Are single sex schools better than co-ed schools?? Let's Find Out

nikhil kamath 04-Dec-2016 Image Source

When a child is born, the debate for admission in a single sex school or a co-ed school starts. People make their own choices, but if you ask me whether single sex schools are better or co-ed schools; I feel that single sex schools have an edge over co-ed schools.

Many students at single sex schools point to the lack of opposite sex as an enormous advantage. Many students find it easier to focus on the academics when they are not distracted by the members of the opposite sex. Others also find it easier to participate actively in class when everyone is of the same sex. The students feel that the presence of the opposite sex will distract them from academics. Students claim to study at single sex schools because girls and boys have different patterns of brain development. Their brain processing is different and has a different relationship to the centre of emotion. Boys and girls respond to stress in different ways.

Co-ed settings also encourage gender stereotype. The idea here is that if girls don’t see boys doing science and mathematics. They won’t think that those subjects are for boys only. Let’s take a very common example, when boys see girls often participating in music and dance, they feel that those things are for girls only. But some studies have shown that both boys and girls educated in single sex environment have a stronger preference for subjects that are stereotypically aligned to the opposite gender.

The students are occupied in different co-curricular activities. The students coming from single sex schools are more disciplined. They are well mannered and have good etiquettes. They donâ€™t shout at others, they rather talk to them politely. Since in single sex schools teachers have no option of favouritism amongst boys and girls. The students have good grammar sense and have a better command over a language. As the distraction from the opposite sex is reduced, the concentration in studies increases. Students at single sex schools have a better persona and this has a huge impact on the way students think. They are able to give better results in academics and other co-curricular activities than students of co-ed schools. Teachers may also treat girls differently than boys in subjects like science and mathematics. They might give less attention to the girls in the class. But this type of favouritism is impossible in single sex schools. Single sex settings are said to improve classroom behaviour. Advocates claim that to a greater or lesser extent, behaviours around dating â€“ such as preening, show off and carrying on social behaviour during academic courses may be reduced in a single sex environment. Another benefit of single sex schools is that the game of who like who, who is going out with whom, whoâ€™s cool and whoâ€™s not, is whatâ€™s most important at co-ed schools. This is less obvious at a single sex school. One more thing is that single sex education gives the freedom to make educational choices without worrying that you may be the only girl or the only boy in the class. The threat of judgement because you want to study traditionally masculine subjects like physics and mathematics or traditionally girly subjects like literature is removed. So now itâ€™s up to you, if you feel you or your child may benefit from a more encouraging academic environment, then perhaps a single sex school is a better option because by now you will be able to judge that single sex schools provide more holistic development to the students.