It seems weird to me that round here both state & private school provision, esp. at secondary school level, is separated along gender lines.
You can't separate schools along racial lines, for example, so why is separation on gender lines OK? Is it because in practice both boys and girls appear to do better academically in single sex schools? If girls did worse in girls-only schools I assume these would be illegal by now.
Even where separation is allowed on religious lines in principle (at least in state provision, I think) places have to be available to children who are not of that religion although in practice I appreciate such "spare places" may not be available.
Similar segregation in the workplace would be illegal.
I see a lot of debate and discussion on mumsnet about the religious criteria for various schools but have not seen much debate on gender.
As families are smaller these days and may also be headed by single parents with less extended family involvement, it is less likely that children will have the experience of growing up with both mothers and fathers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters, male and female cousins etc. So it is possible that children attending single sex schools may not have many opportunities to develop relationships with members of the opposite sex outside school.
I think that various social research has shown that it is good for people's adult relationships to have more experience with the opposite sex. I know that recruitment of male primary school teachers is desirable, for example.
I am not sure it is good for children's social education for them to be segregated in this way even if the academic results might be better.
I wonder if in the future this practice may seem completely weird and old-fashioned and eventually be made illegal.
What do other people think?
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I think I might be against any form of single sex education
31 replies
pasturesnew · 16/09/2009 17:53
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