A new form of education is changing the way children may be taught. The common saying, “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus,” stands out in my mind. Could really be the case yet again? For the sake of learning, it certainly seems to be an interesting topic of conversation. Do boys and girls benefit more from being taught separately and in different settings verses being taught together in a classroom? As a student coming from an all male catholic high school, I strongly believe that same sex classes are a benefit to those involved; however, different classroom environments and teaching methods are not as much of a concern.
Growing up, I was a part of many different types of classrooms and environments. From co-ed to same sex, and public to private schools, my education is a product of these different bases. I can testify to this topic from my own experience. The idea of co-ed versus same sex classrooms is a good debate because as students grow older, their appearance to the opposite sex becomes more important. As children, we were also distracted by the differences in gender, however in a different manner. As you may remember, “I need a cootie shot,” was a common saying. Naturally, as people grow older and go through puberty, they typically become interested in the other gender. Thus, in my observances, image becomes a priority in the classroom, and learning takes a backseat.
From my perspective, a same sex class was a great learning environment. By taking away the need to impress the girls, the only priority while at school was to learn. We had no choice but to save the social aspect (one of the main reasons for separation) until after class. Male testosterone was not as large of an issue because there were no girls involved. It is interesting to point out that because there were no girls, fewer fights occurred (in-fact, maybe a handful every year!). Girls, a common source of distraction for high school boys, played little affect on learning during the day. For social reasons, gender separation in class was a great asset to learning.
Some experts have also been discussing that learning environments (i.e. teaching methods, settings, etc.) should generally also be split based on differences in sex. I believe that this should not be the case. Some of these ideas may include that girls may learn better inside classrooms in relaxed settings versus boys who need physical activities to learn. From my perspective, the use of generalizations is not good enough evidence to change the way classes are taught. Instead, I feel it would be wise to teach both sexes through many different styles of learning so that they can choose the best method to fit each student. Evidence may show that the majority of a specific gender learns this way, however, by gaining a broad view of learning methods would seem to be more beneficial in the long run.
I was taught in a classroom. My guy friends were taught in the classroom. And our test scores as compared to a national statistics were typically higher than those of other schools, even the all girls’ schools. Thus, to say that we learn less in a classroom setting than girls does not support this idea.
Is it possible to ultimately create a program to meet the needs of every individual? Likely, the answer is no, however, in my opinion, same sex classes were a great benefit to my learning throughout my high school years. However, teaching me inside the classroom versus on the football field played little affect on my learning.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/09/22/koch.same.sex.classes.cnn
