Single Sex and Coeducational High Schools.

I read this article that was written by Patricia Schmuck, Nancy G. Nagel and Celeste Brody. The article is reporting the results from a study done on the gender consciousness in single sex and coeducational high schools. They stated that when it comes to gender awareness, females are less aware about the opposite sex and how they work. But when it comes to academics it is very beneficial because they are being challenged to be the best. Not like going to school with guys wouldn’t challenge them, they are just less distracted. But some parents felt like some of the boy schools were a lot more academic challenging then the single sex girl’s schools. The Xavier Preparatory High School single sex catholic schools decide to accept girls there. This school was one of the best boy high schools in the area. But many females’ parents began to complain because they wanted their girls to have the same Jesuit Preparatory education as the boys did.

But in another article that was written by Barber Heather that talked specially about how parents make and decide which schools are the best for their daughters either single sex or coeducational. Some stated that they thought that it would be challenging for their daughter because it challenges them naturally. Some also felt like that could be dangerous because they don’t want to risk their daughter’s education because they want them to interact with the opposite sex. But as I seen in the article written about The Xavier Preparatory High School, it was a challenge for both the boy and the girls. Although interacting with the opposite sex should be natural it can be hard for people who have never done it before.

Gender Consciousness is created when students interact with each other

“We interpret behaviors information and situations though our own cultural lenses” Lisa Delpit

The females showed more consciousness unlike the teaches and the male students, When they began to fell more comfortable they began to express there frustration at the fact that they weren’t reading any female writers in there English class. Although some of the teachers at The Xavier Preparatory High School felt a need to change their curriculum because of the different students. There were a couple teachers who felt the need to keep their curriculum the same.

So after the study was over it was seen that females are more gender conscious then the boys. They were able to adjust to being around the opposite sex, unlike the boys were it was a while for the to adjust to them having females in the classroom. Also it goes to show that many of the teachers weren’t willing to change and adjust to the females being there either. Some think that Single sex education is better, and in some instances it might be but going to a coeducational school helps to be more conscious and interact with the opposite sex more.

Brody Celeste, Patricia Schmuck, and Nancy G. Nagel. Studying Gender Consciousness in Single-Sex and Coeducational High Schools. Great Britain. RoutledgeFalmer. 2002. Print

Heather Barber. “Construction of Gender in Parents’ choice of a single sex school for their daughters”. Gender in Policy and Practice: Perspective on single sex and coeducational schooling. 2002. Print. 

Cassie Wilson