Are same sex schools, legalized discrimination? What are the benefits of same sex schools? What are the drawbacks? What danger does allowing same sex public schools pose? How can legislators guarantee equity in funding? Has the Supreme Court ever addressed the issue? How did the format of the disscussion help you better understand the topic? What further question do you have around this topic?
If you want a leg up on the debate in class READ the decision of the SUpreme Court in 1982 (Mississippi University for Women et al vs. Hogan)
11 comments:
i dont like the idea for same schools. it doesn't make any sense and that what's the point of it. and why is it only private schools doing same sex? how come it can't be a regular school? why is that? why have same schools if your learning the same thing what's the point in that and is it because of low grades from first grade to fifth grade and jr high and all of sudden send your child into same sex school. and that most of time students get send into same sex schools because of behavoir in the other schools they were in. when you get older and be around alot of people and if you didnt learn how to be with girls and guys how are you goin to make it in life. beacause you work around men and women all time why flip the script and put same schools for high schools and then once you get to college you'll get all shy and scared because of a guy or looking at you. there's no point in this
The debate today was super-interesting and, had I been able to speak for the party in favor of single sex schools, I would have said, since it has been proven scientifically through the usage of MRI machines and other brain scanning equipment, that females and males think differently and use different sections of their brains. Keeping this in mind, it would be an advantage to have one's education tailored to their gender.
However, I am not a proponent of single sex education. Separate is under no circumstances equal and EVERYONE thinks differently because everyone is their own individual. Also, it is terribly dangerous to go ahead and open that door. Once education has been separated on the basis of gender and that precedent has been set, education will become further and further divided. Gender, race (again), socio-economic status (more so than it already is) and so on and so forth and no one will really have a fair shot at a complete and secular education.
Everyone knows that high school is not life, by any means. Most of what you’re doing now really has nothing to do with the actual life that you’ll lead after high school. However, I said MOST. In school you learn how to be around people and (hopefully) the appropriate way to act and behave, among other things. If you are in a school comprised of people solely of your own gender, race, religion, etc., from where are you going to learn tolerance and acceptance? The world is the most diverse place we know of and if one is to exist in it, one needs to be able to interact. Co-ed schools teach one how to do that (again, among other things).
The format we used for discussion today didn’t really help to change my opinions or augment them with much new information. However, I admire Kate’s and Sam’s ability to present a discussion and try to get people involved. (I was especially pleased with Kate’s comments to one particular student who was rude to her at one point – super professional Kate! Super cool!)
~j. vogel
I was the bad student
The idea for same sex schools is ok, the idea that i don't like is differences in education forsame sex schools. Even though both genders do have different strengths and weaknesses, The education should not be different. The reason why i don't like same sex schools is because you don't get to spend alot of time around the other sex. I believe their should be interaction between both male and female. Males need to learn how to work and learn with females and vice versa for females.
Michelle Asciote
I think the conversation we had in history class about same sex schools was very interesting. I think the debate was good and made me think on both sides of the argument. I'm for coed schools but I do see strong points on the same sex side, like if you go to a same sex school it would be easier to focus cause your with the same gender. When you go to a coed school everyone is treated equal, equal funding, no discrimination, and the same discipline. But if you go to a same sex school these points (mentioned above) aren't promised. The boy school might have more funding than the girl school or vice versa. In a coed school you know that everyone gets the same amount of education and knowledge. But in a same sex school some teachers aren't as good as others so the quality of education isn't the same. Also in the lesson that we did in class we read artcles that said girls are better in english than boys and boys are better in math and science. Maybe in a same sex school they would find a good english teacher for the girl school and a good math teacher for the boy school. But the girls scores in math would be low and the boys english scores would be low. But if you go to a coed school the scores would balance eachother out so the scores would be good all year round.
***Corrie Robinson***
I believe that same sex schools should be considered legal discrimination. I completely disagree with having segregated schools, if it didn’t work in the past what makes people think it will work now. Though I am against same sex schools I can see some benefits it may offer. For example, an all girls school may help females focus more on their studies rather than the boys at school and an all boys school may do the same. As one of the articles said, MRI’s have proven that males and females think differently and use different parts of their brains, I could understand why having an education, which revolves around your strengths, and your limitations may help one succeed. However we have to realize that whatever we do now in our lives (from elementary school through high school) molds us into who we will become in the future. As Super Fly said “The world is the most diverse place we know of and if one is to exist in it, one needs to be able to interact.” How will the students that have spent most of their lives working with the same sex react when they are in the work place surrounded by the opposite gender? With out having coed education boys and girls will have difficulty interacting in the future. Another point is, although boys may excel in math and science and girls may soar through English how would a girl going to an all girl’s school ever rise to a challenge? She will never to have focus SO much on a subject that is “too hard” for her to comprehend. Rather than tailoring an education in our favor I would rather be challenged and learn to study and push hard for what I need to know in a world that is made for TWO GENDERS not just one. Its bad enough women were set-aside in the past to live with out education, we’ve been slipping behind and were only following the trend of mistakes we had made in the past. I hate to make excuses for women but maybe if our ancestors would have spent more time at school we would inherit the same traits allowing us to do just as well as boys. What disturbs me the most however is that same sex schools are becoming open to public education. How can one be forced to contribute their tax dollars to a cause, which they may not even be in favor of? I understand that it is ones choice to go to a same sex school or not but the way I see it is that everyone has to pay in one-way or another.
* The format of discussion which Sam and Kate used was effective. Through debating I was able to see both the advantages and disadvantages of each side. However I think that next time we should probably have more time to look over the articles and facts since most of us had never even questioned the thought until we were in class on Friday.
I think that same sex schools are wrong to have. I think that it discriminates against females and is basically trying to say that the males are the dominant students, they need to be excelled separately and take the subjects they are best at. I think that’s a bunch of who hah. If anything same sex schools, creates competition among both sex’s and challenges them both by hearing what each other thinks. A perfect example of that was in English class today (my English class has 26 kids, and 4 boys) when a group was presenting a project about ad’s and said that chocolate doesn’t give you pimples and that they read articles about it and its been proven, a boy out of no where rebels and says that’s ridiculous and that it does. They argued over it for a while and the boy said that he’s better than all of us and smart. Pretty egotistical thing to say, but our teacher told them both to research the topic and to come in prepared to talk about it. I think that if the boy wouldn’t have questioned what the presenter said, it would have made the class think twice about what they hear. Since all the girls read cosmo girl and girly magazines that have articles about skin care, they didn’t see the need to doubt what was said. I think that the competition among classrooms with the sex’s is all fun and games because it helps both sex’s learn better. Having an same sex school shelters you from the reality of working at a real job with both sex’s, because you don’t learn people skills in how to get along with the opposite sex. I strongly agree with what Corrie said about co-ed schools having the same treatment, equal funding, no discrimination, and the same discipline. I think that having equal everything makes things even out for both sex’s. At a single sex school, their might be more funding for male sports such as hosting a big football team, but a lower budget to have a mural, and English club because girls supposedly excel in that area. I think that single sex schools are based on stereo types that were made centuries ago that aren’t valid at this date. Schools should be based on the quality of learning and the teachers that make it up. I don’t think schools should rely on whether or not a classroom has the same sex or race students in it. Everyone is human and are capable of doing the same things. I don’t believe in the double standard that boys are required to do supposedly 40 pushups while girls have to do 8 “girl” pushups. I think that men and women minds are built equally to excel equally in the same manor. There is no need to separate the sex’s when your life is full of mingling with box sex’s. You should be competent of learning with all types of people no matter what sex you are because it requires your mind and not your gender.
I also agree that same sex schools are not a good idea. It was very difficult in school having to be on a side that I didnt even agree with for many reasons. The real world cannot be seperated based on what many consider a distraction.In the work force, you cant ignore or avoid someone just because you feel that they are a distraction to you. There are times when you need to be professional and developing same sex schools is an easy way out that will only work for so long if it even would work at all. The idea of having boys and girls seperated treads a fine line upon discrimination and legal issues that our counrty has already come so far from.
I think same sex schools are not a bad thing at all...If i could go back to freshman year and choose where i want to go high school, I think I would have gone to St. Agnes which is an all girls school. I feel people who go to a single sexed school may have an advantage because they are not distracted. Thats always good. I feel that our class debate was interesting in a way because we got to learn about both sides. But in a way it was unorganized.
i want to thank everyone for cooperating with the lesson sam and i taught even those who made it difficult.
I'm kind of on the fence about whether or not i like the idea of sma sex education. there have been a couple classes where i sometimes wish they were single sex because the guys in the class were more of a distraction. i think i wouldn't have been self-conscious about participating in the class. after saying that i i think that single sex classes shouls be offered for students who would rather take a class with students from their own gender. I'm not saying that a student should take only single sex classes, but that they should possibly be an option for students to choose. i strongly agree with what joanna said about how "Once education has been separated on the basis of gender and that precedent has been set, education will become further and further divided. Gender, race (again), socio-economic status (more so than it already is) and so on and so forth and no one will really have a fair shot at a complete and secular education." If we completely seperate studnets by gender then whats to stop us from seperating students by race and like joanna said "socio-economic status"? If that ever happens we will become such a distant society incapable of communicating with people who are different from us. i consider myself lucky that our classes are filled with kids from every race and socio-economic backround because i feel that we are better prepared for the world than students who are surrounded by one gender/race/socio-economic backround etc.
i also very pleased that brown and ms grantz were able to voice their opinions on that matter having gone to single sex schools themselves. my main goal of the class was to have everyone think about how different our classes would be if they were single sex and to form an opinion on what they'd prefer. by reading everyones posts i see that that goal was reached.
Kaitlyn and Sam
Ladies, you did a fantastic job! The topic you choose lasted two weeks and evoked much emotion from many of your peers. You should be proud of your presentation. The goverment's responsibility to educate effectively and fairly are high priorities.
Thank you for sharing your passion with the class.
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