A school should provide for the student needs and interests, create a more relaxed environment
and less gender stereotyping. The first problem with schools with two genders is stereotypes.
Gender stereotypes are rare or have less of an impact on same-gender schools because the
students worry less about whether their behaviour is considered feminine or masculine. Some
teachers will stereotype the males and females in activities so they can't do what they want. In
single-gender schools, because they are all one gender, the teachers will be less likely to
stereotype them for activities-gender-segregated schools couldn't do this even if they wanted to.
The single-gender school will also benefit in providing the students with their interests and
needs. The teachers can take full advantage that the class is one gender so that they can teach
them for example a book about a men’s or woman’s identity. In an all-gender school, you cannot
do this because you can’t be teaching two books at a time. Learning about a book for a specific
gender in an all-gender classroom will make the other genders difficult to understand and not as
beneficial. Lastly, single-gender schools also create a more relaxed environment. Even though
students may have high academics, they will have a more relaxed environment in single-gender
schools. In single-gender schools, students feel like they do not have to prove something about
their gender and they can act as they please. As well, they are more willing to take risks and not
afraid to do something embarrassing like accidentally hitting the opposite gender. All this helps
the students with less distraction and focus on their classes.
History of gender-segregated schools
Single-gender schools in Ontario originated in the 1980s to address gaps in the achievement of
girls in mathematics. In the world, During the 19’s in western Europe, at that time it was most
common for girls to get an education at home instead of going to school. Later in the US,
feminists were able to create education institutions for women and then many other higher
education schools appeared like pioneer Salem College of Winston-Salem and New England
Female Medical College. Then, the idea of education started to change and it started to become
a right rather than a privilege for the wealthy. Many education systems were set up. At the end
of the 19th-century coeducation was universal. Soon in the UK, Australia and Ireland,
single-gender schools were strong and during that period of time, many anti-discrimination laws
were enforced. By 2003, only a few countries had a greater percentage of 1-2 of single-gender
schools but some that went past 10 percent were Belgium, Chile, Singapore, the United
Kingdom, Hong Kong, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, and many Muslim areas.
Currently, these countries are still the countries/areas with the most single-gender education.
There were 283 single-gender public schools during the 2014-15 school year with Florida and
Texas with 29 each. Only seven states had no single-gender public schools.
Single-gender schools are most popular in cities with 42%, rural areas with 34% and suburban
and towns are both 12%. Of the schools, there are more only male schools by 20% yet there
are more female students that attend by 15%.
Some cons that single-gender schools may have are the lack of social skills with the opposite
gender and the lack of social skills equals less experience. This is true but it can be fixed with
arrangements in the school system. First, you can make arrangements maybe like once or twice
a month, they bring all-girls schools and all-boys schools together and do activities so that they
build their social skills with the opposite gender. On special occasions, for more experience,
there can be special activities like teamwork to create a performance or presentation for the
class/school. This will build the social skill because even though you aren’t talking with them
every day, you are still talking to them and over time, in the school semester it will all add up to a
pretty long time and won’t distract you since it’s not even once a week.
