Thinking this will just become a boy/girl split

[Caitily]

My DD is 4, about to start at an independent prep school.
We received an email a couple of weeks ago about the introduction of Karate and Ballet into the curriculum in response to calls from parents for more sports. It is a small school, one form entry no more than 22 pupils per class, so really looking around the 150 total. They have an AstroTurf playing field on site, but its small, so once a week all kids travel to the school playing ground, it is about 15/20 minutes walk away. They also go swimming once a week, offsite.
In the email they asked that parents/pupils pick either Karate or Ballet for the school year, they won't be able to swap back and forth and will be encouraged to continue with the same sport all through school. DD wanted to do ballet, we watched some videos of karate online, my DH showed her some bits (he used to do taekwondo, so picked similarities), she still wanted to do ballet (she does it out of school too). Everyone girl parent I've spoke to so far has said their daughter has chosen ballet, all the boy parents say they have chosen karate.
We chose the school as it is co-ed, and very quickly I can see this turning into girls do ballet, boys do karate. Even if a girl wanted to do karate or a boy ballet, I can see there being peer pressure to pick the other and not be the only boy doing ballet etc.
AIBU to think this is going to happen and its a terrible idea?

What do you suggest then, they only offer one and so no one has a choice? They don't offer either so it's not a problem? I suspect there will be a few girls who opt for karate and a few boys who opt for ballet, probably mirroring groups out of school.

I suppose they could say term 1&3 Kindergarten, Y2, Y4, Y6 do Ballet, Term 2 Karate, and Y1, Y3, Y5 do opposite then swap back around for the other terms, so everyone does it all (its mixed age group so I alternated years to keep the numbers similar)

I don’t see how it is a bad thing to give children 2 choices and let them have their pick.

I can see why that's a bit annoying but you could always look up karate classes outside school. I think extracurriculars are more beneficial when it's a new set of kids tbh, builds up their social skills and independence a bit more.

I think the far better thing would be for all children to try out both, as a whole class. But maybe there’s a reason why they can’t?

So in your scenario, many kids would be forced to do something they dislike, just so it suits your preferred outcome. Hmmmm ok.

Sounds ideal.

They get made to do hockey/football/cricket/tennis regardless of whether they like it or not, what is the difference?

It's terrible children are doing things they like and you'd rather they were made to do something they didn't want to just to look good?
Would you go to a adults pilate class and tell them, 'no more! Next week you're doing muay Thai for 6 months,.like it or not!' ?

"In the email they asked that parents/pupils pick either Karate or Ballet for the school year."

You really think the 4 year olds are calling the shots in this scenario?

It's a curriculum activity, it shouldn't be delivered in a way that descends into reinforcement of sexist norms. Just rotate it around equitably, the same as they plan all the other curriculum activities.

So by that reasoning why don't you have your daughter do karate regardless of the fact she wants to do ballet? Seems like you're annoyed the sexes will fall into the two categories in a stereotypical way but you're encouraging that by your daughter doing ballet anyway.

What? Like maths? Or geography?

Maybe we could just have all the boys do STEM and the girls home ec?

I'm not the headmaster, he has decided there will be a choice, I will let DD make the choice, I would just rather their wasn't a choice. If it was an afterschool club then I wouldn't care but it is part of the regular school day.

Have you missed the fact that the op is talking about a curriculum activity? Do you think a school curriculum should be delivered in sexist ways?

I would be concerned about the school's ability to deliver an equitable education.

You're the parent though.

So you would have rather persuaded your dd to do karate when she had a clear preference for ballet? Why?
Surely trying to persuade her, for a whole year, to do something she didn't want to do (and a lot of children would have changed their mind to please a parent) for what reason? Doesn't sound like the reason is you'd think she'd actually prefer it.

I did karate as a child (but not ballet), my ds has done ballet, tap and jazz (but not karate), Dd did Taekwondo and ballet. It was our choice, not a parent wanting to make a point.

It isn't being delivered in sexist ways though is it? All that's happened is the parents have been given a choice. It also sounds like all the other sporting activities are mandatory so I can't see any issues in them delivering an "equitable education." If OP is so bothered about it she can petition other parents to choose the less expected option.

It isn't sexist for little girls to choose ballet. It would be sexist to force them into ballet just because they're girls. By claiming it's sexist it's erasing the girls' voices, letting them know what they actually want to do isn't acceptable and they should do the opposite.

If your dc already does ballet it's prob best she did something different. I know several young girls who do karate or other type martial arts and would hate to do ballet.

We weren't trying to persuade DD either way, she has never done karate before so we were showing her what it is, to help her make a choice.

It's odd that they don't let them try both or change, but you might be surprised at how mixed the classes are. My son opted to drop football and take cheerleading and he couldn't be happier. There are quite a lot of boys with him in the class!

Why does the school want them to do one sport for six years? I'd hate to still be doing an activity I chose in 2017 with no idea if I'd like it or be good at it, and I'm a lot better at thinking through choices than a four-year-old.

Don't make such a fuss it's only one class out of the entire curriculum

I think the question here is one of choice - isn’t it just as wrong to say to a girl that she’s got to do a martial art as to say that she has to do ballet?

This!

It does seem poor to not introduce both activities to all children (whether that is a year of each or alternate terms or whatever) , so that children can actually make a choice once they know what they actually enjoy.