To be angry so many girls schools are going Co-Ed?

[FaeryRing]

Yet again it’s been proven girls do better in single sex schools (I have a son as well as a daughter so please don’t think I’m ’hating on boys’).

https://amp.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/may/12/girls-do-better-in-exams-at-all-girls-schools-than-mixed-research-finds

In my hometown growing up there were 4 girls schools. 1 grammar, 1 private, and 2 regular secondaries, meaning pretty much all parents regardless of background had access to single sex education for their daughters if they wanted it.

2 have announced their plans to go Co-Ed, with 1 already having done so, leaving just 1 (the grammar, so working class girls will be inherently disadvantaged). This seems to be a pattern across the country.

AIBU to be angry this is happening? Can’t girls have anything to themselves?

I mean what I wrote.

Why wouldn't I still be reading a discussion I'm interested in?

No it’s not it’s like saying my brothers and my father are male and I live with them.

You have a very odd idea of single sex schooling that has nothing to do with the reality. There are many people like me who have a combination of single sex and coed education.

I don’t know anyone who struggled at uni and the rise in kids who do now, seems to be much more linked to lack of resilience due to helicopter over-parenting than the gender they were educated with.

Only hideous male 'role' models to offer then, no female ones?

😂😂

A good few own goals being scored here. Well done ladies.

Because you’ve persistently posted the same rubbish on a post you have no experience of, will have no experience of, and have rejected all facts and logic put to you and have instead just cried about ‘sexism against men’ which doesn’t exist

For what feels like the hundredth time, someone disagreeing with you (by presenting facts and also questioning your conclusions) is not 'persistently posting the same rubbish". It's presenting a counter argument.

’A good few own goals being scored here. Well done ladies’

And so an example male pattern behaviour shows itself. Well done ladies. Well done 👏🏻

🤢

What now?
Females referring to other females as ladies make you feel sick?
May I enquire why?

@OodlesPoodle having been to both an all girls and co-ed state I can confirm that my anecdotal figures are that 9 out of my all girls year of 43 went into science and medicine. 2 went to Cambridge and 1 Oxford. In my cohort of 65 at state, of which appx 30 were women, I only know of 1 who is now a GP.

There is little in my real life experience to show me personally that choosing single sex for my daughter, who found boys distracting and bullying in primary, was not the best option for her. I am glad I had the choice, which is the point to the thread.

If any of you had daughters who were assaulted by boys at the school and she had a huge issue about returning to school (I am thinking of someone I know who's daughter has had this happen) would you not be glad of an all girls school locally to put her in? The argument for having the choice should not be "but poor boys" or "girls might not do better anyway" but more is having the choice important. She doesn't live near me and has no all girls option, yet the boys in her area have 2 all boys schools to choose from.

No I absolutely wouldn’t. What a ridiculous suggestion. I’d expect any school to sort it. Girl on girl bullying is hugely common. Kids with an SEN or disability or more likely to be bullied. Are they supposed to be shipped out too?

Choice is important but the child getting assaulted at school is a school issue not a co-ed school issue. My daughter experienced bad girl on girl bullying in her primary school which was coed. I don't think it is the makeup of the school that's the issue but that actual school.
However it is completely understandable that your friends daughter did not want to go back into a co-ed environment but what is your friend doing to reframe how she feels about boys? I would be concerned that she would develop an irrational fear as a result of her experience so hope that is also being dealt with through support and counselling

How is it anything like saying "my best friends are ethnic minority so it doesn't matter if there are none in my school or workplace"?? I mentioned private schools are often single sex because I thought it would make you appreciate that given those schools are often single sex and that privately educated people generally do pretty well in life (not just at university!), it would make you realise that going to a single sex school does not mean that you will consequently struggle at university or the workplace.

You have strong opinions on how going to a single sex school will negatively effect people in the future but what are you basing your beliefs on as you haven't mentioned any actual experience? I went to a state all girls school and also a mixed school and so know plenty of people from both. I also live in a city where a lot of schools are single sex and always have been. It's not true at all that those who have been to all girls school have then struggled at university and the workplace.

I'm not arguing for or against single sex schooling btw. There is a lot of exaggeration and prejudice on both sides and that includes your post.

I would get the same result in my team, but that’s simply a reflection of the fact that most countries don’t have single-sex schools. You might get a different result if you worked in a less global sector like law or accounting.

She is getting counselling and has had to move her to another co-ed as there is no option for single sex. Her daughter asked if the family could move or if she could board away at a girls school but the family can't do either right now as they have a son doing A 'Levels this year and they are worried about increasing fees in private schools - she is in y9 so it is a few years to consider. My friend is worried that if something happens again she will become one of the "school refusers" that were on the news, and it made me wonder how many of those are unresolved issues where schools are loathe to exclude people for assaults.

I still believe that, as with most things, choice is rarely a bad thing. When I was at Uni one of my lecturers actually asked me if I had been to private school because I was confidently asking questions; apparently confidence and ability to ask questions is a private school trait that lecturers notice, which isn't something a lot of women seem to have these days. Certainly not in my peer group at university.

I still believe that, as with most things, choice is rarely a bad thing. When I was at Uni one of my lecturers actually asked me if I had been to private school because I was confidently asking questions; apparently confidence and ability to ask questions is a private school trait that lecturers notice, which isn't something a lot of women seem to have these days.
Wow that is a pretty poor reflection of state schools in the UK if the ability to ask questions is a sign of a private school education.

apparently confidence and ability to ask questions is a private school trait that lecturers notice
I don't live in the UK but did work there for many years and I really do not believe this to be true. The vast majority of people as far as I am aware are educated in the state system and are most definitely confident and articulate.

This is exactly the point I was making about the world of work changing though - it's all far more global than 30 years ago. British students are competing with the rest of the world, even at uni to get into grad schemes. And as you say globally single sex schools aren't common. I started my career in a big 4 accountancy 20 years ago, I studied in Asia where most of the best schools were turning co-ed and was one of the few non British students to get a grad scheme place. It was also still a very 'white' profession. Even then in fairness there weren't many from single sex schools - certainly not enough to be a noticeable asset. I do remember seniors saying to invite girls from boarding schools to the after work parties, because they were more eager to please and be one of the 'boys' - which was code for they won't say no... Obv stereotyping, but that is how it was perceived.

My friends are now partners at the same firm, and the recruitment policies are entirely different. The interview process isn't just degree and entrance test scores, there's focus on group working, group thinking, diversity of experience - more focus on hiring from more diverse unis, countries and degrees and much larger % of women and non white/Asians. When so much of work is getting automated, turns out the real life skill is an ability to empathise with different types of people to get the best out of them. That's leadership after all.

It's just frustrating to hear women talk about performance in school exams and tests as the be-all, end-all instead of realising that the world is a different place now and education needs to adapt or we just leave women more disadvantaged than they were before. Their competition isn't just going to be men, but also women who are used to competing and learning with men as peers. I'm sure studies would show that learning with people only from the same background is more beneficial for school results - I don't think we'll be going back to segregating schools by race. So why should sex be different!

@OodlesPoodle
🤷‍♀️ because some people prefer it. I’m sure my daughters weren’t thinking about academic results when they were 10. They just knew they didn’t want to go to school with boys any more, if they didn’t have to. Obviously this may change. A friends daughter did not want to go to all girls, so she didn’t.

Having the choice is a good thing. To go back to the OP.

@OodlesPoodle tbh I don't think it really matters as all recruits for jobs in more internationally-focussed sectors will have been to (mixed) universities anyway. I don't think women who have been to girls schools will be disadvantaged. I do think Brits in general are disadvantaged in the modern workplace, the poor language skills and the inability to be posted in Europe without a work visa is a real handicap for us. We basically don't hire Brits any more unless we know they are going to be UK-only and never have to be posted anywhere (i.e. backoffice jobs only).

Some mothers definitely project their insecurities and irrationalities on to their daughters, that's definitely clear from this thread.

You don't know me.
May I ask why you're remotely informed or qualified to make such a comment? Or what you think I'm supposedly 'paranoid' about?
My comment was based on what peoole have actually written.

I agree. I’ve never understood the idea of constantly telling girls that they are at a disadvantage in schools and the workplace and that males are favoured. After a while, if girls are constantly told this, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

I remember one senior staff member at a school we looked round, during a q&a session, being asked by a parent what the school did to encourage girls to do STEM subjects. The answer was something along the lines of “Nothing. We lead by example. We have male and female STEM teachers. We don’t make a big deal out of it or suggest to pupils that there is an issue. We treat everyone, boys and girls the same”. That school has a very high rate of girls taking STEM subjects interestingly.

Not an issue at girls school, there’s no boys so there can’t be differing standards of treatment.

Indeed. How would that poster know anything? They don’t even have a daughter. They didn’t go to a girls school and the studies go against them. They’re just on here because they’re outraged on their sons behalf and have been spamming the same nonsense over and over