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 think mixed sex events are less likely at a single sex school.

Being separate for specific things in an overall mixed environment isn't really the same as being separate for everything.

Nobody in our family is that keen on Sports Day tbh either, but loads of the pupils seem to enjoy it.

They also have a band competition (mixed groups (classes) at younger levels and 'make your own' at higher levels) and go on mixed trips (outdoor activities, abroad etc).

Debating and drama is also popular here, but there are mostly specific and very good clubs outwith the school for that.

There are loads of sporting opportunities too.

Are you sure about that?

Did I ignore it?
I definitely remember reading a post along those lines and thought I responded? Maybe it didn't go through.
In short, there will always be specific problems at specific schools, and those schools need to address that. That doesn't mean it's systemic or that there isn't issues with girls being favoured over boys in other schools (those schools need to address that too).

I mean I hated it, but I know both boys and girls who hate it and who love it. 😁

(Edited to make the sentence actually make sense)

I enjoy sports I just cba to watch.

Many of us would chill behind the pavilion out on sports’ days when we weren’t competing.

Yeah, some folk at our local school(s) do that too....in mixed and single sex groups.
Some folk take it more seriously than others!

From my own experience teaching at both, the girls seemed much freer and happier at the girls’ school. In addition, far more girls pursued STEM A levels (Physics and Further Maths). Also, in the mixed school, the ball playing area was dominated by boys playing football and the girls virtually never got to use it (I did suggest they have boys’ days and girls’ days but, by the time I left, this hadn’t happened).

OTOH, most girls choose mixed 6th forms, for the obvious reason that they want to be with boys.

Especially in the private sector, schools give parents what they want. If enough parents wanted a girls’ school, it wouldn’t go mixed.

So YANBU to regret the disappearance of single sex schools but YABU to be angry about it.

@Newbutoldfather the rota system for access to the most popular parts of the playground works well, it's a shame they didn't do that at the school in question.
At my secondary school we actually just gradually edged ourselves into the footie with the boys, starting with the girls who already played footie with them outwith school - one Comic Relief day we even did a charity match where the boys played in skirts and us in trousers, to let them see how it was slightly harder in skirts! We all had great fun, even the normally less sporty ones. Great memories of those boys.

From my own experience teaching at both, the girls seemed much freer and happier at the girls’ school. In addition, far more girls pursued STEM A levels (Physics and Further Maths). Also, in the mixed school, the ball playing area was dominated by boys playing football and the girls virtually never got to use it (I did suggest they have boys’ days and girls’ days but, by the time I left, this hadn’t happened)

Yes it’s all very well posters saying ‘but that’s a sexism issue not a reason to segregate..’ when the sexism issue hasn’t been solved for decades and is unlikely to be

What?
Nobody has said that schools shouldn't do their utmost to provide equal opportunity for boys and girls in ALL aspects of schooling.
What we have said is that single sex schools are not necessarily the best way to do this.

What’s a better way then? And don’t waffle, or say ‘oh you wouldn’t understand you hate boys..’

Actually suggest something.

I've suggested lots of things already, you've written them off.
Which issue would you like to focus on*, and maybe we can have an actual constructive discussion?

• choose what's important to you/concerns you most.

@KeinLiebeslied54321 ,

There is ample research evidence that more girls take up STEM A levels at single sex schools.

https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/109052/pdf/

In this study it is explained away as ‘different types of girls’ opting for single sex schools, backed up by a Korean study. However, I am far from convinced. From my personal experience they were broadly the same ‘types of girls’. In addition, they weren’t put off Chemistry or Maths, more Physics and Further Maths. On a more academic note, for a variety of reasons, I don’t think Korean education is a good analogy to UK education.

@Newbutoldfather I'd be wary of measuring success only in terms of more girls studying STEM subjects though. Girls and boys getting a variety of opportunities and choosing to study what motivates them (STEM or otherwise) should be the aim surely? In reality many girls schools are selective so that may well influence what subjects they choose/are encouraged to choose - of course that doesn't take away the actual chievement in gaining good A level passes but it might explain it, at least in part.

All of the arguing is rather moot. People no longer want single sex schools, despite the clear advantages to both genders. If people don't want them, they'll close or go co-ed.

My DBro were educated in single sex schools. His boys started accepting girls when he was part-way through his education. Parents and boys were in uproar but what can you do if people don't want it? It did change the mood of his school but not for the better, as boys started performing for the girls and worrying about being cool for the first time.

Nothing more tedious than men telling us we apparently don’t want single sex schools.

I know so many people that attend single sex schools here happily and they are flourishing here, can’t speak for everywhere.

I think my kids went to a unicorn school. Large co-Ed in London. My boy and girl were not alpha types but happily made friends with kids similar to them. They were at sixth form during the Everyone’s Invited scandal and both of them had no personal experiences of this. They said maybe they weren’t invited to the parties where this stuff went on. My daughter in particular was sick of being asked about it all.

I asked my daughter’s friends. They mentioned one or two annoying boys but that was it. They didn’t experience anything themselves. My son has some lovely respectful friends who would not say boo to a goose.

My son is now at uni studying Humanities. Whilst my daughter with her four A stars is studying Maths. There was a real push for girls in STEM at their school.

Their school was large but there was an inclusive feel. There was a very large LBQT movement and they were big on tolerance. I think any dodgy behaviour was actually moderated by peers.

Reading some of these comments makes me wonder if we just got lucky. Some of the behaviour sounds awful and downright dangerous. The poor girls.

The core of course is raising young men with decent respectful behaviour. The stereotyping of teen boys is such a shame. And it’s based on the real behaviour of course of the young males who absolutely ruin it for everyone, esp girls.

My friend’s son left his all-girls school and joined a co-Ed one. It was just too difficult for him.

My kids went to co-Ed. They said some of the teachers were far harder on the boys. My daughter said she cringed in lessons as one particular teacher was so much more lenient to girls. He ignored the boys when they put their hands up.

I expect it’s teacher-dependent to some degree.

I went to an all-girls school But sent my kids to co-Ed. No regrets at all.

I am not sure you can say that only those who have direct experience can comment. People post on all sorts of stuff here.

You can’t join a girls or boys school if you are the opposite sex. Most if not all eleven year olds wouldn’t even be aware of trans issues at that age, once they are in school and become trans then they continue to wear the same uniform- they can choose the name they want to use in school, and we have a loo anyone can use - but otherwise carry on with their education.

Why wouldn’t they? They are children and under eighteen so can not legally or medically alter anything until they reach adulthood, they are treated like everyone else. It allows breathing space for the child.

They have the option to move to a co Ed, but in our schools would still need to change and shower with other members of their sex.

So trans thing is not an issue in single sex schools, because it would become a serious safe guarding issue particularly in boarding schools if boys testing out whether they thought they identified as girls could board with young girls. The law supports this position, and as they are all children and not adults it’s not an issue at all.

It's mostly females on this thread - the only obvious male commenting appears to be in support of female single sex schools.

That said, is it also fairly tedious for us females to have opinions on male single sex schools?

I’m not a man. Many females don’t want single sex schools for their children (including many of the females I know who attended single sex schools themselves). It’s precisely why so many are turning co-Ed; demand for them is decreasing.

I am not a man either, despite what some other confused posters seem to think!