Single Sex Education?
I read a great book by chance a few weeks ago entitled Why Gender Matters - by Leonard Sax . It's subtitle is "What parents and teachers need to know about the merging science of sex differences". I tried writing a book summary in my PPC but I haven't got around to finishing it.
It makes a very strong case for single sex education by summarizing lots of research about the fundamental differences between boys and girls and how they learn and behave. It's a fascinating read.
For example, there's a significant difference between the balance of M cells and P cells in the visual cortex of boys and girls. Supposedly, this gives boys the advantage in seeing movement while girls have the advantage in object discrimination. The author goes further by claiming that young girls draw nouns preferring warm colours while young boys draw verbs preferring cold colours.
There are many, many more differences which all lend a lot of weight to the proposition that the teaching style should be different for the two genders. The key point is that while you want both boys and girls to have the same opportunities, how each gender is engaged should be different. I gather this is a hot topic in education circles.
Since reading the book, I've raised the topic of single sex education in various conversations and there seems to be two main objections, however my first passion is still comp. sci. :
1) If you don't socialise boys and girls together, they tend to see the opposite sex as another species. You get even worse "boy crazy/girl crazy" behaviour in the teenage years. This is particular worse if a child doesn't have a sibling of the opposite gender.
2) In class discussions, the opposite gender will often bring up points of view that would not arise if the class was all one gender.
I guess the ideal compromise would be to have a mixed school with more single sex lessons that just P.E.. However, this has a taint of discrimination and stereotyping so I don't see how this could work in practice. It would be nice if you share your experiment if it is of course related to this topic... since I haven't got any academic background on this case.
It was very interesting. I'd really like to know your acamdemic background Ali. What subject are you into and are you a postgrad? I'm just curious.
(at July 28, 2005 04:05 PM)
Thank you.. I did my first and my Master degree in Computer Science and Software Eng. I’m a PhD candidate now in Artificial Intelligence related topic especialized in Software Mobile Agents.. hope this helps.. however my name is Amir and not Ali, Saman. :)
(at July 29, 2005 01:06 AM)
I agree that there are major differences between how boys and girls approach problems or see the world. However, I guess the best thing is not to enforce single sex education, but to create a more fluid and dynamic system of education, where boys and girls -- while in the same school and class -- could choose which subjects to take and which ones to leave.
On the other hand, the study you referred to differentiates between boys and girls. But then what about the LGBT?
(at July 29, 2005 03:06 AM)
doostan har ki ye eteghadi dareh manam khoda va 12 emam eteghad daram va har joor ke khodam bekham va betoonam oon ha ro moredeh setayesh gharar midam va hich kari be hich nezami nadaram man faghat khoda ro doost daram va az kjhosda mitarsam
(at July 29, 2005 08:21 AM)
bacheha har joor ke khopdetoon mikhayd amal konid kari be kare kasi nadashteh bashid too zehne khodetoon faghat khodetoono tasavor konid ke ranandeyeh ye teranzit hastid tooye ye jadehye bi nahayat fekresho bokonid in ranandeh baraye residan be maghsadesh cheghad sakhti mikesheh mano shoma ham bayad baraye residan be sar bolandi khodemoon va khanevadamoon bayad hamin raho tey konim ageh doost dashtin va hal kardin bishtar ba man ashena beshin in email mane khoshhal misham bahatoon dar ertebat basham :galexy_pioneer
(at July 29, 2005 08:28 AM)
dear houman, I think you have found the wrong place (at least the wrong article) to pray and preach! this was about sex education for god's sake!
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