preview

Single Sex Education Essay

Decent Essays

Single-Sex education has existed since the beginning of education itself but, it has recently reemerged in the US under the pretense that it will improve school environments and help children learn better. According to psychological studies this is not the case. There is little difference between boys and girls in terms of ways they learn, and their neurodevelopment. Separating children also does not allow for socialization between different genders. This conflicts with children’s social skills and exposure to the opposite gender which makes sexism is more drastic in environments where girls are separated from boys. Single-sex education is a practice that many people believe improves schooling but, it is not proven that there are any …show more content…

Gender roles and stereotypes are enforced through single-sex education. For example, believing that boys should learn in more tactile, energetic ways can cause an increase in aggressive behavior (Lewin). This goes hand in hand with the idea that we should not base children’s education purely on gender but, use other factors such as, personality, interests, and upbringing. The argument to this is that it is important for girls and boys to learn with only their respective sex because they are able to learn in an environment with children who learn in the same manner as them. This cannot be true because each child learns differently and has unique learning needs.
The part of this argument that affects students lives the most is the socialization aspect of school. If children are separated based on gender from a young age they may grow up without much interaction with the opposite sex; This can cause problems when these students are adults and have to work with people of the opposite sex. The former president of the American Psychology Association, Diane Halpern who has written on this topic multiple times and studied single-sex education says, “School is preparation for adult life,” “How can boys and girls learn how to interact as equals in the workplace if they have no experience interacting as equals in school?” (Novotney). This shows how vital the socialization between boys and girls is, and in our society their opportunity to socialize

Get Access