Socialisation or education? Do we need single sex schools for girls?
At age twelve I was already a little feminist so I moved to an all-girls secondary school. I was frustrated with the treatment boys received, within sports and the classroom. Now with six years of experience at an all-girls school I still believe that single-sex schools for girls are a temporary solution to gender gaps within education.
I am graduating this year. When I think about my high school education and what prompted the move to an all girls school, it was the false equality I began to notice in primary school. My co-ed school was supposed to educate both girls and boys the same way, and both sexes were to receive an equal education. However this wasn’t quite true.
Girls perform better when educated with their own sex. Studies conducted in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s indicated that girls tended to have higher academic achievement levels in single-sex classes or schools As students continue onto A-level exams, single-sex girls’ schools showed more uptake for STEM subjects and more success within these areas in comparison to their peers in co-educational environments (Smyth). You’d be right to think this is good evidence to educate girls in a single sex environment. It has a positive impact on the students’ education. With more female students taking STEM subjects at A-level, more women will go on to study STEM related degrees at university. With more women in STEM at university we will see more women in STEM careers. This will slowly close the gap between men and women in these careers; the more women claim their spaces the sooner women will be accepted into these spaces.
Boys academic abilities see no change in co-ed versus single sex environments so why should girls be given an advantage (Smyth)? Coed schools were designed to give both boys and girls the same education. The aim was to move away from the Victorian school design in which girls focused on language because their brains were too delicate to comprehend arithmetic. One will argue separating the sexes again does not improve equality. But why should girls remain in a co-ed school when they do not perform as academically well? It’s unfair for the girls that their education should suffer in order to be in the same room as a boy. It begs the question with a bit of modification, maybe the Victorians were right.
Intimidation was something I only experienced in co-ed schools. I may never have been told outright that I’ll never be a scientist but it was the thoughtless comments that made it apparent. Do we need to discuss why there are more girls in bottom set maths than boys, because the 10 year-old boy will come to the conclusion that it means boys are better at maths. I never heard those sort of statements once I took boys out of my education. Without this mindset within a female student’s education, they are able to gain more confidence within their academics. This confidence allows them to continue onto higher education within any subject they choose. This confidence is invaluable within subjects that are predominantly occupied by male students.
I also became frustrated with athletics. How come the boys went to South Africa on a sports tour and the girls went nowhere? How come girls had to play rounders and the boys got to play cricket? Because girls are not athletic enough to play cricket. This again is the attitude girls face at a young age, their athletics is limited due to sexism. Ten year-old me thought this was unacceptable. Moving to an all-girls school meant all the athletic focus had to be on the girls. So I decided if I wasn’t going to get a sports tour at a co-ed school I would get myself a sports tour at an all-girls school. A girl’s athletic education is important for confidence, even if they never become the next Serena Williams. Having basic knowledge of sports can assist women socially among men. Women are often limited by men to not enter the discussion of sports, which can limit young girls’ involvement in the street cricket played by the boys on her road. Athleticism is limited by men but being athletic gains their respect. It’s a paradox for women. But not for girls educated in a single-sex environment. A single-sex environment cares if the girls’ lacrosse team excels because that’s the best team in the school.
Once girls are in single-sex school, boys will also have to be in single-sex schools. This can breed a toxic environment of hypermasculinity. This may be the case, but is not the fault of the absence of girls. These are issues that can be addressed by faculty and parents at all-boy schools. If the presence of girls is the only way boys can develop into kind and considerate people then there’s an issue with how boys are raised. It should not be up to girls to make sure their male peers succeed at the expense of their own education.
A social gap may be created in single-sex schooling and can be solved by both the students themselves and the institutions. There are many ways to socialize outside of the classroom, but from what I was told in school, the classroom is not the time to socialize anyway. Social events can be organized by schools in order for the sexes to interact, however more often the students themselves solve this issue. Whether it is their neighbour or family friends, if the student wishes to interact with the opposite sex, they will find a way. With social media now it is very easy to meet new people and stay connected even if you don’t see them every day.
So, should you move to an all-girls school? Should you educate your daughter in a single-sex environment? Should we encourage single-sex schools for girls? It depends on what you value for women. How do we solve the gender gap? Well it starts with education. Now that I am eighteen years old and an even bigger feminist; I would say yes.
Work Cited
Bridge, Loren. Why You Should Choose a Single-Sex School, Particularly for Girls, https://www.danebank.nsw.edu.au/why-you-should-choose-a-single-sex-school-particularly-for-girls/. Accessed 24 Jan. 2023.
Currigan, Simon. “Students Behaving Poorly in Class .” Beacon, 13 Sept. 2019, https://beaconschoolsupport.co.uk/newsletters/classroom-behaviour-these-three-things-matter-most. Accessed 24 Jan. 2023.
Hatherall, Emma. “The Girl’s Classroom .” A Girl in Victorian Britain, 8 Feb. 2013, https://www.girlmuseum.org/a-girl-in-victorian-britain/. Accessed 24 Jan. 2023.
Novotney, Amy. “Coed versus Single-Sex Ed.” Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, Feb. 2011, https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/02/coed.
Smyth, Emer. “Single-Sex Education: What Does Research Tell Us?” Revue Française De Pédagogie, no. 171, 2010, pp. 47–55., https://doi.org/10.4000/rfp.1896.
Thorpe, JR. “Boys Benefit from Co-Ed Schooling More than Girls, According to a New Study.” Bustle, Bustle, 14 Nov. 2017, https://www.bustle.com/p/boys-benefit-from-co-ed-schooling-more-than-girls-according-to-a-new-study-3904976.
