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.