Argumentative Essay

Argumentative essay - Separate-Gender Classes in Co-Ed School is the best solution to the situation

· Defend solution Nowadays, many parents are worrying about the amount of distractions that exist in co-ed schools, which directly affect their children's academic performance.

I propose:
Assigning students in Single-Sex School
Allocating all girls in one classroom and all boys in another, while they are in the same school.
Defend on 2nd solution. And here is my argument.

Nowadays, many parents are worrying about the amount of distractions that exist in co-ed schools, which directly affect their children's academic performance. This is simply due to the fact that there are chemical reactions when different genders spend time together. Consequently, there are a number of negative effects, for example, achieving bad academic performance and inappropriate relationship for children. While it cannot be denied that this issue will not disappear soon, I have analyzed two long run solutions. The first is assigning students in single-sex school and the other one is allocating them in single-sex classes in co-ed school. The second solution means putting all girls in one classroom and all boys in another, while they are in the same school. In the following essay, I will explain why assigning students in single-sex classes in co-ed school is the best solution to solve the issue that parents are worrying about.

One point which I consider to be absolutely vital is the balance of subject-liking preference for both girls and boys. In other words, there are gender-typical subject preferences in both education systems: Single-sex school and Co-ed school. A British researcherhas carried the research based on the attitudes of the students toward different subjects. “Students at co-ed schools tended to have gender-typical subject preferences: boys at co-ed schools liked math and science and did NOT like drama or languages, whereas boys at single-sex schools were more interested in drama, biology and languages. Likewise, girls at girls-only schools were more interested in math and science than were girls at co-ed schools”(Stables., 1990). Brian Walsh, who has been a principal at both boys' schools and co-ed schools, also made the observation: "Boys ordinarily do not even try to sing in a co-ed school, whereas they love choral singing in a boys' school; in the co-ed setting they make fun of French pronunciation, whereas in the single-sex setting they enjoy becoming fluent in French”(Riesman, 1990) .

There are gender-typical subject preferences in both single-sex schools and co-ed schools. However, this issue can be balanced by combining the ideas of single sex classes and co-ed school together in one school. In order words, implementing separated gender classes within a mixed gender school can actually balance the issue of subject-liking preference. There is a research carried by University of Cambridge can prove that separating students for some subjects help them to concentrate and improve their exam grades in the classes. Many girls and boys feel more at ease in such classes, feel more able to interact with learning and to show real interest without inhibition, and often achieve highly in all the performance” ('Separate class needed for boys', 2005).

Specifically, if we apply the second solution to the school system - putting girls in one classroom and boys in another classroom in co-ed school, there are no or less gender-typical subject preferences. Different genders will try hard on the subjects that they don’t prefer to study as in co-ed school and in single sex school. For example, boys will be more likely to sing in the class and will also like mathematics and science as well as drama, biology and languages. Therefore implementing separated gender classes within a mixed gender school can not only balance the issue of subjects-liking preference, but also allowing children to become more well-rounded students, which I believe this is something most parents hope to see.

There is less interaction between genders in a single sex school, which means it has less distraction for students than co-ed schools. However, in terms of social life, less interaction from different genders means less practical social abilities in daily life in single sex school. In order to reduce this problem, a separate-gender classroom in a co-ed school system is the an ideal solution. Therefore another benefit of having single-gender classroom within a co-ed school system is the self-development of students’ social skills. As in single-sex school, since all peers are girls in girls’ schools and all classmates are boys in boys’ schools, there is no interaction between different genders inside the school in daily life. Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández, an assistant professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, has mentioned that “Single sex schools shelter the opportunity of social behaviors from students.”(Aschaiek, 2012 ). On the other hand, many people think that the interactions between male and female students are too frequent in co-ed schools, which may cause unexpected and complicated relationships. In my personal opinion, it is true that there is not enough cross-gender interaction in single sex schools and there is too much interaction in co-ed schools. Therefore, In order to balance to the interactions between different genders to maintain a considerate relationship and healthy social life, applying the second solution of separate-gender classrooms in co-ed school is the best alternative to this issue. This could be further explained by increasing the activities between different genders in their break time after the separate-gender classes in co-ed schools.

To sum up, even though single sex schools have many other advantages for children to study, separate-gender classes in co-ed school is still the best alternative to solve the worry from the parents. It may not only improve children’s academic performance, but also help their social abilities to be more confident in dealing with any problem in a relationship. More importantly is that girls at the separate-gender classroom have less stereotyped thoughts about the role of a woman.