Education: Take Your Pick

Jared Oruch
James Madison University
 Abstract
Education has always had an important role in my life. I have always wondered which type

of schooling would be better for each gender. Thats how I came up with the question of do

children learn better in boys-only and girls-only (single-sex) schools? This is an important

question to look at as everyone wants to get the best education. For students, this topic is relevant

because everyone wants to do the best that they can in school. Also, it will help to see if a coed

school is a better environment. Teachers should take this as more of an informative essay to learn

ways to improve the classroom around gender.

Jared Oruch

Mrs. Fielding

WRTC 103

11-3-17

Do children learn better in single sex schools or coed schools? When it comes to

education, it should be taken seriously because our future depends on it. Single sex schooling

refers to schools that have only one sex in them, defined as a biological class. All throughout the

years, the only other alternative where each sex is in school as a whole, is known as coeducation.

During the end of the 20th century, lots of countries started to move away from single sex

education as it most popular way of education. There were issues with coeducation though, based

on gender and social class. They have been associated with a push back against coeducation.

Comparisons have been made with many countries to test whether there is a benefit to one

gender or another. These outcomes that are assessed are science, math, and verbal performances.

In the United States, the single sex school options have increased because there have

been changes in federal education regulations. These regulations, make it difficult to make an

even comparison of the outcomes to relate to different genders. The major areas of disagreement

are that the single sex school is different in ways that are beyond gender and that the students

who picked a single sex schooling option can vary in many ways. The popular view of gender

and single sex education is important and determines the students success, however, with

conflict in the results of research showing difference and no consistency.

Differential Effects of Single Sex versus Coed Education on the Personality

Development of Primary School Students is one of scholarly articles that touches on the issues

and positives of single sex schooling. The author Raana Malik an assistant professor for the
Department of Gender Studies at University of Punjab does a fantastic job of analyzing and

getting a full view of single sex schools. Raanass main claim in his article is that single sex

schools provide a more pleasant and structured learning environment to girls and boys which

results in better test scores. The argument that he is arguing is that single sex schools are more

efficient than coed schools. Test were taken between single sex and coed schools and the mean

scores of girls dropped from 81.1 in the single-sex schools to 70.1 in the coed schools. The same

fall of scores for boys was from 70.1 in the single-sex schools to 67.7 in the coed schools.

(Malik). This means that the girls were more affected in the coed schools. The differences that

came from the mean scores in the single sex and coed schools was statistically very significant

for girls and as well as for boys.

The article The Growth of Single-Sex Schools: Federal Policy Meets Local Needs and

Interests touches upon all the positive and negative features of single sex schools. The main

purpose of Kate Mansfield article is to inform about which school has more benefits for peoples

specific needs. Single sex schools that are based on a mission to moderate, rather than protract,

traditional gender classifications are allowable. In addition to these legal constraints, additional

socio-historical considerations and limitations have been forwarded by those in the research

community that might be applied to the issue of single-sex schools (Mansfield). Also, another

feature that this essay focuses on is gender in the classroom and what is the best fit for everyone.

Single sex schools and coed schools have similar pros but they also have cons to them.

Another source that will be compared and contrasted is Co-ed classrooms versus single-

sex classrooms which discusses the debate of whether boys and girls learn better together or

separately. It focuses mostly on coed schools better prepare girls and boys for post-secondary

school and employment by providing ongoing opportunities to work together, he adds. They
learn to work together productively, which is what they will be expected to do throughout their

life. So, there is good preparation happening for university and beyond"(Co-ed). This also talks

about which option of schooling will help the child to reach their full potential in academics. Co-

ed and single sex classrooms will continue to be compared further and more in depth.

The articles Differential Effects of Single Sex versus Coed Education on the Personality

Development of Primary School Students and The Growth of Single-Sex Schools: Federal

Policy Meets Local Needs and Interests both compare the benefits of single sex education. In

the first source Raanas goes in depth about how single sex schools score better on exams and

state tests. Likewise, in Kates article she touches on topic of how single sex schools perform

better on exams than coed school do making this claim very credible from two different sources.

For example, at a coeducation school in Leeds, only one-third of boys were getting passing

grades in German and French. But, after switching over to single sex classes, 100 percent of boys

got passing grades. (Malik). Raanas put in research worldwide to prove his claim of single sex

schools are better at testing. This has similar feature to where Kate writes a new single-sex

public school in New York City, The Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem.

Founded in 1996 by a private-public partnership, the school had achieved remarkable success,

with 100 percent of its graduating classes accepted to four-year colleges and universities.

(Mansfield). Kate looks at where the students of these single sex schools have accomplished with

their grade. This proves that the single sex schooling is able to achieve more by getting better test

scores. This agreement validates these two sources claims that they are trying to get across.

Coed Versus Single-sex education and The Growth of Single-Sex Schools: Federal

Policy Meets Local Needs and Interests are another two sources that agree on the point of

single sex schools have kids do better in certain subjects rather than others. In Coed Versus
Single-sex education they conducted a study to see if kids did better in some subjects in single

sex schools. The study found that the option helps students succeed in gender-atypical subjects;

for example, girls will perform better in math and science, and boys will do better in English and

modern languages (Co-ed). This idea of kids doing better in subjects in single sex schools

appeared in Kates article, where she wrote the 100% passing rate for single sex students is true

for all subjects: Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies as well as all

aggregated groups (Mansfield). Kate proves here that the single sex schooling does test better in

every subject and is confirmed by the other source. These sources are not always similar but in

ways are very different.

There is some disagreement between Differential Effects of Single Sex versus Coed

Education on the Personality Development of Primary School Students and The Growth of

Single-Sex Schools: Federal Policy Meets Local Needs and Interests. The way they that they

view stereotypes in single sex schools and coed schools. Raanas in his article talks about how

stereotypes do not exist as boys are more likely to pursue their actual interest in the single sex

schools, rather than being pressured by stereotypes to pursue traditional boys courses in the

coeducational schools (Malik). This show that because the boys arent around girls, it means

that there are no stereotypes. In Kates article, she says they were sure their particular school was

being used to resurrect outdated stereotypes (Mansfield). Both these statements from each

source go against what the other one is saying. This makes this point unreliable about how

stereotypes existing within single sex schools. These two articles are not the only sources that

didnt completely line up.

Another time that the sources of Coed versus single-sex education and Differential

Effects of Single Sex versus Coed Education on the Personality Development of Primary School
Students did not completely agree with each other was about whether students will thrive when

learning in coed or single sex schools. The article Coed versus single-sex education claims

that coed schools develop the students social and interactive skills which better help them

understand material in class. Here it says, boys and girls ultimately have a more enriching

educational experience when they get to learn together (Co-ed). Whereas in Growth of

Single-Sex Schools: Federal Policy Meets Local Needs and Interests, Raanas takes the

opposite direction where he thinks that single sex schools are the best option for kids to thrive.

single sex schools have advantages for both males and females, because they provide an

academic climate which is free of distractions. However, some researchers maintained that single

sex schools are more beneficial for boys because they promote male bonding and enhance male

character development (Malik). These two points contradict each other that this point is hard to

verify if it can be proven for either school. These two articles are not the only sources that didnt

completely line up. Even though these sources disagree with each other, they do bring up good

points about each type of school.

All of these source that have been touched on have all related back to the main point of

what the pros and cons of single sex schools and coed schools are. After doing my research more

in depth on this topic, my views have changed seeing all these new ways of schooling. I am still

pretty neutral on this topic because it is up to the parents or kids to determine where theyre

going to school. Differential Effects of Single Sex versus Coed Education on the Personality

Development of Primary School Students had great statistics that prove with credibility that

single sex schools tested higher than coed and made an argument for single sex schools and their

benefits. The Growth of Single-Sex Schools: Federal Policy Meets Local Needs and Interests

put an influence on my viewpoint by giving pros and cons to support my essay. The final source
of Coed Versus Single Sex Education was a great contribution to my argument and supported

my compare and contrast points. These sources perfectly agree and disagree on the topic of

which school is better, single sex or coed.

Work Cited:

Co-ed classrooms versus single-sex classrooms. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from

http://www.ourkids.net/school/together-or-apart

Dustmann, C. (2017, July). Why Are Single-Sex Schools Successful? Retrieved October 24,

2017, from

http://www.cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=12101

Gracia, M. (2015, September 12). Mixed schools versus single-sex schools: are there differences

in the academic results for boys and girls in Catalonia? Retrieved October 24, 2017, from

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2015.1079269

Malik, R. (2013). Differential Effects of Single Sex versus Coed Education on the Personality

Development of Primary School Students . Journal of Social Sciences , 33(1), 15.

Retrieved October 24, 2017, from

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=eec791ed-fab3-4b63-

a7bd-e5a33ac0964b%40sessionmgr4009

Mansfield, K. C. (2013). The Growth of Single-Sex Schools: Federal Policy Meets Local Needs
and Interests. A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal, 21(78),
27. Retrieved October 24, 2017, from
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=904cf054-49e1-4499-
a7e2-7b7570249127%40sessionmgr4009