Brain OF Male And Female according Coeducation

Arguments Against Coeducation

At the end of the twentieth century, there begun a movement back to single-sex education. Advocates of single-sex education, where male and female students attend separate classes or attend separate schools, cite studies that show students from single-sex environments outperform those from coeducational schools. Others advocate single-sex education on the basis of tradition or religiousand cultural values. In 2002, based on bipartisan support and evidence supporting single-sex education, the U.S. revoked the mandatory coeducation policy and provided three million dollars of funding for single-sex schools.

Sex Differences in the Brain

Many supporters of single-sex education hold that it can help students learn more effectively. The practitioners of single-sex school state that boys and girls learn differently because of structural differences between male and female brains. Studies on male and female brains indicate that males and females process information using different sections of their brains. This is evidenced in the ways males and females approach problem solving. For instance, when men are asked to give directions, they access the left hippocampus, and often use abstract concepts such as north and south. Women, on the other hand, access the cerebral cortex, and typically refer to landmarks that can be seen or heard to navigate. Advocates of single-sex education argue that these differences mean that the best method of instruction differs for males and females; a technique that engages girls in the subject matter may bore boys, and vice versa.[8]

Gender Roles

From a pro-coeducation standpoint, single-sex institutions are inherently unequal. Advocates of coeducation argue that gender stereotypes are reinforced and that single-sex education accentuates gender based educational limitations and discrimination by not offering courses like cheer-leading or home economics to boys, or football or wood shop to girls.

Those who support single-sex education insist that this is not the case, and that single-sex institutions actually promote the subversion ofgender roles. Margrét Pála Ólafsdóttir, an Icelandic educator who introduced single-sex kindergarten to Iceland in 1989, stated: "Both sexes seek tasks they know. They select behavior they know and consider appropriate for their sex. In mixed [coed] schools, each sex monopolizes its sex-stereotyped tasks and behavior so the sex that really needs to practice new things never gets the opportunity. Thus, mixed-sex schools support and increase the old traditional roles."[9] In this view, for example, in a single-sex school it would be less intimidating for a girl to choose to play the trumpet than it would in a coeducational school where trumpets were already being played mostly by boys.

Socialization

Critics of single-sex education argue that without the presence of the opposite sex, students are denied a learning environment representative of real life. This deprives them of the opportunity to develop skills for interaction with peers of all genders in their work environment and fosters ignorance and prejudice towards the other gender.

However, defenders argue that socialization does not depend on the two genders being placed physically together, but is rather a matter of educating children in habits such as respect, generosity, fairness, loyalty, courtesy, and so forth. From a single-sex perspective, this can be done with more success knowing the distinct tendencies and learning style differences of boys and girls. It is also argued that mixing of the sexes (particularly with adolescents) creates distraction, increased sexual harassment, and teenage pregnancy, all of which interfere with the quality of education.

Academic Success of Coeducation Versus Single-Sex Education

A number of studies have been done researching the effects of coeducation and single-sex education. In 2002, the National Foundation for Educational Research was commissioned in England to study academic performance as it relates to coeducation and school size. In a study of nearly three thousand high schools (grades nine through 12), they found that both sexes did better academically in single-sex schools. Single-sex schools also helped to counter gender stereotypes at all-girl schools, where girls were more likely to take courses in advanced mathematics or sciences. This was not the case with boys; boys in single-sex schools were actually less likely to take courses in cooking than those in coeducational schools. Other studies have shown that students in single-sex schools academically outperformed students in coeducational schools. A study done by Marlene Hamilton showed that, in Jamaica, girls from single-sex schools did the best academically, followed by boys from single-sex schools, boys from coeducational schools, and, lastly, girls from coeducational schools. "Before and after" studies done at schools that switched from coed to single-sex also reported improved academic performance.