Developing Arguments

To complete my position on the publicazation of single-gender schools, I plan to argue the following:

1. Academics become the focus when the opposite sex (and the pressures associated with them) are removed from classrooms

• No flirting
• appearance not important
• less cattiness/cliques among girls
• hard-wired to learn differently
• (source 7)

2. Students recieve better scores on exams and have better overall grades

• GPAs along with other testing scores improve
• higher rate of college attendance
• (use statistics found in Source 5 and 6 of improved grades)

3. Coming from Single-Sex schools, girls are more likely to enter typically "male" dominated fields such as math and science

• increased women in positions
• no pigeon-holeing girls or boys
• (evidence from source 8)

4. Increased confidence for girls and boys

5. Low income families should have right to be exposed to single-sex education without cost of private schools

Subtopic 1

My first point in defending making public schools single-gender is the fact that boys and girls separated from one another relieves the pressures and tensions associated with the opposite sex during teenage years. When boys and girls are together in a classroom, the focus shifts away from academics and instead falls to a carefully sculpted appearance and even more carefully monitored behaviors and actions. When around boys, girls are more likely to worry about their clothes, hair, and makeup, as well as their attempts to flirt, than they are in a class of only girls. Shy girls in particular are less likely to speak up or ask questions, for fear of being mocked or overpowered by a male-dominated classroom or discussion. Boys as well react differently when girls are present. When around girls, boys get distracted flirting and often refrain from answering questions for the sake of appearing macho. In classes with only other boys, boys are more likely to ask for help when needed, and tend to react more calmly in a class situation when not trying to dominate or disrupt the discussion to get a reaction out of other students, particularly girls. Separating the two groups will help to eliminate distraction and improve focus and the amount of knowledge gained.

Pro/Con

Pro Single Gender Schools

• removes distractions from classrooms associated with the opposite sex such as flirting, feeling the need to impress others, caring about appearance, or the fear of embarrassment when saying something aloud
• coming from single gender schools, women are more likely to enter predominantly male fields such as science and math
• learning could be catered towards boys and girls individual to reflect the way each learns best
• gives lower income families the opportunity for an education previously offered only by expensive private schools
• boys tend to dominate classroom discussions, this gives girls a chance to speak up
• girls and boys tend to score higher compared to their co-ed contemporaries

Against Single Gender Schools

• results are not based on gender, but socioeconomic backgrounds
• student success comes from quality of school, teachers, and ciriculum, so schools with these attributes will have successful students regardless of coed or gender division
• is a discriminatory practice on principle that segregation is automatically discriminating and dividing genders
• scores are not significant enough to inspire a switch to all single-gender schools
• single gender eliminates healthy boy-girl grade competition
• denies students oportunity to intereact with opposite sex. boys tend to exit high school being more chauvinistic
• unfair to select certain students to participate in the trial divided public schools

Though I'm not fully decided yet, I am leaning towards supporting single-gender schools. ````````````````````````````````````

My Topic

For the paper, I have chosen to research single gender and coeducational schools. As of now in this country, it is illegal to have single gender public schools, with only very few exceptions in various places. The large majority of public schools are coed, because by law everyone is entitled to an education, and any division of students is seen as discrimination. A growing practice in America, however, is the creation of single gender classrooms so that boys and girls attend the same schools, but the same classes are taught by dividing boys and girls. This being said, the only institutions that are openly single gender are private schools, because they are not run by the state and it is a personal choice to attend one of them. The idea behind the division of the genders is that boys and girls learn differently and that each group would learn better removed from the pressures of flirting with and impressing the opposite sex. This is where the debate begins. Some people feel that keeping girls with only girls allows them to focus less on their appearance, and more on their studies. Similarly, keeping boys with boys allows them to lose their macho attitudes and keep their focus on the work. Critics of single gender schools, however, claim that separating boys and girls has little effect on grades and test scores and denies children the experience of interacting with the opposite sex. I selected this topic because it is an issue that relates to my life. For high school, I could have attended a private all-girls institution, and though happy with my decision to remain in public school, I am curious to see if there's proof that students in single-sex schools have higher academic achievement, and if all schools should be made single-sexed for better overall results.