Is Single-Sex Education More Beneficial?

Several institutions push for the need to separate boy and girls for the purpose of education. These people use the brain and any respective differences they can find between the two sexes to back up claims that better learning occurs in situations where only a single sex is present. Though some of these claims have a factual basis, most of them cannot translate to major differences that would affect a typical classroom setting.

There are obvious differences that can by typically found between the male and female brain. Some of these include brain size (males’ brains are typically larger), or differences in proportion of white and gray matter. However, these differences have little effect on what happens when learning is occurring. Several studies have been run to asses the differences between boys’ and girls’ brains. These tests centered around the sexes' ability to hear, see, how fast their brain matures, their autonomic nervous systems and even the affect of gonadal hormones. All of these claims have somehow been used to back up the notions that boys and girls learn differently. However, when the literature is accurately reviewed or the tests redone for accuracy, those results do not hold true. Thankfully, there are a plethora of other studies that counteract the claim that boys and girls learn differently. The fact is that, there are no major differences between the two and their performance in the classroom. More differences can be found within the gender itself rather than across and average boy and girl. Belief in this claim can lead to other implications besides its effects on educational standards. One of the biggest things it promotes is gender stereotyping. Single-sex education claims that boys learn better through games used stress balls and relay races, while girls learn better when sheltered from competition and can focus on more “people-orientated” subjects do nothing but promote more gender-stereotyping amongst the masses. It leads towards boys being less expected to engage in reading or conversation, while expecting girls to never find physics or chemistry interesting. Children’s brains are way more malleable than these claims express. Neuroplasticity plays a large role in this malleability, and allows younger children to adapt and engage in many forms of learning. The article ends with the suggestion of instilling children with the faith in their own abilities and efficacy as learners regardless of gender, race, or other characteristics.

I find education very important and essential in an individual’s lifetime; so this article immediately caught my eye. I’ve been hearing the various claims around single-sex education and how beneficial it was, but a part of me never believed it. Just based on the limited knowledge I had on the brain and how people learn, I could see benefits in certain teaching styles, but not in outright separation of the sexes. I began reading this article with some skepticism because I believed it was going to end with the promotion of single-sex education. However, I was pleased with information in presented and the depth in which it delved into the brain to answer various aspects of the question. Reading this article made me want to learn more about how the brain learns and remembers things; so I think it prompted me to engage in my own research and learning of the subject material!

Source: http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/article/10.1007/s11199-011-0037-y/fulltext.html