Community Magazine October 2009

students in the boys-only class engaged in discussions, sharing their thoughts and feelings much more than the boys in the coed class. They were more apt to say how sad and angry they were about the atrocities of the Holocaust than when the girls were in class with them.” Mrs. Calvo acknowledges that teaching an all-boys class presents a behavioral challenge because the boys act more calmly in the presence of girls. As one male high school student put it, “We didn’t want to look like jerks in front of the girls.” Still, Mrs. Calvo maintains that she has “seen a major difference in the overall engagement of my students in a single-gender class, and, despite the challenge, it is incumbent on all teachers to learn how to manage the class because they do learn better.” To this end, the NASSPE offers one- and two-day workshops for teachers devoted to what works best in girls’ classrooms and boys’classrooms. “The single-gender format with the right kind of leadership offers a great opportunity to break down gender stereotypes...” The NASSPE urges teachers “to customize what they do to the needs and abilities of each individual student... and this is much easier to implement in a single-gender classroom than a coed one. Educators are introduced to teaching methods that consider gender differences and use those differences to enhance the classroom learning experience.” Dr. Sax focuses on the academic needs of boys in his book Boys Adrift , where he asserts that “boys schools can tailor the curriculum to the way boys learn. Experienced teachers know that the best way to get boys energized to learn is to keep the classroom loud and lively. The teacher never stops moving. A boy never knows where the teacher will be 20 seconds from now. The teacher roams the class, speaking in a loud voice, involving every student.” In a single-gender classroom, teachers can utilize a boy’s sense of adventure to make a lesson more exciting. “Most boys will perk up and show some interest if you talk about things that are dangerous, or intense, or ‘yucky.’ The boy who was bored by biology at the coed school will be interested if you bring in some black garden snakes.” Likewise, boys like explosions, so chemistry can become an exciting laboratory where things go “boom.” Clearly, what works best for the boys will probably not work for the girls. Newborn girls have hearing that is seven times more sensitive than newborn boys’ hearing, and that sensitivity increases with age. This would put girls at a distinct disadvantage in a classroom where the teacher speaks loudly and moves around the room. Likewise, if a girl is squeamish about snakes, she may be more concerned with how she appears to her male classmates in biology than she is about the lesson. David Chadwell, coordinator of Single Gender Initiatives at the South Carolina Department of Education, believes that when teaching girls, educators should focus on their ability and desire to connect with others. Girls, by nature, like to share, and so “if you try to stop girls from talking to one another, that’s not successful.” He suggests that girls should meet in circles for discussion “where every girl can share something from her own life that relates to the content in class.” Rather than interpret their willingness to share as going off topic, challenge them to make their e x p e r i e n c e s relevant to the material. What About Socialization? When contemplating single-gender education for their children, many parents are concerned that the lack of exposure to the opposite gender will deny their children the opportunity for proper social adjustment. However, studies show that both boys and girls in single-gender schools have unique social and leadership opportunities that would not be available to them in coed schools. In an all-girls school, girls are exposed to diverse role models: the best athletes are girls, the student council president is a girl, the top scorer on a math exam is a girl, and even the computer wiz is a girl. When younger girls see this, they get the message that it is acceptable for them to be smart and athletic, and they won’t be intimidated by being the only girl on a debate team. Boys in single-gender schools, too, are freed from the gender stereotyping that keeps them from exploring “girly” subjects like poetry and drama. Andrew Hunter, a school principal who has taught in both coed and single-gender schools, says, “There is subtle pressure toward stereotyping in mixed schools. In boys’ schools, boys feel free to be themselves and to follow their interests and talents.” And with regard to maturity and social adjustment, Dr. Bruce Cook, principal of the Southport School on the Gold Coast, believes that boys educated in single-gender schools end up being more confident around girls. “In coed schools, boys tend to adopt a ‘masculine’ attitude because girls are there,” he said. “They feel they have to demonstrate their emerging masculinity by gross macho over-reaction.” Boys in single-gender schools, by contrast, “become more well-rounded and sensitive men,” and are also more polite. A nationwide study by Marcia Gentry and her associates, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology , confirmed that boys in coed schools are less enthusiastic about school than girls are, and that this gap widens as boys get older. “The older boys get, the more they tend to perceive doing well in school as ‘geeky.’ Boys perceive the coed school as an institution run largely by women and run largely according to women’s rules: sit still, don’t make too much noise, don’t be disruptive.” Prevailing social norms in a coed school say that boys should be athletic and macho, and if top students are girls or geeks, the boys may distance themselves from academic success. “If you’re a boy at a coed school, being an ‘A’ student does not raise your status with other boys. At many coed schools, being an ‘A’ student may actually lower your status with other boys.” In single-gender schools, by contrast, the top students and the top athletes are boys, so academic success has no stigma attached to it. This allows the boys the freedom to compete for top scores both in the classroom and on the playing field. Different But Still Equal Despite substantial evidence that students thrive and achieve better academically in single-gender environments, opponents of single-gender education believe that it reinforces gender stereotypes, such as the belief that boys are more aggressive and girls are more cooperative. Wendy Creative Writing 40 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE