American Morning
Virginia school separates students by gender
Editor's Note: In part three of American Morning's special series, "Inside the Child's Mind," Kiran Chetry reports on how gender affects children when it comes to learning.
By Kiran Chetry, CNN
We know boys and girls develop at different stages as they grow, but there is growing research showing how boys and girls are wired differently when it comes to learning.
I visited one school where teachers are putting that to the test with single gender classrooms. It has its critics, but the school says test scores have shown improvement.
Faced with a gender gap in test scores, Woodbridge Middle School in Virginia formed single gender classrooms – testing the growing school of thought that boys and girls are hard wired to learn differently.
Dr. Leonard Sax, author of "Why Gender Matters," says the solution is to split them up.
“The best way for the boys is not the best way for the girls. The best way for the girls is not the best way for the boys,” says Sax. “The brain research is showing us quite clearly that the brains of girls and boys develop along different trajectories.”
Sax says math skills develop earlier in boys and language skills faster in girls.
“The surprising finding is that the coed classroom ends up disadvantaging both girls and boys, ends up reinforcing gender stereotypes. The girls end up thinking that abstract number theory is for boys, the boys end up thinking creative writing is for girls.”
Related: Would you choose your child's gender?
On national 8th grade reading tests, boys fall short – with ten percent fewer boys than girls achieving a basic reading level. Proponents of single sex education say boys learn best with competition and movement.
“The boys in general, if they're in their desks and seated and expected to sit and do their work there, they're more apt to become unfocused, be disturbed by others, start the tapping, start making the noise,” says teacher Meagan Kennedy.
Kennedy says since the program began three years ago, reading scores in the all-boy classrooms are up and discipline problems are down.
In Kristen Williams' all-girl math class, warm lamp light and desks grouped together reflect the thinking that girls learn best working in a cooperative environment. Williams says she's seen dramatic improvements, particularly among girls that struggled in coed math classes.
“Give them a lot of social time, a lot of time and opportunity to be verbal, to work in partners, to work in groups. … I think they have a better understanding of the subject matter because of the way that they've been instructed."
Even with some signs of success, single sex education has its critics. Professor David Sadker, who's written extensively about gender bias in schools, says rather than separating students by gender, schools should work to make coed classrooms better.
“If you assume that boys behave one way and you teach to that stereotype, and you assume that girls learn another way, and you teach to that stereotype, what you're doing is limiting the option of kids. You're reinforcing stereotypes. … Creating single sex schools to improve test grades is a cheap solution to a much deeper problem,” he says.
But for Darah Rawls, the all-boy class was the answer to his problems. After getting Cs and Ds through grade school – and struggling emotionally – Darah's mom Ashanti DeVaughn moved the family to Woodbridge just so Darah could attend the single gender program there.
Ashanti says she noticed changes not only in Darah’s grades, but in his personality.
“Just even the way that he dresses, his behavior, he just walks with a different stature. He's mature because he's around other boys. … I think that's pushing him to be the best, to be better.”
Darah now gets As and Bs, and dreams of becoming an Air Force pilot.
“It makes me feel really good about myself and everything,” he says.
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Yes test scores are important, but part of being in school is adjusting to a social situation that is a representation of our world so when these students graduate they can be well adjusted individuals. Stereotypes can be reinforced as the article says, but that responsibility in correcting those thoughts lies with the professionals and parents. Often times a parents role in education is not weighed highly enough. It is sad that all we analyze now is test scores, not mentoring or any other aspect of education that can make the difference in a students life.
An even DEEPER problem is that in international comparative tests of educational skills, the US comes in at the middle or WORSE than other countries.
American kids are horrible at math skills, history, geography etc.
In Korea, high school kids learn calculus.
Any European kid can speak at least THREE languages–and in America, plenty of college educated adults can't even spell correctly.
The problem is far deeper than child neurobiology-the classes are simplistic, and the education of the teachers is rotten.
Where is the money for GIFTED KIDS WITH IQs ABOVE 120???
Those will be the leaders of the future–not kids with IQs of 80. Call and write your Congressman/woman and ask for MORE money for gifted education. The source? Bring the troops home from Iraq. And Afghanistan. And Japan. And Germany. And Panama. And Columbia.
Thank you for TAKING ACTION NOW!!!!!!!!!
Use those billions of dollars for education and jobs here!!!
See ya!
That is a very good experiment to do. Just thought of sharing what i recently witnessed happening in large scale. To my surprise many of the vistiors here are from all over the world.
I see this happening in India, where women, men are seated separately and children arre taught, seated separately in schools.
You can take a look at the pictures and guidelines below.
http://www.sathyasai.org/ashrams/prasanthi/guidelines.html
Well DUH !
Boys and Girls are different by design!
Wow, what a great idea! I love the idea of taking our differences and using them to everyone's advantage. In my younger years, I thought separating students by gender was preposterous. Now that I have kids of my own, it has become obvious to me just how clear gender differences are and how early they become obvious.
We have special techniques for teaching children with all sorts of learning disabilities and nobody would ever think of complaining about that. This is no different. Put students into the environment in which they are most likely to learn.
Girls are just smarter, that's all.
Brilliant idea to separate girls and boys for math and English. Now when will schools split up children by abilities? Mainstreaming students with learning disabilities just leaves those children confused. They need separate classrooms with instructors who understand their disabilities intimately. In regular classroom teacher are faced with dumbing down coursework so these students are not "left behind" while students with averaged and gifted abilities are not challenged and become bored and disruptive.
I don't have a problem with this and my guess is that it probably leads to better education, if for no other reason than putting opposite sexes together tends to be distracting to productivity in the classroom (or office or anywhere else for that matter).
However, I can't help but observe that basically this is not much different that the racial segregation that took place in the first part of the 19th century. Black students perform differently that white ones on math tests, but it would be a huge media story if anyone decided to separate them into different classrooms (or schools as was done in the '60s)
It all boils down to this. The true test of any effective education program is how successful it is in teaching children the way they learn. Many boys – including my son – are hands-on learners and do best if they focus on one area at a time. Trying to force square pegs into round holes only accomplishes one goal: it pegs children as learning disabled when they simply learn differently. You fail a child enough times for not fitting the mold and that child feels like a failure. Fortunately, after five long years in and outside of public schools and private schools, we found the right program – self-paced and focused. Our son attended a tech school where he graduated with honors. We were one of the fortunate ones because we believed in our child and didn't give up on him. Our daughter fit the school mold and excelled in a traditional classroom where students are required to juggle several subjects at a time. In both cases, once our children's academic strengths were identified and they found an area they liked, they worked hard to achieve their goals. If it takes single-gender classes to do this, so be it!
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This teacher's assessment of boys describes my daughter exactly. So which classroom would my girl be assigned to? Prof Sadker hits the nail right on the head. If we're going to separate kids into groups to improve education, how about separating them by actual learning styles instead of using a crude and often unreliable indicator of learning style (i.e., biological sex). The variation within the sexes is far greater than the differences between them.
I totally agree with this philosphy! My sister and brother and I all went to single-sex high schools in Omaha and I thought it was great. The focus was on eduction, not impressing the other sex – noone cared what you wore, the girls weren't trying to impress the boys and the boys weren't showing off. At the middle school age, separating the sexes is a great idea! I don't know how many times my shy 6th grader has come home fustrated because all the 'loud boys' get all the attention and she can't even get the teachers to help her because she's dealing with the boys!
Women are, quite bluntly, simply not as intelligent as men, it's not an insult, it's just the way it is. I don't see any women astrophysicists working on warp drives, or creating new types of math and science. Creative writing and language are nice, but intelligence is the ability to reason out a problem and create the tools needed to approach the problem. Women either lack the mental ability or the desire for any of these things. This is reflected in my job as a developer. All the women in the company are secretaries and trainers...none of them can think for themselves and are always asking for help. None of the can program and the ones that do do so poorly, and use inefficient code. Blank stares follow when these things are pointed out. I am 100% for separating them in the classroom, I always wondered in school why they were so far behind, and asked questions in math class that, to me, anyway, had clear answers. The women's "liberation" made this worse since while its nice to have the same rights as everyone else, that does no good if you're less intelligent. Need proof? Watch how women drive/vote/work. It's all knee-jerk, hearsay, me-me-me. 99% of 'em are mindless robots who do nothing but watch Oprah and read romance novels. Pick up a physics book and LEARN something! Do something useful besides making babies!!!!! *sigh*, at least they're nice to look at....
Richland County School District 2 in SC (www.richland2.org) has a single gender magnet program at Dent Middle School. This program may not be the best method for all students, but may certainly be the catalyst to unleashing a child's potential. Why do so many educators (Sadker) think the same old co-ed classroom just needs to be improved. Just as smart students have been "dumbed" down because they don't want to split up classes for the smarter kids in elementary school, don't separate kids because of gender because it will re-enforce stereotypes? That should be the least of our worries as a nation. Programs should be developed which push children to excel. Single gender programs do work. I wish single gender programs were available at all the middle and high schools.
This test to see if males/females brains are wired differently has already been tested quite a bit. The answer is yes.
Does "segregating" students benefit them?
Only in the very short term. It does not teach either sex to compete against all people.
It shows the lack of ability in teachers to control and maintain a group of students.
Do adolesents have hormone issues that impact class time? Yes. Should parents, teachers, adults let that impact their control? NO.
What will happen in the long term is that learning to overcome distractions, adversity, and to be competitive will be foreign to these students. In essence you handicap them in the long run as adults.
Classicly, you presented a success story of a male student but failed to present on of a female student...why?
I agree that boys need education that is bult around how boys learn.
we've been doing that in many schools in Chile for years... tell me something new...
Glad to hear it. Ever since I read the statistics and spoke to an administrator acquaintance of mine who ran a boys school for at-risk boys, I have been a believer in single-gender education. The concept is nothing new. Rich parents and their kids in boarding schools have done this for years. I hope this option will be availabe to my public school child in middle and high school.
I love how this generation of "experts" wants to cater to the kids instead of the other way around. We are consistantly raising more and more "dependant" and "needy" individuals in our society.
Maybe this is the plan. Maybe this falls into the slow and steady long term goals of the 4% already leading this country around by it's nose.
I am a firm believer in single-sex education at a particular age, probably starting around age 12. I am the product of it and attribute a lot of my career success to the outstanding single-sex education.
I appreciate Professor Sadker's comment about "reinforcing the stereotype" by chosing single-sex education, but feel that the breadth of education you can gleen from ss education will enable you to see past any so-called stereotypes, to squelch them. I applaud schools for embracing this theme and looking in to it practically. Like it or not, test scores, and subsequently, doing better in school as a WHOLE, are what matters, so there is nothing "cheap" about it. Being distracted by members of the opposite sex, especially at formative ages, is just undermining the child's potential. I am by no means saying co-ed is disadvantageous...I am saying that single-sex can potentially bring out even more.
50 years ago in medical school I asked asked a question in my psychiatry class. The answer: GIRLS ARE DIFFRENT THAN BOYS! Still true but still poorly recognized.
I had a hard time focusing because I just wanted the girls to check me out and I wanted to impress them, etc. I think it has been proven that girls and boys learn differently so to me it makes sense to teach them differently and if that means separately than so be it. I am not saying Plessy v. Ferguson all over again, but maybe something similar this time girls and boys. I believe in a progressive nation and sometimes that means trial and error.
Whatever, I'm done.
I'm glad they are doing this, I wish I would have had this option when I was in school. For decades now schools have been focused on improving test scores for girls, especially in the traditionally male dominated subjects, like math and science. This change has served the girls well, which is good, but the boys grades ARE suffering as a result of this shift. I think single gender classrooms makes a whole lot of sense.
I agree with this approach. I think it will also reduce social pressure and anxiety associated with adolescent development by removing the "need to impress" and "need act cool" elements from the classroom.
Denise & I found this to be a very interesting and telling study, considering the trials and troubles we are encountering with Our grandson John. Moving him from a large school in Ct. averaging 30 plus students oer classroom to our small Iowa school with 5-10 students. What we have seen happen is exactly what is described in the piece, problems with focus and attention. John was diagnosed ADD when he was 8, 30 some odd drugs later he still had the same issues at 14, we removed him from all prescription in July 09 when he came to live with us. Behavior and attention in school are still an issue, at home its a totally different story, we challenage him to complete tasks with rewards or losses for doing so or not. When it is something he likes or wants 100% effort and attention is given, the school and counslers have tested him saying academics are not the issue but social behavior, we feel that putting him in the small school and with few students would have afforded him a better chance, instead I think the local school district knowing his history PUT THE SPOTLIGHT ON HIM and have consistly pointed out his short comings rather than appling their efforts to building the positive.
I will admit to not knowing which way to turn next as we are constantly being told that the boards only choice is to remove him from the school, thus dumping in our laps to find a program that will fit and help John develop the skills he is going to need in the future.
I think it's at least an idea worth trying. I'd like to see a statistically-reasonable number of schools try this out, collect the data, and then see if this idea of separating the genders in class does tend to improve the learning experience. Then we can have the debate as to whether this strengthens gender stereotypes.
Sounds like it's worth trying. But I also believe part of education should be learning to work together, understanding one another. As long as there are times students are integrated regularly (daily, weekly, something like that), and if gender segregation works for the core subjects, HURRAH! Let's get on with the best of both worlds.
Integrate lunch and social studies or something. And provide plenty of variety in the teaching and learning techniques to mix things up and break up destructive stereotyping.
In Professor Sadker's insistence that we treat boys and girls the same, it sounds to me like he's making the unfortunately common mistake of confusing his philosophy with reality. He seems to believe that our brains all work the same, that we all learn the same. This is fine for him to believe, but the fact that he believes it doesn't make it true. His theory is subject to scientific verification just as any theory is. The question should be whether we do in fact learn differently, not whether we believe we should or should not learn differently. Once we know whether we learn differently, then we can decide what to do with that knowledge.
I wish that my 3rd grade son had this oppurtunity. He too is struggling with reading, but he is a math and science wiz. Once he falls behind on reading, he loses confidence and focus. It is a struggle for him. I've always believed that traditional schools are not made for boys.
We've been doing this for a few years now at our school. It has worked out just fine. the girls are now more interested in science since research show that boys outperform girls in scinece and math. Yet, the boys continue to perform better, but the girls are now less intimidated by having to compete against them.
I am one of those girls that was funny and really liked and excelled at math from the start and am now an engineer. It wasn't that I wasn't as good at other subjects, just that I liked the innate structured order to math.
How would I have fit in with this learning system? Now that I work with mostly men, how would I have learned to communicate effectively with my coworkers if I had been separated from my peers?
I got to a women's college and see the benefits of single sex education here. While women's college graduates account for only 2% of all female graduates, we account for 20% of female members of Congress, 33% of women board members of Fortune 500 companies, and 30% percent of rising female corporate stars. We are also twice as likely to get doctorates as our coed counterparts.
In terms of all male education, my father went to a single sex high school after coed elementary and middle school. Previously he had had poor grades and was struggling. In high school he was top of his class and went to college on a full scholarship. He said that with the single sex education he was able to focus as more and was less distracted. Most of my peers at college now echo this sentiment.
While I'm saddened that seperation yields such positive statistics and think the sexes should be able to stand each other in an academic setting, I think they show that a system like this has its merits until better intergretory concepts are thought up.
Interesting and beneficial however the down side is that boys and girls will not learn to work together in this environment. They need to balance it by including environments that both have to work together in.
This is great except for those boys who do not flourish in competitive environments and for girls who do. Or for boys who prefer creative writing and girls who prefer math. These findings are generalizations and will fail students the same way the previous generalizations (that boys and girls can learn in the same classroom, at the same pace) have failed students. Not to mention, social skills will be severely lacking for these students if they aren't ever in contact with the other sex. I like the spirit of the idea– adapting education to gender/sex– but this broad solution of simply separating boys and girls lacks the precision needed for our students.
My high school, I am age 63, used this idea for 144 years until they were forced by court order to stop it.
I am talking about CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,. Call them up, if one of your staff isn't already an alumnus.
Andrew Dunn, CHS 222
(class of 1964 for you non-central people)
A similar study was done at Nicholas Jr. High in Fullerton, CA in 1998 or 1999. They found that the girls's test scores were higher but the boys stayed the same.
They do it here in NYC at NEST+M. My daughter currently is in an all girls class for science and the teacher told me that the girl's behavior is worse when they are with boys.
I think that the single gender program is awesome. It has been proven that male and female brains are hard wired differently, that being true than it only makes sense to break up the classes and give the children a chance to do their personal best.
I disagree with this teaching style. I believe that this indeed reinforces stereotypes and not all girls and boys are like their same-sex peers. As a young girl I always excelled at math and science and enjoyed healthy competition. I wasn't particularly excited about socializing, or working in groups. I would have been uncomfortable in this type of learning situation and may have be come discouraged.
As a successful career woman with a masters of science in computer information systems, I frown upon learning methodologies that encourages children to stay within the confines of their not all-encompassing, gender-based stereotypes.
As an alternative, I think the kids should be exposed to multiple types of learning environments and encouraged to excel with what works well for the individual, but at the same time get comfortable enough with what might not come as easy. This would make for much more rounded individuals.
There are some girls who find it very difficult in a female environment and do much better in the less complex male social environment so for them this would be a disaster. It all depends on the individual this is not the solution for everyone.
This is not new news. It has been practiced in many countries over decades. It also helps to relieve peer pressure for teen age boys and girls before they are mature enough to deal with competing for mates.
Wow... Public education is just now figuring out what private (primarily Catholic) schools have known for decades.
We must look at such case scenarios very carefully. Separate classrooms have been tried before. School is not only a place of learning subjects, but also cultivating positive social interactions. Are all the students classes separated by gender? Is there no time to interact with boys/girls? We expect students to go into the workforce. Wouldn't such a program inhibit development for both girls and boys that must eventually learn to work together? Also wouldn't affect their emotional relationships with the opposite sex once they are adults? Everyone has separate learning styles and I agree this emphasizes and/or reinforces typical stereotypes. I myself was gifted in math and took longer to develop my language skills. I tested very high in both math and English, but my in class work was very unbalanced between the two. In general students who are not average are left out of the learning curriculum whether they test below or above the standards.
This is a good idea, but for best benefit, should be selectively enforced. The way the article is written, it seems as if this school ONLY has same-sex classrooms. Shouldn't the option be given? Same-sex as well as co-ed? Let the parents decide, or the students themselves.
I also say: fail students. Let them fail high school. If they don't care enough about their future by high school, they can be my janitor and make my burgers. This "no student left behind" is nonsense. OPPORTUNITIES should exist, as well as equal access to education, but after that, it's up to the individual.
Are they going to take this to the next level and relate it to race as well? In the 60s we fought to integrate, now the 'experts' are saying we should segregate based on gender? Where is this heading?
Well if it's working and their is substantial evidence to show that, then perhaps this IS the better way to teach our children. I live in one of THE WORST states to get an education (South Carolina) and I say that anything that benefits the children and their grades is worth further research. As for the comment on teaching to stereotypes....I think it's very stereotypical for people to keep this whole absolute equality idea in place. Parents, Teachers, Principals have known for years that boys and girls learn differently so lets work on what we know and not on what we want just so we can say that we are "politically correct". Political Correctness is the Stereotype that will hinder these kids so give it a try...if it works lets apply it everywhere...if not...lets try something else...but for the love lets do something to help our faltering education in this country!
Hi,
I think this is a great solution instead of pouring money for wasted spending in Education. This school can be taken as a role model for other schools.
I know this gender separation works very well because this is how it is in another countries where test scores are much higher than here.
I was born and raised in the United Kingdom at a time when there was no coed classrooms in high school. To me, it made perfect sense to segregate the sexes, since teenagers with raging hormones would tend to be a distraction to each other. My beliefs were confirmed when I taught as a substitute teacher for a short time in an American high school. With the exception of a few students who actually seemed to be interested in learning something, boys and girls were continually flirting with each other, and passing notes around.
The developmental difference in the sexes may play some role in justifying segregation, but I think that a more basic sexual development, and the hormonal changes entailed, would be a much more compelling reason for such a change.
This is ridicules! Not only are these schools reinforcing the gender stereotypes but no one seems to be looking at why there is this strong belief that girls and boys learn differently. If girls and boys were raised in a much more egalitarian society there would not be a need for this devision and strong belief that boys can not learn like girls, and girls can not learn like boys. Not to mention the social harm that this is doing to the children participating in these classrooms, this is not to say that single sex classrooms don't have their benefits. However, it makes you wonder what these kids will be like when they grow up, and just how strongly they will uphold the social stereotypes that they had to partake in on a daily basis. Frankly this is scary!!! When looking at the active class room setting of the boys and the passive setting that the girls find themselves in, it only reinforces the ways we view males and females.
How ironic. I excelled at creative writing and reading and struggled with math and sciences. I also found, even at a young age, that I was able to learn and retain information easier when working with a group in a social environment. So what does that say for children like myself? If put into this scenario I would have suffered academically by my abilities being generalized and ignored. I think the idea of different styles of teaching and learn are correct but perhaps grouping by gender is not the best method. What about a test given yearly to help determine the way a child's brain works in terms of learning new information [auditory, visual, hands-on, etc.] and using that to place children appropriately?
And just why do you feel obliged to limit free speech and free discussion by moderating posts. This simply confirms that we really do not get to hear what those in power do not want us to hear.
If you just want to make sure it is a civil discussion that is probably OK but if you change content or block content that does not speak well of CNN.
Regardless of whether or not these students learn better or don't learn better or whether the teaching enforces stereotypes or disrupts them the one thing that makes this a limiting idea is the same thing that makes home schooling a limited idea.
Schools are for learning knowledge, yes, but they're also for leaning how to interact socially with a variety of peers, both inside and outside of the classroom.
If you split up boys and girls you're depriving them of important knowledge that testing doesn't can't measure, that of how to work together with people who think differently than they do. Conflict and difference are key methods of growth and this system seems to be attempting to avoid those things.
hmmm.. test scores are up, behavior problems are down.. I'm thinking Hawthorne Studies.. unless, of course, we are to believe that the kids don't realize they are part of some crazy experiment!
sometimes I really wonder about OUR need to over-maximize everything in our world without really thinking through all the consequences.. as if someone could ever think through all the consequences associated with segregation by gender..
Boys and girls learning differently isn't a problem. It is a simple fact. Re-enforcing stereotypes isn't a bad thing if it's a fact: IE: I learn better sitting in a class chair, than I do sitting in a water park. By having teachers teach in a class, rather than a water park, isn't re-enforcing a stereo type. It's doing what works. I commend them for trying new things.
What about students who learn differently? I'm a girl, but I excelled in math and science.
I'm getting tired of the word "stereotype." Let it go already. If something is working then go with it until something better comes along. The important thing is learning and you can teach the kids about stereotypes. God knows the rest of us hear it on a daily basis.
Good idea as long as they know that not all girls work well in social environments. I could never take a math class that way.
“Give them a lot of social time, a lot of time and opportunity to be verbal, to work in partners, to work in groups. … "
That sounds horrible to me. I don't think I could figure out problems (I have a masters in finanace & am a bond trader now) if I had someone gabbing in my ear....& I'm not inclined to share my hard work
Why is this presented like it is some kind of brand new idea? Schools across the country have been doing this for years and have had great success. Michael Gurian and The Gurian Institute have been working with schools to help them set up single gender classrooms and helping teachers learn how to differentiate instruction for mixed gender classrooms. This is a great article, but not something that just started happening.
Isn't it ironic that this new study took place in Virginia, since it was the Supreme Court who ordered V.M.I. to integrate genders a few years ago, more to be politically correct rather than analyzing the impact it might have on the quality of military training that the men had been receiving for over 100 years, turning out such leaders as Patton, Chesty Puller, and George Marshall.
Professor Sadker has the delusion that allowing students choices limits their options. He believes innate tendencies do not matter.
Sadker would rather have us make the coed classrooms better, he seems all children have an obligation to change so that test scores can improve, and that teachers and administrators have spare time on their hands.
It is past time to break the delusion that for some reason students in involuntary servitude, who serve without compensation or reward, will react differently than teachers would who are not paid.
Certainly adults teaching students who get to control students all day should feel as rewarded as the students who must comply all day It would seem the professor suggests that both should go without pay.
I am sure every teacher's union in the country will strongly agree with me.
Separate but equal education? I think that has been tried. This is the old sociobiology dressed up as science.
Boys and girls do learn differently, however there are differences within even these groups. Do we further separate them into different learning styles? We're fixing the symptom, not the problem.
Teachers (who I have the utmost respect for) need to be well trained in developing their lessons around all the learning types – seeing, reading, hearing, saying, doing. I remember when I was in school, we were lectured to, read the textbooks, and did homework – which seems complete with the exception of saying. The only thing your success is measured by, however, is doing – homework and exams primarily, with far less emphasis on projects and both written and read reports. When children fail to perform, they become frustrated, which leads to a detachment from school.
The underlying problem is the "one size fits all" measure of learning. If we continue to rely only on test scores and homework, we're discouraging a large number of students from achieving their full potential. That will take a huge paradigm shift, but I think with enough research and development of curriculum that better fits the different learning types this would be doable.
What do you do with the child that doesn't fit that slot? My daughter learns more like "a boy".... In stead of single gender learning, how about acknowledging that each child learns differently? I would say that Darah probably had other issues as he was presumably in school with other boys....
Funny...the Catholic school I went to many years ago already knew this. We were separated for recess and certain classes and it worked fine.
The genders are equal, but different. Equal does not mean same. Men are not the same as women. And vice versa. But they are equal in value.
Strictly single-sex is not good and neither is strictly co-ed. A hybrid solution works well as each gets their opportunity alone.
I think this sounds good. Boys also will not have the chance to spend their energy on impresing the girls. But on the other hand having girls in the class it makes it more intersting to come to school for some boys. Some coutries are already doing this.
This is not new. Teachers have historically taught to the boys and taught to the girls. When I was in grade school in the middle 60s my teachers would teach math, they explained the lesson and we'd get to work. After a short time she'd be talking to the girls, looking at the girls, and explaining the problem further. The boys were done. The reverse would happen when explaining some lesson in grammar. They'd elaborate for the boys, looking at the boys, talking to the boys, while the girls were done with the lesson. Physically separating them is the only logical next step. Simply assuming that you can teach children without taking into account the different learning methods that work best for the students, even if it seems to be a stereotype, is just stupid. Please keep in mind that some stereotypes are stereotypes because for the most part they're true. To say that they've been separated just to raise scores seems a little simplistic. The scores rose because they could demonstrate what they'd learned by answering the questions correctly on a test. Simply being able to remember the correct answer between lesson time and test time is quite an achievement for some students. If the scores went up it's because they learned more and we should find additional ways to continue that trend. If the boys and girls get to be separate for learning but together for lunch and other social times and it works academically and socially there is no problem. If the boys and girls are getting the same information and taking the same tests and all the scores are going up, what's the argument? School is meant to teach information, not assist in social development, that's what non-school activities are for. Scouting, church activities, Elk, Moose, and Eagle fraternities all have youth programs, Boys and Girls Club, the local playground, there are an endless variety of places the children can learn social skills. School must be the place where facts are presented, learned, and retained so the next set of facts can be presented, learned and retained. There's a reason we have grades in school and that curriculum is presented at age-appropriate times. Children grow and learn and as they grow and learn they learn how to learn better and if the boys do that differently than the girls then both genders should be given every possible advantage to excel at learning. Because their scores are now higher, these children will have better opportunities when it comes to college and after that in the workplace. Leave them alone, they're going to better than we were at whatever they choose to do because they've been encouraged and guided in ways they can absorb best.
Not only do they learn different, but by being able to concentrate in their classes instead of thinking 'is the boy/girl that I like looking at me'... the grades have to go up!...
I'm tired of hearing how we should not separate, but try to teach in different styles in the same classroom. It doesn't work. It's difficult for the teachers to have to teach to several different learning styles at once. Separate genders, and the teacher can focus on the needs of a single group with a specific learning style or need. It's the same with the "No Child Left Behind" laws. Putting special needs students in the classroom with other students may be helpful to the special needs student as far as socialization, but it makes it more difficult for them to learn and for the teachers to teach. What is so wrong with having special ed, where they can get more individualized attention? PC has just gone way too far.
When I lived in Ohio, I tutored Middle School kids who were having trouble learning Math. Both boys and girls learned well in the small group sessions (3-5 kids), but I learned it was easier to teach when you separated the boys from the girls. Part because of learning styles, part because of social pressures, distractions, and belief in math. 12 year old girls would go from geniuses to airheads when a boy was present. Boys would go from active participants to zombies when girls were present. I cannot explain why this happened, but I was there to teach math, not social skills, so I separated boys from girls. And, the results were great for both. I am glad a school is doing this, I'm wondering if they will discover the same thing.
But, as a software developer in an office with both men and women. Eventually they should take some classes together, as that will prepare them for real life.
Differences in how the sexes learn aren't great enough to justify the separation and does a huge disservice to the kids (particularly girls) who do not match the mean. A large percentage of girls do understand abstract mathematical ideas and don't learn cooperatively (and vice versa). By doing this, teachers are saying to girls that they cannot do well in math, that real math is for boys and that they will have to match the stereotype in order for their teachers to teach to them. This a terrible idea. Girls have enough problems in pursuing math and math related fields and this will just exacerbate the problems but at a younger age. Someone looked at a small (but probably significant) mean results and interpreted it as meaning that girls and boys don't overlap at all.
I've got mixed thoughts about this.
On one hand, it is easier, as a girl, to be in a classroom and focus on learning the material without the boys around causing disruption and acting aggresively towards me (from past experience, and not just in grade school). But I found my negative experiences here came from the teachers and not the material. I was doing second level algebra work in fifth grade and enjoying math. When I got into the larger middle school, my grade dipped from A to B- to C+ for the first quarter, largely due to the dramatic difference in the teacher's style. At the end of this quarter, the teacher had a conference with my parents and he told them I was not capable of handling the material and he was transfering me to the next level down (no considerations allowed). It had a profoundly negative impact on me at the time, and I gave up dreams of working in astronomy. Looking back, I wished I had more courage and stood up to him. I hope there isn't another generation of girls who end up getting this message.
Separate is not equal. I thought this was established in Brown v Board of Education. Now it's boys who are being separated. That doesn't make it okay.
I think it is so true that the genders learn differently. Public schools are currently set up as a female-style of sitting and focusing. Parents of boys are constantly told in parent teacher conferences that their child needs to work on focusing...of course they do, they are not wired that way. This really needs to be addressed for future generations.
It's not reinforcing stereotypes, it's acknowledging the differences that exist between boys and girls. There ARE actual differences, you know?
Not only is this a good idea, but if the thought that uniforms – simple attire – is acceptable in a public school system I believe there would be additional benefits for all.
Good for Woodbridge Middle School. I wish such a program had existed when my son was going through school. He struggled daily for 12 years until college where he's able to study in a manner that suits him.
well then lets take this a step farther! from now on we'll have seperate corporations,universitys, resturants, buses, air travel,ect,ect for boys and girls!!!! forget the notion that there maybe flaws in teaching and that there
maybe positive social benefits to boys and girls working together!!!!!!!!!
here, here for the masterminds of mental masturbation at its scholarly beast(i mean best?)
There have been single gender schools and classes for years. I don't see how this is anything new or revolutionary.
There is more to how we think and learn than just our sex. What about girls who are analytical-minded or boys who are socially-oriented? I agree that it could be beneficial to tailor teaching styles to learning styles, but it seems like there should be some other, or additional, metric.
Is it possible to get a copy of this show and share it on our educational cable channel here in Prince William County Schools' District, Virginia? Wonderful story, very insightful and useful. Thank you!
As an educator, I totally disagree with this theory. I teach mathematics on a high school level and gender has very little (if any) impact on my students' academic achievement. The problem in schools today is not coed classrooms, mainstreaming is the problem (in my opinion). For some reason I can't understand, administrators and politicians believe that by grouping students of all levels together, it will help students succeed. All that happens is the advanced kids get bored, the challenged students struggle, and the "average" students are the ones who are taught to. We need to get back to tracking our students by subject matter and ability level. Keep the low level students together and teach the slowly and deliberately. Keep the advanced students together and challenge them. Keep the average students together and give them a college prep style course. All the political correctness is forcing the schools into the inane mainstreaming idea, but not all students are created equal.
About time someone started realizing this. Males – especially younger males – flourish in an environment more conducive to hands-on learning. Sitting in a seat listening to a teacher for 5-7 hours may work well for girls, but not so much for boys. Over the years, the push has been to (overly) prescribe Ritalin and psychotherapy on boys due to them "not sitting still" in class. Well, no duh.
Makes perfect sense. I wish they had figured that out when I was in school – maybe I wouldn't be so handicapped at math as an adult.
I have been saying for years that public high school is a taxpayer financed sociology experiment by putting girls and boys together. It should be a place of higher learning. I am all for separate classrooms and uniforms.
If it works then why not. After all males are very different than females, so why not structure the learning process to reflect these differences. To not embrace these basic tenets is like saying we should start researching how to integrate oil and water – I mean why not, right? After all our society demands that, even though we are different, we should all be forced to brought up in a very static and sterile way....Time to change – let the young people learn and grow without the social and peer pressures of the opposite sex.
here's a thought: why don't you assess how each child learns and put them in a classroom that meets his/her needs. You may find the classroom more heavily weighted with boys or girls but the child will be where he/she learns best. This is free advice and won't cost millions to study first. Take it!
A good strategy would be separate the genders only for Math and Language Classes and combine both gender for rest of the curriculum.
School systems have to be allowed to experiment. That is how improvements happen. Let's support this kind of activity.
Brilliant!!! It's about time that schools recognize that girls and boys not only LOOK different, but THINK different as well. Cookie-cutter classrooms and lowest-common denominator expectations have put the U.S. on the bottom of the education pile. Maybe creative thinking like this will start to move us in the right direction.
Why is it that people in this country (and some others) have to make a controversy out of everything? The simple truth to this article is that if this approach helps your child in learning better and performing at a higher level in the classroom, then why must we shoot it down? I would be happy if someone is actually looking for better ways to make my child learn.
This study was also done several years ago at a school in Moose Jaw, saskatchewan. The kids definately behaved differently when seperated from the opposite sex and teachers were able to teach to interest levels as well.
They are doing the same thing in Colorado in the Douglas County School District. I think it works better for girls than boys but overall it should be abolished. Real world is not seperated according to gender and the kids need to learn how to interact with one another regardless of what the difference is.
This is not new news. It has been practiced in many countries over decades. It also helps to relieve peer pressure for teen age boys and girls before they are mature enough to deal with compete for mates.
About time people sat up and listened to this. My Father espoused this throughout my Childhood. I disagree completely with Prof. Sadker; How can you call the nature of brain development sterotyping? Boys across the developed World are being left way behind their female counterparts, and much of this is down to the female orientated teaching practice.
I think this is great! It is one thing to accept that men and women should be treated with equal respect and opportunity, but we should not fool ourselves into believing that we are the same. I was one of those boys constantly in trouble for tapping and being restless – I wish I could have been in a single gender classroom with creative teachers willing to bend the norms to help me learn!
Some support for your theory.
What if you're a girl but you learn like a guy? I'm in a traditionally-male profession now and I doubt I would have gotten here with soft lighting and desks in groups. Why not just group kids by learning style or ability?
Looks like grade wise it makes sense, but not being exposed to opposite gender may not be good for emotional development.
I would like to thank your team for bringing this subject to national attention. Being a mother of two boys I found very useful information and I totally agree with Virginia schools. I think it is a new approach to try to solve this HUGE problem of easily diagnosing boys with ADHD.
Thanks again.
In matter of learning ,the complexity of it is so vast that we haven't found the right way for all of effectively transfer knowledge...having an option of single gender class room is one way to see what works for one student to another.This could be in my opinion a good option to have available in public schools!