Bozick's bookshelf
For the love of reading -- books, magazines and more.
About tbozick


Real Name:
Tara Bozick
Member Since:
September 30, 2007
Last Signed In:
August 27, 2008
Profile Views:
1131
Blog Views:
1388
View Profile
Send a Message
Send To A Friend
Sign Guestbook
Add as a Friend

Previous Posts
Some people may not have a conscience ...
Southern reading great for summertime
Problems with single-sex public education
Rethinking the way we live
One of first black women authors in science fiction
One of my favorite black authors
Beer reading ... and drinking
Narcissist reading
What is my cat thinking?
New Thursday Next novel out
Archives
September 07
October 07
November 07
December 07
January 08
February 08
March 08
April 08
May 08
June 08
July 08
August 08
http://www.texasbookfestiva...
http://www.utexas.edu/utpre...
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/
http://web3.unt.edu/untpres...
http://texana.texascooking....
http://labloga.blogspot.com...
http://papercuts.blogs.nyti...
http://sweetpotatoqueens.co...
http://www.jasperfforde.com...
Subscribe!
RSS 2.0 feed RSS 2.0
Add to My Yahoo
Add to My Google
Add to Bloglines
Add to My AOL
tbozick - > Bozick's bookshelf -> Problems with single-sex public education
Problems with single-sex public education
An article in the New York Times Magazine, "Teaching Boys and Girls Separately," discusses a new trend of all-girl and all-boy classrooms in public schools.

Theorist and author Leonard Sax convinces parents that single-sex education is the way to go, based on differences in biology of the sexes. He adjusts wall colors and volume of teaching according to gender. He assumes boys love action while girls love color and nuance.

He holds up Foley Intermediate, a school in Foley, Ala., as a great example of success. The article describes how the boys' teacher reads Gary Paulsen's "Hatchet" while the girls sing "Always Sisters" and experiment with how oil and water don't mix, much like the grease floats on top of the water when doing dishes.

The author of the article explores the problems of teaching based on gender and how segregation may develop into unequal teaching. She ends on the discussion that co-ed education helps develop a sense of tolerance and community -- essentially, social skills.

For me personally, I loved reading the "Hatchet" in elementary school and I would have hated to miss that because my gender says I like something different.

Sure, experiment with teaching styles. Single-sex education has worked for many in private schools. But I'm a little afraid of a gender-based curriculum.

What are your thoughts?
Tags: reading, Education
posted by tbozick on Friday, March 7, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Report a Violation
Viewed 223 times
2 comments from 2 users

1

posted by Rebecca on Mar 8, 2008 at 07:57 PM
The problem with same-sex public education is that it isn't even an option. 
posted by ThisnThat on Mar 7, 2008 at 05:41 PM

Every time we make strides in equalizing the playing field, some idiot comes along with a plan for shooting that progress in the foot. There are distinct advantages to separate sex education, but it centers around distinctions other than curriculum. The pressure of peer reviews, especially across the sexes, is extensive in school. I believe I read that the Atlanta schools want to try this for the advantages of different learning trends. Boys are acting out for the girls attention; girls are afraid to appear too smart; girls are thought to learn at a quicker pace than boys, but this may not necessarily be true if the sex factor is removed.

You are quite correct, however, in the curriculum distinction. Since it is generally believed boys are better at math than girls, do girls stop at long division math and boys go on to algebra and calculus? Boys get the science classes; girls get home ec? Boys get sports and girls get cheer leading? Girls get English Literature; boys get Remedial Reading? That is just silly. I agree with you. I'd rather read a supermarket tabloid than a Harlequin Romance. Neither inspires me. Robinson Crusoe was much more exciting than Little Women.

You could not be righter, Tara.

 

1

Leave a Comment
Ground Rules for posting comments:
  • No profanity or personal attacks.
  • Please comment on the subject of the blog post itself.
If you do not follow these rules we will remove your comment. Please keep it civil.

To protect users from spam, we need you to prove that you're a human being.
Please enter the text from the image at left.