I bet it would have kept me from having to listen to the "boys will be boys" speech from the school administration when I dared to say that I didn't like having my ass grabbed in the hall between classes every freaking day. :-D
Alas, single sex schools aren't free of sexual harassment, either-there were some unpleasant incidents involving a teacher a few years ago, and she's still on the faculty.
As I recall, the latest research shows that while students in public schools feel better about themselves, academically they perform the same, or worse in some subjects, than students public schools. It used to be thought that students did better in same-sex schools until someone picked the methodology apart to prove otherwise.
Hmm, that's interesting. I've been going to a single sex school for roughly seven years, and I've always wondered if the quality of education was just as good as that a co-ed school. Do you have any articles that I might read about those findings?
"No differences were found for postsecondary test scores, college graduation rates, or graduate school attendance rates. However, all the findings in this domain came from a pair of studies, indicating the lack of high-quality research on these important criteria. Although some studies favor single-sex education in the case of postsecondary test scores, there is a dearth of recent studies using controls."
So it seems as though overall there's no solid evidence that test scores change between single sex and mixed classrooms. What has been shown is that women are more likely to pursue math and science in SS schools, whereas boys are more likely to pursue foreign languages and the arts.
This isn't a study, but rather a review of many of the studies already out there. The results are rather inconclusive, but reveal a few trends:
SS schools have a higher occurance of eating disrorders. They do however show a greater interest in political activism and acceptance of women in the workplace, as well as better long-term outlooks and self concepts. I seem to remember sex education being woefully inadequate in single sex schools, but don't quote me on that.
Other than these, most data isn't solid enough to make any general conclusions. As far as quality of education goes, it dependson what you measure. When it comes to learning, the scores are pretty much the same. SS schools have the advantage when it comes to sociological factors (i.e. less social pressure and more acceptance of going outside norms, thus increasing overall ratings of self-esteem by allowing individual expression). The review doesn't go into teacher attitudes or parental ratings of satisfaction. I tried looking around on the internet for data, but either my googling skills aren't up to snuff tonight, or there isn't much out there on the subject.
There's so many confounding variables that it's really hard to study the subject, let alone establish a control. I would say that any school that has good teachers and good strategies (I have no idea how strategies differ between schools, but they must) then that school will perform well. Most pro-SS school arguments I've heard claim that SS schools will "improve test scores in adolescents," which is true. Boys and girls have different development cycles. Take out one gender's scores and both averages improve. It's really easy to eliminate a gender gap when you have only one gender to deal with (that is, if you believe in binary genders anyway).
If I were to make a case, it would be that if the education's the same, but students feel better about themselves in a SS environment, why not go for it? AAdolescent boys and girls learn differently, have different threshholds for distraction, and different abilities in mental processing. Just like, you know, practically every other animal in the world. It makes sense to teach differently to different brains. At least, when the brains are actually different. I still think single sex colleges are rediculous.
I can see NOW's point, but I'd like to see whether or not there are any studies out there that back it up. Are there really that many reform schools left in America?
What interests me more is reading that male and female black students do worse in both same-sex and mixed gender environments. If we argue that boys should be seperate from girls in order to improve test scores and learning ability, should we not also argue for black-only schools? It also seems that such schools have to target their genders or they might end up worse overall.
What are your thoughts? How do you feel about single sex education? Also, these are a minority of schools. Back when single sex education was the norm the schools were inherently unequal. Do you think widespread single sex education might recreate such a system?
I really appreciate that you've gone out of your way to look up all of this stuff when you have so much on your plate right now. I'm sorry if I made you go through a whole ton of extra work for nothing.
I am currently working on a response that's worthy of what you've written, so I'll probably post that up soon-ish.
In Mountain View, women entrepreneurs and venture capitalists help students at the 6-year-old Girls' Middle School develop business plans for their own start-up companies. Individual alumnae of girls' schools also attest to the empowering nature of their single-sex experience.
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regna
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-27 06:34 am (UTC)I bet it would have kept me from having to listen to the "boys will be boys" speech from the school administration when I dared to say that I didn't like having my ass grabbed in the hall between classes every freaking day. :-D
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-28 07:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-27 09:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-28 07:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-28 10:29 am (UTC)A quote:
"No differences were found for postsecondary test scores, college graduation rates, or graduate school attendance rates. However, all the findings in this domain came from a pair of studies, indicating the lack of high-quality research on these important criteria. Although some studies favor single-sex education in the case of postsecondary test scores, there is a dearth of recent studies using controls."
So it seems as though overall there's no solid evidence that test scores change between single sex and mixed classrooms. What has been shown is that women are more likely to pursue math and science in SS schools, whereas boys are more likely to pursue foreign languages and the arts.
This isn't a study, but rather a review of many of the studies already out there. The results are rather inconclusive, but reveal a few trends:
SS schools have a higher occurance of eating disrorders. They do however show a greater interest in political activism and acceptance of women in the workplace, as well as better long-term outlooks and self concepts. I seem to remember sex education being woefully inadequate in single sex schools, but don't quote me on that.
Other than these, most data isn't solid enough to make any general conclusions. As far as quality of education goes, it dependson what you measure. When it comes to learning, the scores are pretty much the same. SS schools have the advantage when it comes to sociological factors (i.e. less social pressure and more acceptance of going outside norms, thus increasing overall ratings of self-esteem by allowing individual expression). The review doesn't go into teacher attitudes or parental ratings of satisfaction. I tried looking around on the internet for data, but either my googling skills aren't up to snuff tonight, or there isn't much out there on the subject.
There's so many confounding variables that it's really hard to study the subject, let alone establish a control. I would say that any school that has good teachers and good strategies (I have no idea how strategies differ between schools, but they must) then that school will perform well. Most pro-SS school arguments I've heard claim that SS schools will "improve test scores in adolescents," which is true. Boys and girls have different development cycles. Take out one gender's scores and both averages improve. It's really easy to eliminate a gender gap when you have only one gender to deal with (that is, if you believe in binary genders anyway).
If I were to make a case, it would be that if the education's the same, but students feel better about themselves in a SS environment, why not go for it? AAdolescent boys and girls learn differently, have different threshholds for distraction, and different abilities in mental processing. Just like, you know, practically every other animal in the world. It makes sense to teach differently to different brains. At least, when the brains are actually different. I still think single sex colleges are rediculous.
I can see NOW's point, but I'd like to see whether or not there are any studies out there that back it up. Are there really that many reform schools left in America?
What interests me more is reading that male and female black students do worse in both same-sex and mixed gender environments. If we argue that boys should be seperate from girls in order to improve test scores and learning ability, should we not also argue for black-only schools? It also seems that such schools have to target their genders or they might end up worse overall.
What are your thoughts? How do you feel about single sex education? Also, these are a minority of schools. Back when single sex education was the norm the schools were inherently unequal. Do you think widespread single sex education might recreate such a system?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 08:01 am (UTC)I am currently working on a response that's worthy of what you've written, so I'll probably post that up soon-ish.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-05 02:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-28 03:24 am (UTC)guess who went to that school?
MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! I heart GMS so much!!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-28 07:12 am (UTC)