Single-Sex Classrooms

In response to: Single-Sex Classes Become Turnaround Strategy for Failing School By Elisa Crouch, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis Published Online: November 22, 2010

I must admit that even before I read this article I thought there is no way single-sex classrooms can be a good thing, but after reading it I had a slight change of mind. I see both the pros and the cons to this type of learning, especially in middle and high schools. However, I feel there does need to a balance. If students are separated in core classes, they should not be in effectives. We have to realistically face the fact that the real world isn’t segregated by sex and if we want to prepare our students for the real world, they have to have some type of interaction with each other throughout the day.

I also wasn’t aware that “Single-sex education in public schools became illegal in 1972 with the passage of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Then in 2001, U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote an amendment to the No Child Left Behind Act that made single-sex education in public schools legal again.” Since then schools offering single-sex classes have increased from 12 to 540 according to the National Association of Single Sex Public Education.

I would be excited to see how that would work in my school and school district; we are always looking for ways to increase student learning and academic achievement, while decreasing distractions. My school only has 3 male teachers, which definitely wouldn’t be enough to change the entire school to single-sex, but maybe just one grade level. Which bring me to the question, how can we get more male teachers to teach the all-boys classrooms? It probably wouldn’t go across well at first, but I think parents, teachers, administrators and even the students themselves might enjoy the experience and learn something in the processs.