I think it may be…

HARTLAND, Wis. - Lauren Panos was surprised when she walked into her ninth-grade English class in the fall and saw there were no boys.

Her parents had not told her they had enrolled her in a new all-girls class at Arrowhead High School in Hartland, about 25 miles west of Milwaukee. A semester into classes, Panos still isn’t sold on the idea.

“All the girls there, they can talk out of turn,” the 14-year-old said. “We get really off task and it’s really annoying.”

More public school systems are looking at separating boys and girls, whether for certain classes or by entire schools, after the federal government opened the door last fall. Supporters say splitting students by sex minimizes distractions, helps them learn better and allows boys and girls to explore subjects they may not otherwise take. . . .

Nationwide, at least 253 public schools offer single-sex classes and 51 schools are entirely single sex, according to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education. In 1995, just three public schools offered single-sex classes.

The ACLU and some others, however, are against this equating gender segregation with racial segregation:

Critics of same-sex classrooms argue that proven methods of improving education should be pursued instead of one that divides boys and girls. Separating boys and girls is tantamount to “separate but equal” segregation-era classrooms, they say.

“Too many schools feel they can carry out a social experiment with students’ education with really the flimsiest of theories,” said Emily Martin, deputy director of the
American Civil Liberties Union’s Women’s Rights Project.

Single-sex schools are an “illusionary silver bullet,” said Lisa Maatz, director of public policy and government relations for the American Association of University Women. They distract from real problems and do not offer proven solutions such as lower class sizes and sufficient funding, she said.

Personally, I don’t think this is such a bad idea.  This is painted by some as being a good thing for girls who traditionally have lagged behind boys in certain subjects like math and science, but experts have been pointing out for some time now that boys have actually been falling behind girls in overall education.  Why is this happening?  I think it has to do with some fundamental differences in the way the sexes think and learn and the fact that, for a couple of decades, educators have been trying to find ways to help the girls do better in school to the detriment of the boys.

For example, boys, especially young boys, tend to be a lot more rambunctious than their female peers.  They need physical activity, like recess breaks and gym class, to burn off some of that excess energy so that they can concentrate in class.  Yet one of the changes to our school in recent years is the elimination of a lot of recess breaks and gym classes.  This hasn’t really had an impact on girls, but it has left boys with all that extra energy in the class.  Energy that usually manifests itself as classroom disturbance and an inability to concentrate.  Things that, in a lot of cases, usually end up causing the boy’s teacher to recommend counseling and a Ritalin prescription.  Things that, to this observer, seem to exacerbate the problem more than help.

As long as segregated boys and girls classes would be equal in terms of funding and access to resources (and I see no reason why that couldn’t be so) I don’t really have a problem with splitting up the sexes.  It would allow educators to better tailor instruction and the school day to the needs and learning quirks of each sex, which is something that would benefit all students.