Single-Sex Schooling
Aug. 10th, 2006 10:06 am"If you don't understand gender differences, you end up furthering gender stereotypes."
This is an interesting article because of the gender-issues it touches on. Though I'll have to read further on to decide what I think about the school system in question (I have a rather low opinion of education -- not to be confused with learning -- in general), I've always believed there are intrinsic hard-wired differences between boys and girls, and in light of that this seems to be a reasonable move. At the same time, though, I think one of the deficiencies in the current school system is the stratification of grades; that is, 12-year olds only ever interact with other 12-year olds, etc. One of the most beneficial experiences I had in homeschooling, in my opinion, was the regular interaction with people much older and much younger than myself. I hate the word 'diversity' because it's become so loaded, but there's something to be said, I think, for exposure to other people who think and act in ways and for reasons that are different from your own. Put another way, it may be the case that single-sex classes work and are a great improvement for learning, but even at that boys and girls should have significant enough exposure to each other.
I'll read this later and think on it more.
This is an interesting article because of the gender-issues it touches on. Though I'll have to read further on to decide what I think about the school system in question (I have a rather low opinion of education -- not to be confused with learning -- in general), I've always believed there are intrinsic hard-wired differences between boys and girls, and in light of that this seems to be a reasonable move. At the same time, though, I think one of the deficiencies in the current school system is the stratification of grades; that is, 12-year olds only ever interact with other 12-year olds, etc. One of the most beneficial experiences I had in homeschooling, in my opinion, was the regular interaction with people much older and much younger than myself. I hate the word 'diversity' because it's become so loaded, but there's something to be said, I think, for exposure to other people who think and act in ways and for reasons that are different from your own. Put another way, it may be the case that single-sex classes work and are a great improvement for learning, but even at that boys and girls should have significant enough exposure to each other.
I'll read this later and think on it more.