Thursday, May 24, 2007 - Contemplating on: should girls and boys receive their education separately? :

(As i have been nominated by my class to go for the 2nd round of gp blogging competition, well,here goes..)

Despite the increasing number of students opting for co-ed schools in Singapore, there was previously a heated debate on whether girls and boys should receive their education separately. I believe this has put much confusion among parents and even aroused major discussions on careful planning that must be taken into consideration by them. Is there really a difference in sending children to a single-sex school and a co-education one? I have different views on this topic.


I disagree to a large extent that boys and girls should be educated separately because it is an undeniable fact that boys and girls studying in single sex school has a major impact on society in terms of gender discrimination and education. Research shows that in a co-ed school, students tend to get along better with their peers and they also gain greater understanding of their classmates of the opposite sex. Studying in an environment with mixed genders gives us additional opportunities to make more friends, especially with people who are of a different gender from us. Not forgetting the fact that it allows easier communication between girls and boys, we would learn important lessons of building good, lasting relationships with one another.

Secondly, when pupils engage in group projects and discussions, they grasp a hold of the opposite gender's views and opinions of various aspects of life. For instance, the girls would comprehend the boys' mentality and behavior towards many issues.

Furthermore, I think that co-ed schools also inspire more motivation and support in students when it comes to examinations. Some boys may outdo the girls, triggering those who are lagging behind to think that they are losing out to their peers. Due to competitive reasons, having pupils of mixed genders in schools is a positive form of encouragement, spurring and striving the pupils on to perform better than the rest of their schoolmates. From these, we can observe that there are more positive outcomes of studying in a co-ed school than a single-sex one.

However, we cannot simply neglect the advantages that single-sex schools may bring to pupils. Supporters point to studies showing that in single-sex schools, girls are moe assertive in class without boys and they generally respond better to more collaborative teaching methods. The aim to remove boys from classes definitely boosted the confidence of girls but it did little to improve academic performance. This also causes lesser interaction and interests between pupils. Nevertheless, without boys in class, shy girls tend to speak up more often than before because of their introverted feelings towards the male species.

In addition, there are stereotypes that need to be debunked. Different people have their own perceptions. Several, especially parental beliefs, may feel that girls are smarter than boys, since most girls are quiet and intelligent whereas boys are usually known for their loudness and aggressive character. This is an example of gender discrimination. Many think that students should learn in a different atmosphere which includes boys in the class. On the contrary, this is rather competitive as it is one of the main factors that often help to determine final grades. Some girls may not perform well in athletes sports unlike most boys, but they surpass boys in languages and home economics. Single-sex schools provide more same-gender student role models, offer enhanced leadership opportunities and have fewer social distractions such as pupils engaging in boy-girl relationships. Therefore, I think that being educated separately can cultivate the students' interests as well as further strengthening their potentials.

Overall, I believe that there are more pros than cons in educating pupils together in terms of growth development, psychological and social aspects. Although educating pupils separately would strain working relationships among them, positive outcomes of receiving education separately still exist. Nonetheless, the government must take this matter into serious consideration as it may still affect the society negatively. Parents must also try to cast away fears of their children being exposed to pupils of different genders and assist them in making a wise decision as to which school to choose from by taking into account the needs and abilities of their children to mingle with people.

The future ain't what it used to be. hugged teddy at 5:40 AM