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?

The girls' school I work in has just turned co-ed. It's at the more budget friendly end of the market and they decided they just couldn't afford to turn away half the children who might be interested.

You don’t manage 6th formers they’re practically adults. 🙄

Exactly my point - you are declaring your experience as more valid than others and I'm pointing out that we all relate to our own experience more, but that doesn't mean it's more valid or correct!

I just can't imagine not having any significant interaction with half of the population until adulthood (which is what would happen if you were single sex until uni).

Well, that’s you. We had social events with the boys school, made friends (and even boyfriends lol) and saw them outside of school plenty, but in school we had no distraction, no disruptive behaviour and didn’t have to constantly worry about how we looked.

@HumourM3

I was wondering the same thing, "carefully managing" sixth formers who then go to house parties with alcohol

I'm guessing not everyone here has kids who have reached this age yet.

No I’m saying it’s more valid to me.

I’m not the one arguing to take choice away from other parents!

I know a lot of families who actively avoid single sex schools. Parents of daughters, for example, may consider a school if it’s co-Ed but would absolutely rule it out if it was single sex.

There’s some hilarious comments on here about boys being horrible, awful, misogynistic teenagers 😂How much real world experience is actually being discussed here?

The worst teenagers I’ve dealt with (both when I was at school and now as a teacher of 10 years) have far and away been girls! Girls are nasty in a way that boys are just not. Boys tend to ‘get over’ disagreements in a day or so. Girls will go on and on and on, bitchy arguments end up involving several girls that weren’t even involved in the first place, often spill onto social media, and grudges go on for months if not years. Huge mental health crisis’ in our school as a result of girls frankly being disgusting to one another. I’m always secretly quite pleased when a boy pipes up and tells them they are being ridiculous and to get over whatever drama they are having this week!

I'm not keen on this either. Went to an all girls and the difference it can make to girls is incredible. Closer friendships, a longer childhood, less teasing and no worrying about boys and being rated or touched against your will. A local private to me is having huge issues with boys upsetting and touching girls without consent. They keep it all covered up and the boys get no official record of it. It's shameful and I'd never put my daughter in a co-ed boarding after seeing what goes on.

@FaeryRing

As huge numbers of girls are non binary, pan sexual or whatever the latest term is, eliminating boys is not going to solve that one, it had the opposite effect at the school near me, make up and hair were very different to my DDs more down to earth mixed sex school. You can't generalise on these things. Honestly I think single sex should only be offered as a choice and not as a catchment school as happened to us.

I agree. I would have a 14 year old boy over a 14 year old girl every time.

Should’ve posted this in Feminism!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5073702-single-sex-schools?reply=135221883

Well, I went to a mixed school and got straight As for everything. Plus a shit ton of extracurriculars. Not sure how a single-sex school would have improved my academics... Oh, and I didn't use make-up when I was at school. I can't say I felt under any pressure to look attractive to the opposite sex.

When I went to university, I met some girls who had only been to single-sex schools and they were, frankly, scared and baffled around boys. You could spot them a mile off - you were never unsurprised when they told you.

I didn't date at school (I wasn't interested) but had no problems dating at university. It was the girls who hadn't seen boys before who ended up in several very sad situations. It wasn't that I had dating experience that they didn't have - I didn't have any either - but some of my best friends were boys, so I'd had lots of experience interacting with them, and I held them to the same standards I held girls. I didn't put up with shit from anyone.

The girls who hadn't been around boys before tolerated more than they should have done because they weren't used to setting boundaries with them and didn't know what was OK. It was easier to learn boundaries at school as you were always so heavily supervised. University? You were a long way from home, fending for yourself. Terrible time to first start exploring what behaviour was and wasn't acceptable.

Do you know what made my education in a mixed school so great? No violent children; they were all kicked out.

It's not segregation by sex or gender that makes education better for the child. It's ensuring they're surrounded by good influences. You do that by taking a hard line against unacceptable behaviour.

It was the girls who hadn't seen boys before who ended up in several very sad situations.

Like what? And why hadn’t they seen boys? Had they been locked up and held prisoner by female overlords?

Or an echo chamber perhaps?

Bull shit!!!!
The girls at my DD’s girl school were horrendous in year 7&8, utterly boy mad, covered in make up, stalked boys in the neighbouring boys school and made my daughter look and feel very immature. She had to grow up fast in an attempt to fit in.It was shocking.The teasing and bullying she told me about that many girls particularly those different or not outwardly perfect suffered was awful. Her friends in the local comp had a far longer childhood as less unpleasantness. It was a much happier school .

No, just women interested in the rights of girls.

https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/national/23180149.single-sex-girl-schools-lead-league-tables-give-better-mental-health-support/

We don't all get unlimited choices when it comes to schooling though, you must realise that. Single sex state schools are a luxury.
If you want your girls segregated then send them to an independent single sex school.

https://www.theeducatoronline.com/k12/news/girls-who-attend-singlesex-schools-mentally-tougher-than-coed-peers--study/278220

Lots of all girls private schools around my way, so obviously plenty of demand. I'm a massive fan, it was one of the main draws. My DD has said what a relief it is to be able to concentrate in a lesson without disruption from boys, which was a feature of her entire primary education.

I went to mixed school and work in a very male dominated environment. I thrive in that environment now in spite of my schooling, not because of it - I can confidently say that my mixed education did absolutely nothing to help me in my workplace. I don't have to deal with casual sexism and objectification at work, whereas I very much did at school. It was grim.

People who support mixed education are just interested in the rights of girls though, they just feel that mixed education works as well/better!

There are other studies which have found disadvantages to girls of a single sex education.

https://m.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/mental-health/pupils-in-all-girls-schools-more-likely-to-suffer-from-anorexia-nervosa-and-bulimia/34647323.html

Isn't the main issue here really the erosion of choice? There will always be parents that prefer single sex/mixed. That's fine as long as they are able to choose. It's a real shame if that choice is taken away