To ask if Co-Ed is better than single sex..

[CHiSOCG]

For girls? My DH is keen on Co-Ed. Most of my friends are looking at local single sex grammar or independent. Of course most will go co-ed comprehensive if they don’t pass the 11+ for the grammar.

(Better for rapists and abusers.)

All girls aren’t going to go single sex….?

@bridgetreilly
Please provide the data for the extreme claim you have posted.

When there’s no difference between the number of girls doing further maths at single sex and co-ed schools, and no difference between the number of boys doing drama at single sex and co-ed schools, and similar rates of sexual harassment and assault in co-ed schools as single sex schools… then I would consider them for my dds. Until
then, given the choice and knowing my dds, I would choose single sex.

I have experience of a single sex girls school. There's a smattering of trans kids but from my observation (I don't know the children in question very well), at least one has autism and I suspect that nonbinary might be where they end up, they just don't know about it yet, and the others, well... they're referring to themselves as "he/they" and have adopted male names, but in every other respect everything has stayed the same - notably - they are still attending a school for girls. I think single sex environments provide a very safe space for young people finding out about themselves and exploring their options, without any pressure or scary conversations about which changing rooms to use etc.

I went to a mixed sex high school and I feel so so lucky to have not experienced the level of harassment I see and read about regularly. The boys just left us alone/did not make jokes about rape or sex. There was no talk about porn etc.

I don't know how I'd cope with how it is now. In the present day, I'd go single sex 100%.

I went to single sex and am glad I did, my friends who went to Co-eds have told me of really damaging stuff that went on, as well as the more common fuckwittery of teenage boys.

I'm grateful not to have had to put up with that.

I’m a little on the fence but my friends dd who goes to a top girls private school tells me of horrors around lots of the girls mental health, from carving names of others girls on their legs, smearing faeces on walls, lots of other forms of self harm too. The only thing the school seemed concerned with is vaping on school grounds. It could just be that particular school & maybe this goes on in all schools?

My goodness, it makes me so sad to read this. I'd guess most schools in the world are co-ed. In my country, single sex schools do not exist. Admittedly, I'm a 70s child but I don't think I once heard guys being disrespectful to girls at secondary school. It seems so common here. I wonder why?

I went co-ed, boys didn't add anything at all to my social or educational experience. As I'm sending ds to a single sex grammar I look back and realise that my school years would have been better without the boys. DH went to an all boys grammar and he's not maladjusted.

I think its personal preference, neither option is all bad or all good.

Well this is all causing me anxiety!!

there are not enough single sex schools

My friend’s DD is at a single sex independent there is low level bullying (talking behind backs, ostracising) I find it horrible and have asked my friend why she won’t talk up. But my friend said not worth it - it goes on a lot in girl’s school.

The world is not single sex

The working world is not single sex

The social world is not single sex

So? The world of a child and the world of school are not the same as the adult working or social world in loads of ways. Plus it is possible for girls to socialise and do extra-curricular activities outside school which are mixed.

We are sending DD to a single sex school in September as it is a better fit for her, and also for all the reasons previously cited in this thread. But I also like the set up at the other local school. The boys and girls are taught separately but share the same space at break and lunch.

Really? In the UK? Wow, I've never heard this statistic! Do you have a link or can you point me to where I can read more about this? Thanks.

DH and I went coed and we assumed that’s what our kids would do. But DD got a place at an all girls selective school so we gave it a try. It has been an absolute revelation and I am now very pro single sex for girls. The freedom that she experiences - academically, socially, physically- is a world away from my years of constant sexual harassment and put downs any time I out-performed a boy.

DD has a female cousin the same age that she is very close to who is in a coed school. From listening to them chat the female friendship issues are the same at both schools (although at the coed there is an extra layer of conflict over boys/boyfriends) but the misogyny, harassment and gender stereotyping at the coed school is just as bad as in my day. My niece has fallen into the ‘maths/science is hard’ mindset whereas DD is loving challenging herself and planning to do chemistry and further maths in senior school.

DS is at a boys selective. I feel he would be equally fine at a coed however he chose the school because it’s very sporty as well as academic and he’s happy there. It’s also next door to DD’s school which is convenient.

Specifically about a rape a day, just to clarify.

I can well believe 1/3 report sexual assault during school life.

@LarryTrotter @whenwillthemadnessend

I was literally just listening to Laura Bates talking about this on a R4 podcast. Here’s an article with more detail.

More than 600 rapes in three school years. In schools.

To be fair, those statistics are from 7 years ago. But I would be amazed if things have improved.

Neither is the world, the working world or the social world made up of adolescents.

So I went to a single sex and know no different - very happy with my experience. There will be typical bitchy behaviour regardless of school for girls as it is a typical trait. I really didn’t expect to experience the sexism I did when leaving school.

I’m lucky I haven’t experienced sexual assault within my school / academic life but I strongly believe my single sex edu action prepared me as well as possible about what was acceptable male behaviour and what wasn’t, so I would like to think now I’d be able to stand up for myself and have done since.

I work with my DH in education now (consultants) and I wouldn’t dream of sending my child to a coed. DH will only work in a coed for his own personal enjoyment of a job as he likes the “banter” both genders give, but he makes many safeguarding reports a day. A DAY.

The world may not be single sex but it is made for one in mind only. So give girls the best opportunity going forward whilst they’re young and malleable.

I know I wouldn’t be as successful as I am without going to single sex school

I went to a single sex selective (grammar) school and my brothers went to boys single sex grammars. Very common where I live. I absolutely loved it. Best days of my life. I have nieces who go single sex and are thriving and a nephew going to a single sex. Nephew is very academic and has come out as gay. Has been suffering bullying in all boys school and considering moving. I think for him a co-Ed school would be better as perhaps more diverse/ more accepting?

My dd is coming up to transition time and I want her to go to single sex. She finds the boys in her class very irritating and frequently talks about how they disrupt the class and their behaviour gets the class kept in at break- she's keen on girls only.

Statistically girls do better in single sex schools, boys do better in mixed.

I hated my all girls' school. I've never felt at ease in an all female environment (still don't). I pay a lot of money to send my kids to a coed instead of a SS (private instead of grammar - coed non selective state options weren't good). Plenty of thr boys do drama and the girls do STEM and sport.