To not see the point of single sex schools?

[GertieTheGuineaPig]

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?

Another thought.... With regard to results of course single sex schools are going to do better as many are academically selective.

Yes, and many co-ed schools are academically selective .

My older boys go to a boys prep school. DS1 started in a mixed state school, but this school suits him so much better.
Everything is presented as boy focussed, reading schemes have boy themes, topics are castles, knights, dinosaurs and as a result they catch the attention of the children and consequently they learn more.
Lessons are shorter and there's more outside activities. Girls' attention spans are much longer generally and they seem to cram more learning into a shorter time scale.
DS1 also does choir (which he might not do in a mixed school) and piano.

DD is very girly, academic and has a long attention span and loves her girls school, they do ballet as part of the curriculum. She'd doesn't do boisterous boys and they would drag her down academically.

DS2 does go to DS1's boys prep, but would have been equally happy in a mixed school and we have considered moving him - but he is likely to go to a mixed secondary school.
DS1 and DD will probably go to a single sex school.
It depends on the child.

Minty Nice PA comment . Blimey, it's like single sex high school all over again.

JamsatjeeBomanjee

This is the reason why people chose single sex education for their children:

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/leaguetables/10590130/Top-100-secondary-schools-by-GCSE-results-2013.html

The results appear to speak for themselves. Especially for girls.

I don't agree that a table featuring many grammar schools* which happen to be single sex and very expensive private schools proves that all single-sex schools will be better simply by virtue of being single-sex.

What if there was a table of the bottom 100 schools, by GCSE results, and there were loads of girls'-only schools on it? I am not making any claims on what the make-up of the bottom 100 schools by GCSE results is, but it illustrates one flaw in just looking at the make-up of the top 100.

*Also, I'm always extremely, extremely, extremely cynical about judging schools purely on GCSE results. It may demonstrate management that always puts the school's league position over the hopes of individual pupils, and often simply demonstrates that the school has an intake of children without challenging background, SEN, etc.

The problem is QueenTilly, is that due to a change in education policy that we can't all chose for our children to go to single sex schools. I imagine if there were was still a choice of single sex non-selective schools that the results would be similar.

When I started secondary (in 1984) every parent had the choice to send their child to a single sex school. This option has been taken away from us so we cannot compare. I only have anecdotal evidence that attending an all girls school is a positive experience.

I can see your point that the league tables may feature selective schools but regardless surely this evidence indicates that single sex schools are superior. If not why are selective co-ed schools not featuring as high as the selective single sex schools?

Selective single-sex schools may be actually super-selective, or there may be differences in the intake. If someone has done, or can be persuaded to do a study, they might identify all kinds of things.

What did you think of the summary I linked to on page two of this thread?

I keep coming back to this thread and thinking about DS watching the series about Harrow school. He was totally struck by everything bar the boarding, the lessons and how quiet they were, the activities, the opportunities available. He would suit an all boys school down to the ground I think, as many teenage boys would (same goes for many girls) It's about what would suit the child rather than the politics of the parent, which is what some people forget.

I know it sounds counter-intuitive, and on principle I don't really love the idea of single-sex schools, but I went to a girls' school and always felt very confident around men. When I pitched up at my co-ed sixth form with my best friend (also from the girls' school) we were both totally chilled about talking to boys because we hadn't really had gender norms drilled into us. We put our hands up more in seminars than other girls seemed to, and seemed to talk more 'like men' - straightforward and more confident than some of the other girls. I realise this is totally anecdotal and not a social experiment!
As a teacher, I wouldn't like to work in a single sex school as I like teaching both genders. On the other hand, I sometimes look at my year 8 girls having to put up with the much more immature behaviour of boys in their cohort and feel grateful for my own single sex education!

Oh, and also, I developed countless ridiculous crushes during my teens and was quite 'boy mad' but without the opportunity to see much of boys, except at the weekend in Years 10 and 11. I would have definitely not got the string of A*s I got in my GCSEs had I gone to a mixed school rather than my state girls' school.

I went to mixed primary and single sex secondary - which was comprehensive. There was no other choice in town, unless you went private. Some A-level classes were shared with the boys' school (depending on subject), as were some extra-curricular activities like drama and language exchange trips.

We were definitely brought up to be the business women and academics of tomorrow. There was no nonsense about boys' or girls' subjects (suspect parentcraft wasn't an option over with the boys, though.) We had a good proportion do sciences at A-level.

The boys' school was only about a 20 minute walk away, and we still saw them out of school - it's a small town.

The thing that makes me think it was good is that it wasn't till planning something with the boys' school when I was 17 that I can remember ever being treated differently just for being a girl, and I was really taken aback when it happened (and won.) I think being single sex all the way through is bad, but I think for those crucial secondary years up to 16, it did help. I read things like Everyday Sexism and the Equality Illusion, and what girls apparently have to put up with now is horrendous. I know that there was wolf-whistling and name-calling and groping outside of school, but inside school, from 9:00 till 4:00, we were free of it. And I think it does make a difference.

Le Pamplemousse I went to a year 8 school 'do last week and the difference between the boys and girls was startling!
The girls were cool and confident, the boys were like trapped greyhounds waiting to be let loose and run free, practically bouncing off the walls tbh!

What a great analogy Idon't

It seems to fit 13 year old boys rather well [frin]

wtf a frin is I have no idea...

I remember my mixed primary school use to separate us at playtime. Boys at the back of the school to play and girls at the front to play, strange. I went to an all girls secondary and it never really made a difference that no boys were present.
We were into make up a lot but used to get balled out by the teachers for wearing lipstick.
I enjoyed my time there but was never academic left with two GCSE's and later in my working life I always had male dominated roles and seem to get on better with men than girls. Apart from the abusive boyfriends!!
However, my ds is adamant he doesn't want to go to a single sex school at all and that's fine with me.

Yes Idont, it's quite weird to see the girls talking and acting like adults and the boys still children! Once they get to year 9 they seem to calm down when they start trying to impress the girls... less messing about in class, anyway, more fights out of the classroom about who's going out with whom I imagine!

I went to a girls only school and did better for it IMO. It's a shame they're a dying breed.

My education was in the 80s. I went to a single sex secondary, but most schools were merging in order to save money - I hope no-one seriously believes it was an idealogical move by LEAs? :)

There was a lot of resistance. One of the arguments was that boys and girls did better at seperate schools, but were better mixed for 6th form. It's probably why so many grammars have remained single sex.

I also think its odd. Unless you are a religious fanatic. Next to where i live there is a private school for Muslim girls. I must say their uniforms are very good looking.

I went to an all girls boarding school and find I have no problems in rl, socially or at work.

Isitmylibrary: You stole my post :) The pressure on teenage girls to be slim/trendy/good looking etc comes at least as much from other teenage girls surely? Don't single sex schools have the potential to exacerbate the worst traits of each gender, so girls become more bitchy/cliquey and boys become more aggressive?

I can see that single sex schools produce better exam results but whether they produce more rounded individuals more prepared for adulthood is less certain. Life isn't single sex. Unless you're a nun/monk.