Single-Sex Classrooms

Though only a handful of schools in Canada offer Single Sex Classes, it is a growing trend that seems to be paying off, and by the time today's babies and toddlers get into school, we as parents may need to face an important decision. Co-education or not?

So why should classes be divided up by sex? At the James Lyng High School in Montreal, the number of students passing provincial exams has jumped 15% since the single-sex program began 5 years ago. The dropout rate is down almost 10%, and the number of students continuing their educations after high school has almost doubled.

In an effort to help boys do better academically, two middle schools in Abbotsford B.C. are separating the girls and the boys in both math and English classes. Abbotsford's assistant superintendent says much of the disparity is the result of boys wanting to impress girls in class. At the end of the first year, they found boys in single-sex classes on average scored 10% higher than those in mixed classes. "The tendency is that in a mixed gender class boys are not as likely to ask for help," says Bruce Ivany. "They've got this macho image, and in an all-boys class that's just not an issue. Boys are easily distracted by the girls". Read why the experts think these methods of single-sex teaching are working and neccessary, and why some still disagree.

Boys and girls develop differently
Some say single-sex classes are needed because boys' and girls' brains develop differently. By dividing them up teachers can design teaching plans in a manner best suited for each. Leonard Sax of The National Association for Single-Sex Public Education says studies have proven this.

In girls, the part of the brain associated with verbal fluency, fine motor skills, social perception, memory for sequential details, and the simultaneous discrimination of objects, colors, and faces, develops fastest. On the other hand, the part of the brain associated with, mathematical and mechanical reasoning, and skills needed for the coordination of motor movement in decisions related to visual targeting, develops faster in boys.

Boys and Girls Learn Differently
Another study found that boys and girls learn differently on almost all aspects of educational instruction. Boys will jump to a conclusion and then find the evidence to support it, while girls will gather a lot of information, then make up their minds. Boys tend to like abstract arguments, conundrums, moral debates about abstract principles while girls find it easier to work with concrete facts. Boys work silently during the learning process as girls tend to need to talk it out. Boys hear less, and more often ask for clear evidence to support a teacher's claims. Girls are generally better listeners, hear more of what's said and are more receptive to instructional meandering. Boys get bored more easily than girls and this often requires more, and varying stimulation to keep them attentive. Girls are better at self-managing boredom during all aspects of education and less likely to "give up" on the learning process, or act out. Boys tend to focus on performing tasks well without as much sensitivity to the emotional needs of others. Girls generally learn while attending to a code of social conduct, aware of the emotional needs of others around them. Both boys and girls like pictures, but boys rely on them more in learning. Girls often prefer written text. Teachers find that boys make a great deal of an author's symbolism, while girls ponder the emotional working of characters.

Sax also says that girls need encouragement, need things to be put into context, and work best in small groups. Boys need discipline and confrontation. In addition, he says it works best when speaking loudly with boys and softly with girls.

Gender Stereotyping
Others argue that everyone learns differently. Paula Bourne from the Ontario Institute for Studies In Education says she doesn't approve of this kind of "stereotyping". She mentioned a study done in California that introduced single-sex classes to public schools over a period of three years. The researchers concluded that the program reinforces gender stereotypes.

Bourne argues boys and girls need to work together so boys can see girls as their "social" and "intellectual equals". She also argues that separating sexes avoids addressing issues in co-ed classes that need to be addressed.

Sax however says that single-sex classes, don't mean single sex schools, and children are allowed to socialize with the opposite sex during lunch and recesses, not to mention any other time out of school. "Co-ed schools reinforce gender stereotypes" he says. In single-sex environments, kids take on roles the opposite sex may normally take on. "When kids in a certain school were co-ed, girls always chose to play the flute in the band and boys always chose to play the trumpet. But now that they're separated, there are girls who play trumpet and there are boys who play the flute." Girls and boys in single sex classes have also been exploring education in other areas. Since the change in some school girls been taking more science and physics classes, and others that would normally be left to the boys. While boys are taking more arts, and language classes rather than normally in mixed settings which shows a high girl to boy ratio.

Thought there are no single-sex classes in Fredericton let alone N.B. that's not to say there won't be in the future. What will you decide if you're faced with the option and what will be your deciding factors?