We had an interesting mini-discussion in the Advanced I class about Friday’s Freewriting topic. I think The ELC Writer’s Blog is a good forum to discuss this topic further. The question was:
Q: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Boys and girls should attend separate schools. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
First and foremost, this is a great topic because it looks at our individual feelings about male and female education and whether it should be coeducational (co-ed) or not. I’ve research this topic before and, although, I don’t see a real need to create separate institutions of learning for men and women, I understand both sides of the argument. I found this info from the article interesting:
“Reports such as the American Association of University Women’s 1992 “How Schools Shortchange Girls” and David and Myra Sadker’s “Failing at Fairness,” conclude that girls are not as well served by the coeducational learning environment as boys are. They receive less teacher attention and find fewer reflections of themselves in the curriculum; their unique learning styles and ways of knowing are often ignored. At all-girls schools, girls have 100% of the teacher’s attention in the classroom. Unrestricted by the pressures of a coeducational environment, they find it safe to develop their own voices. Girls in single-sex schools speak up, unafraid to challenge themselves and others to think. They do so from a secure environment that builds upon the strengths, learning styles, sensitivities, and values of girls.”
(Taken from: http://www.albalagh.net/kids/taking_stand/girls_schools.shtml)
The authors are proponents, I believe, of separate education for young men and women. Notice that I said ‘separate education’ and not ‘all-girls (or all-boys) schools’. Also noticed that I said ‘young men and women’ and not boys and girls. I believe young men and women, junior and senior high school aged, will benefit the most from having separate classes. Young people, however, should not spend the whole day separate from each other. Developing a rapport with the opposite sex is so much more important to their life education than their schooling will ever be. In my opinion, this sort of co-ed education is analogous to ELC students, men and women from a variety of countries, studying English together.
An interested excerpt was from the same resource read: “Separate education also helps girls concentrate on their fields, such as cooking, sewing, budget management etc. so they could be good daughters, sister, wives, and mothers.”
My upbringing precludes me from agreeing with home economics (this was a class that taught cooking, cleaning, sewing, ironing, etc. when I was a young man growing up in public schools). My mother always taught me how to do these things because, in her words, “don’t leave home then look for another mother to take care of you. You have to be able to take care of yourself”. I don’t personally believe that these are ‘fields that girls should concentrate on’. Is that my mother in me or the American in me?
I purposely choose this website entitled “Need for Islamic Girls Schools” because it had the info that I was looking for plus it included some info on how men and women are educated in Muslim countries.
I always look to my student to educate me, as well, so please feel free to read this short article and comment freely.
