One of the arguments of co-education is the idea that it provides too many distractions for students. Several scholars have argued that these distractions have led to less attention on school work and class participation, due to girls and boys trying to impress each other. Furthermore, it has also been argued that students who are intimidated by the opposite sex may also be affected by low performance and low grades. Many educators believe that single-sex education does not enforce any type of gender-based stereotypes or adolescent subculture. Due to this, single-sex schools have been established to combat these issues.
Sharpe’s believe this could be because of the changing attitudes of society in general towards women and the impact of feminism. Mitsos and Browne (1998) say that the service sector which is traditionally seen as women’s work has expanded. Employers usually like women in this sector as they have good communication skills and the rise in the employment of women has given girls the incentive to do well at school. Mac and Ghaill claim that the decline in male employment opportunities has led to an ‘Crisis of Masculinity’ as many boys now believe they have a less chance in a getting a proper job. This undermines their motivation and self-esteem therefore they give up on trying to do well in education and have a fatalistic attitude towards it.
Some schools, like the grammar schools, require a good result on the 11+. This leads to cream skimming, but also off-loading of ‘bad’ students, that for example will refuse children with learning difficulties good education, because they are “those students who won’t do well anyways”. The top students often seem to be from the middle class. They don’t suffer from material or cultural deprivation and often use the elaborated code, which makes education easier for them. This makes the schools trying to appeal to the middle class parents, to make the middle class parents choose their school and help them get their own results better.
Many schools are decided whether they are leading schools or not based on so-called mood or circumstance. If boys and girls mixed in the class, scholastic circumstance is likely to be weaken because teenagers are often suffering from controlling issues when they are being with other sex
CON: Male/Female Interaction Promotes Distraction * For children of all ages, interacting with the opposite sex can cause anxiety or self-consciousness. Dating might divert a girl away from her studies, or changing hormones could cause a boy to become less involved in school. Teasing often involves two children of the opposite sex. All of these scenarios could produce negative effects such as fear
The everyday conversation involves language uses. There are many ways of conversation, and it can be influences by different regional, ethnic, family background, age and gender. In Deborah Tannen’s research of the “gender in the classroom” stated about that female and male mix up class, men take the role in the class, which talks more than women. However, record to my own knowledge and research I did not support the statement, like in my English class the female and male students are equal, yet female talks way more than male. Therefore, I disagree with Tannen’s theory, “[…] speaking in a classroom is more congenial to boys’ language experience than to girls’ […]” (164).
However, society has come to believe that the color red is harsh and can be demoralizing to students. Our growing politically correct society believes that using “kind colors,” such as purple, will place less stress on children. The general public believes that purple ink will spare kids from an unpleasant life. Papermate’s sales in purple pens have gone up ten percent, proving that the purple pen phenomenon is real (Smerconish
They would benefit from being in a learning state where they don’t have to be inferior to the opposite sex in a specific subject because that is the stereotype. Also in “The Effects Of Single Gender Versus Coeducational Environments on the Self-Esteem Development and Academic Competence of High School Females” by Carol Langlois “ Peers can be a major influence on a child’s self-esteem especially during the critical period of adolescence called high school. “ Adolescent children always look at the people around them to know what to do in certain situations. If they are always around people that make the wrong choices or just the choices that they shouldn’t be making, how are they going to know what else to do? Maybe if adolescent children were in single sex gender schools or classes they would make better decisions or feel more comfortable in their learning environment or even in their lives.
Some girls begin to lose their "voice" or "go underground" with their gifts and abilities as they absorb messages about what it means to be "feminine" in our culture. In response, girls tend to act in, which expresses itself in eating disorders, depression, teen pregnancy, and lowered academic achievement in core academic areas such as higher level math and science. On the other hand, adolescent boys, experiencing pressure to conform to "masculine" stereotypes, often "toughen up" and act aggressively in all facets of their lives. Boys receive messages that it is not all right to be nurturing and caring, to express their feelings. In response, boys tend to act out, which can express itself in disruptive or violent behavior.
They are naturally curious about sex, body, and taboo subjects. Many classrooms attempt to subvert this aspect of the teenage life, but the carnival in the classroom would have a place for it—it must have a place for it. Caroline Shields, in her book, Good Intentions Are Not Enough: Transformative Leadership for Communities of Difference, describes how in many schools, “those in power often take steps to organize the existing structures to exclude diverse voices and perspectives” and that “Rather than organize to emphasize and encourage participation…, many schools find ways to discourage discussion on controversial topics” (183). Schools are making the “assumption that people have equal access and opportunities to voice their opinions and that those who choose not to exercise that right do so out of informed choice.” They assume that students and even their parents are uninvolved and lack achievement simply because they are disinterested and unmotivated (Shields, 183). However, Shields suggest that it is because they have no voice, no power within a “typical school organized in hierarchical and uniform lines according to what has become known as the “factory model” of organizational life” (183).