coeducational High Schools: Differences in Majors and Attitudes at a Catholic University’, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, pp. 282-289. doi: 10.1111/j.14716402.2007.00371.x Martin, C.L. and Fabes, R.A. (2001) ’The Stability and Consequences of Young Children’s Same-Sex Peer Interactions’, Developmental Psychology, 37, p. 431. doi: 10.1037//00121649.37.3.431

National Association for Single-Sex Public Education (2016) Advantages for Boys. Available at: http://singlesexschools.org/advantages-forboys.htm (Accessed Date: 29 December 2017) 5

National Association for Single-Sex Public Education (2016) Advantages for Girls. Available at: http://singlesexschools.org/advantages-forgirls.htm (Accessed Date: 29 December 2017)

National Association for Single-Sex Public Education (2016) Single-Sex vs. Coed: The Evidence. Available at: http://singlesexschools.org/research-brain.htm (Accessed Date: 29 December 2017)

Owens, A. (no date) Argument for & Against Single Sex Schools. Available at: http://education.seattlepi.com/argument-against-single-sex-schools-2129.html (Accessed Date: 29 December 2017)

Sax, L. (2006) ‘Six Degrees of Separation: What Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences’, Educ. Horiz, 84 (Spring), pp. 190-212. Available at: http://arti.pbworks.com/f/sax.pdf (Accessed: 5 January 2018)

Signorella, M.L., Hayes, A.R. and Li, Y. (2013) ‘A Meta-Analytic Critique of Mael et al.’s (2005) Review of Single Sex Schooling’, Sex Roles, 69, pp. 423-441. doi : 10.1007/s11199013-0288-x

Streitmatter, J.L. (1999), For Girls Only: Making a Case for Single-Sex Schooling. Albany: State University of New York Press.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, Policy and Program Studies Service (2008) Early Implementation of Public SingleSex Schools: Perceptions and Characteristics. Available at: https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/other/single-sex/characteristics/characteristics.pdf (Accessed: 29 December 2017)

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