Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not see the point of single sex schools?

81 replies

GertieTheGuineaPig · 16/07/2014 10:52

Sorry but I really don't.

I just think it's crazy to separate people based on gender, you would never do the same thing with race for instance, so why gender?

I admit I don't have much experience with single sex schools, I went to a coed school like most people did and I loved spending time with both boys and girls whilst I was in school. I don't think I'd have had the same experience or enjoyed it anywhere near as much if it had just been all girls.

Do people who go to single sex schools tend to find they have trouble mixing with the opposite gender later in life? The working world isn't single sex so why should school be?

OP posts:
Latara · 16/07/2014 10:54

Hmm, I don't know, I think I might have concentrated better at school without the distraction of boys! :)

ScouseBird8364 · 16/07/2014 10:54

I attended an all-girls school and have never had any issues dealing with men, in fact, I've always felt more confident dealing with men, for instance within the workplace.

I obviously didn't have the experience of a mixed secondary school, but if I had the choice, with my boys, I would also send them to boys only secondary, though there aren't any close to where we live Sad

EleanorHandbasket · 16/07/2014 10:56

Outcomes are better for both boys and girls from single sex schools.

We have a girls' and boys' school next door to each other, they all mix socially.

Fanfeckintastic · 16/07/2014 10:57

Completely agree!

I went to an all girls school and we were all OBSESSED with boys but all my friends who went to mixed schools were much more normal (and less promiscuous in later years but that's possibly coincidence)

LongTimeLurking · 16/07/2014 10:58

I agree... can you imagine white only schools, heterosexual only schools, etc.

ThisIsShe · 16/07/2014 10:59

Both my brother and I went to single sex schools. Neither of us would have any concerns about sending our own children to single sex schools in the future.

As I understand it, generally speaking, single sex schools achieve better results than for mixed, because the teaching style can be tailored to the ways in which girls and boys learn (which is different).

The other added benefit for girls is that there are no 'boys subjects' and therefore you see a greater number of girls taking science subjects and maths etc. There is no such thing as 'like a girl' or 'girls can't do that' in an all girls school.

Neither my brother or I have any issues dealing with the opposite sex now we're adults. Just because you attend a single sex school doesn't mean that you live in a single sex vacuum. I had male friends when growing up, I had a brother, a father etc. Men weren't an alien species!

ICanSeeTheSun · 16/07/2014 11:01

www.journeytoexcellence.org.uk/resourcesandcpd/research/summaries/rsgenderineducation.asp

Boys and girls learn different, if I had the money both dd and ds would go to single sex school.

ScouseBird8364 · 16/07/2014 11:02

Fanfeck, you raise an interesting point there about promiscuity, as I must admit I have been quite promiscuous over the years Hmm

Good bit of psychology to look into there Wink

MissDuke · 16/07/2014 11:02

I went to a single sex school. I absolutely had trouble mixing with boys back then, but it may have been caused by my own lack of self esteem. I now find I generally get on better with male colleagues than female, but only when I have had a chance to really get to know them. I don't know if it has affected me or not tbh!

Theas18 · 16/07/2014 11:02

The evidence is clear academically- girls do better in single sex schools, girls in mixed ones I believe LOL.

You aren't involved with secondary age kids are you? Your " choice" of school the "choice" to go single sex or not isn't usually a real choice- you get a place at your local school and round here that could be a single sex one ( even some of the comps). So it's a historic thing.

Personal experience- 3 kids- single sex grammars. Big angsty choice at 11 (if you do pass 11+ you might get a choice). But actually it's non event. THey spend maybe 5hrs a day in single sex environment.They mix on the bus, in drama /music /orchestras etc . Of course hey still develop the social skills for life, have boyfriends/girlfriends and a social life.

It sorts out some of the silly issues , like " X dumped Y, she can't bear to go to maths and be in the same clasroom" dramas.

On a positive note boys can do things like sing treble till 14yrs old and not be laughed at or outshone by 18yr old girl sops. The girls have a chamber choir that does SSAA music too. Boys play flutes and aren't teased, girls play tubas. Girls do lots of science and maths and never feel any "it's a man thing" type pressure. It's slightly less easy for a boys at 6th form to persue arts careers maybe than in a " hip and happening " comp but I wonder if that is the "my son the doctor" parental push really.

I went to a mixed comp. Some of the boys made my life hell... i'm sure girls would too as I was an academic swotty kid but still my 3 have had a brilliant experience at their schools.

smokepole · 16/07/2014 11:03

DD 2 loves her single sex grammar ( that has 8 boys in the sixth form) as does my my DS. They like the fact that they are not distracted by the other sex in lessons. Both DC have friends from the other 'sex' school and they actually seem to have closer friendships with each other than DD1 had from her mixed school.
the grammar school pupils only seem to socialise with each other and don't seem to mix at all with the mixed schools pupils.

MissDuke · 16/07/2014 11:04

Also, my college class was all female, as is my uni class - due to the subject area not attracting males. I have also mainly worked with females in the past. So I guess it didn't matter so much in my case that I went to an all girls school?

pointythings · 16/07/2014 11:06

I'm not entirely convinced by the research, given that many countries in Europe don't do single sex education and yet have better educational outcomes than the UK. However, I'm willing to be converted and would then like to see segregated subject teaching within a mixed school rather than single sex schools.

I've asked my DDs and they have both stated very strongly that they would hate to go to a single sex school. This despite the fact that they consider boys to be 'annoying'.

Bifauxnen · 16/07/2014 11:11

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/guest_posts/a1993685-Id-hear-three-rape-jokes-a-day-one-teenager-on-the-epidemic-of-sexual-harassment-in-schools

Girls benefit from single sex schools. They get to take up their fair share of space, they're less likely to believe that some subjects are male subjects and protecting them from the everyday sexism means they are less likely to tolerate it when they leave school.

steppemum · 16/07/2014 11:13

There are pros and cons.

I went to single sex school. yes, we were boy obsessed, but at school we were very focused, no appearance pressures and there was an real expectation that as women we could do ANYTHING. It was a very positive environment for a girl to grow up in.
I had no trouble with mixing with men and women when I left.

ds starts at a single sex grammar in sept. He would prefer it to be co-ed, as he has several close friends who are girls. But we chose the school because it it a lovely school, and it is very noticeable that they really 'get' boys, understand them and gear their teaching got them in a way that you never see in co-ed schools. There are also lots of male teachers, good role models etc.
It is next door to the girls school, and has a joint sixth form, so they are not isolated. I think he will thrive there.

Sometimes the choice isn't single sex v. co-ed, but good school v. less good school, or grammar v. not grammar or local school v. further away.
If I had to compromise on one issue for ds, I am happy for it to be the co-ed issue.

Downamongtherednecks · 16/07/2014 11:15

Girls at single-sex schools are more likely to do scientific subjects too. I was at a single-sex school, so was my husband and most of our friends. There was socialising between the schools, and joint-plays etc. Exam results are better in single-sex schools, probably because all the dating-nonsense can only take place outside school hours.

steppemum · 16/07/2014 11:15

and yes, boys do all subjects, including cooking and sewing, and they are not 'girly' subjects.

Original poster
GertieTheGuineaPig · 16/07/2014 11:17

The other added benefit for girls is that there are no 'boys subjects' and therefore you see a greater number of girls taking science subjects and maths etc. There is no such thing as 'like a girl' or 'girls can't do that' in an all girls school.

I've heard that argument before actually, but does it work the other way round?

Do boys who attend an all boys school more likely to study and enjoy "girly" subjects like English, Art, Drama, textiles/food tech, etc because there's no one there to say they are "girls subjects"?

OP posts:
steppemum · 16/07/2014 11:20

yes, see my pp

whois · 16/07/2014 11:20

I went to an all girls primary and a mixed secondary. It caused me some problems fitting into the social conventions at secondary, things like girls shouldn't run around and play at lunchtime but should watch the boys and stuff like that. So in my mind single sex education was a good thing because I wasn't made to conform to bullshot steryorypes at such an early age!

Tortoiseturtle · 16/07/2014 11:21

Gender issues are not the same as race issues or sexuality issues. What is the point of saying - girls and boys should be educated together because whites and blacks and gays and straights are educated together?

chrome100 · 16/07/2014 11:22

I went to an all girls school and whilst I do think I did better academically, I was terrified of boys and just couldn't speak to men until I was about 21. My local school is mixed but educates boys and girls separately between 11 and 16 which I think is by far the best way - they get the benefits of single sex education in the classroom but still mix socially outside of it and for extra-curricular stuff.

Original poster
GertieTheGuineaPig · 16/07/2014 11:23

Sorry x post.

OP posts:
steppemum · 16/07/2014 11:27

thats interesting chrome, I haven't heard of that before.

I had 2 older brothers, which I think helps on the normalising men front.

Idontseeanyicegiants · 16/07/2014 11:33

Chrome that sounds like a good way of doing things. I would definitely send DS (year8) to a school like that, not sure about DD1 though, she tends to work and socialise better with boys. She's only year 3 though.

Swipe left for the next trending thread