Yesterday's NYT Magazine had a fascinating article looking at the growing support of gender segregation in public schooling. The article is linked next door and no matter your views on the subject is worth the read - indeed is an article I think every parent must read.
To be honest, having grown up in a small town where the only outside mainstream public school options are Montessori and private Christian schools, I never considered gender-based education. But the article "Teaching Boys and Girls Separately" caught my eye and I was hooked immediately. Like most parents my child's education is extremely important to me. Campbell is not quit nine months old and I am already considering her preschool and kindergarten options and keeping one eye peeled for promising homes in the county school district.
My parents placed a premium on education and I was lucky to enjoy primary and secondary educations that allowed me to take advanced classes and learn free from the distractions and troubles that plague so many inner-city children. I was even more blessed with the opportunity to attend one of the nation's top liberal arts colleges (Go Centre!). So education weighs heavily on my parenting priorities. Still, the idea of Campbell going to class with only girls wasn't an option I entertained. In fact, before reading this article, had someone suggested it I would have likely been utterly offended by the notion that my daughter needed to be segregated.
I am not fully sold on the idea of gender segregation. But the article chronicles what appears to be a significant body of research that indicates boys and girls do learn differently. That they thrive in very different school environments. When reading these differences the world described seems so obvious you wonder why you didn't think of it yourself. That said there is also a great deal to the argument that the world isn't segregated and so we don't raise well-rounded children if we teach them in such an environment.
As someone who tends to view the world in shades of gray, it is no surprise that I find myself thinking that some mixture of traditional and separate education might be the key. I am obviously not qualified to create my own educational system but it seems that the benefits of gender segregation might be worthwhile in elementary school or in certain subjects - math, English - where gender achievement gaps are most pronounced.
Whatever your view I urge you to read the article. For at the very least it will stir up some thoughts and emotion and help generate a discussion which are all needed. There is one thing no American parent can deny - we are failing our children and our future and theirs depends on turning that failure into success. Discussing alternatives such as gender-based education is the starting point to achieving the success we all desire.
