Co Education

CO-EDUCATION

The Meaning Of Co-Education

Co-Education means the teaching of both boys and girls in the same school and under the same roof. It also means imparting the same education to both the sexes without any distinction. This system of education aims at bringing boys and girls together. It allows free mixing of sexes without any inhibition. Co-education generates harmonious relationship, a sense of co-operation, and thus, helps in the progress of the nation.Co-education is a system of educating boys and girls together. In ancient times, co-education existed in Sparta in Greece. There was no discrimination between boys and girls. They studied and played together. Along with academic education, physical training was also given to both the sexes.Hence, in the west, the importance of co-education has been felt since ancient times.In early Vedic Society (Ancient India), co-education was prevalent in a few places. But gradually female education began to be ignored. Moreover, the system of education was quite different from that of today. The boys stayed in Gurukuls, for the whole educational period. There they received both in academic education and physical training. The former included the study of the scriptures and the latter, training in warfare. Girls were not sent to the Gurukuls, and thus were deprived of the benefits of education.
In medieval India, those belonging to lower castes and the womenfolk were not allowed to attend schools or study the scriptures.
The great Greek philosopher, Plato had propagated the system of co-education in the ancient times.He said that Co-education creates a feeling of comradeship. He advocated teaching of both the male and female sexes in the same institution without showing any discrimination in imparting education.'A strong reason for co-education is that separating children for a number of years means they will not be mixing and learning about each other.' - Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge.Plato was a great supporter of the education of women. Therefore, he wanted them to be educated with men in the same institutions. He felt that if men and women are taught together, it will develop their personality to the maximum. They will not feel any shyness from each other. He advocated that it was the only method in which both could become useful members of the society.Plato in reality was much influenced by the co-educational system of Sparta, a city of Greece. There the boys and girls were given both the academic and physical education together. The girls and boys studied and played together. They were both taught the art of fighting, horse riding, archery etc. Thus the women of Sparta were not in any inferior to men.In ancient India also, there was no segregation between boys and girls in the Aryan society. In the modern times, co-educational system is prevalent in Europe and USA. In India also,now-a-days more and more co-educational schools and colleges are being established. This is a modern concept and it has made a remarkable rapid progress. It was first introduced in Switzerland. Now it has become popular almost in the whole of Europe and the whole of America. The Eastern companies are also adopting this system gradually. In our country, opinions sharply differ on the issue of coeducation in colleges.

The supporters of coeducation favor it mainly on two grounds, one economical and the other sociological. In the first place, they say that co-education is an economical measure in a poor country like Pakistan. It is not possible to maintain separate colleges for boys and girls. In the second place, the social contacts between the members of the two sexes are useful in many respects. The supporters of co-education say that if boys and girls are educated together, they will develop in them a sort of mutual understanding. This understanding will be helpful in their future lives as men and women. Moreover, it creates a spirit of competition in studies. Both try their hardest to out-do each other. Boys with more female peers in their classes showed higher enrolment rates in both advanced mathematics and science classes, but overall benefits were found in all grades for both sexes. They conclude that this effect is due to the positive influence, the girls are adding to the classroom environment.Infact the study found that primary school classrooms with a female majority showed increased academic success for both boys and girls. In the middle and high schools, the classrooms which had the best academic achievements overall were consistently those that had a higher proportion of girls enrolled. The researchers suggest that boys and girls may learn differently, but it is better not to send them to sex-segregated schools.Boys become conscious of their dressing habits, behavior and the style girls. They work hard to remain ahead of one another. Co-education reduces gender bias in the society. It generates a feeling of equality between both and sexes.

The feeling of male dominance may be wiped out from the society if this system of education is given importance.However, some people are opposed to the system of co-education. According to them, this system is against the Indian culture and tradition. It is also argued that girls feel more free in an institution which is meant only for girls. As such they have greater scope of developing their personality. They also participate in sports, dramatics and debates more freely.Teachers of some subjects like Biology also find it easier to explain some chapters more thoroughly if only girls or only boys are sitting in the class. Sex education has also been introduced and in co-educational schools even teachers find it difficult to discuss such topics in the class.
It is also felt that since students (especially teenagers 13-19 years of age) are of impressionable age, the possibility of their going astray is much more in co-educational institutions.
Coeducation is not a bad idea either for boys or the girls. In fact it all depends upon the values of the region where one lives. If either a girl or a boy has been built up with strapping moral values this is not a big issue if he or she studies with the same gender or the other. But one's environment does affect one's moral values and manners. The coin always has two sides and so is the case with this aspect of education. Coeducation can either be good or bad.

Advantages Of Co-Education

There are no overriding advantages for single-sex schools on educational grounds. Studies all over the world have failed to detect any major differences.' ‘Boys' boorishness is tamed by the civilising influence of the girls; girls' cattiness is tamed by the more relaxed approach of the boys.Friendships develop in a very natural way in co-educational schools. This happens because there are so many activities, societies and clubs in the school in which girls and boys take part in a pleasant, well-supervised environment. Friendships develop naturally and genuinely because the mixing is a by-product of the event. This friendly atmosphere continues into the classroom allowing young people to express their views openly and assertively.For both girls and boys co-education provides a more realistic way of training young people to take their places naturally in the wider community of men and women. It helps to break down the misconceptions of each sex about the other and provides an excellent foundation for the development of realistic, meaningful and lasting relationships in later life.A co-educational school is also very successful in challenging sexist attitudes. Many subjects in secondary school allow for considerable classroom discussion and debate. In a co-educational school both the female and male perspectives will be explored in such discussions and this is a very important learning experience for all. In so doing they learn that 'equality' does not mean 'sameness' - that men and women often have different perspectives on the same issues and that each approach has a great deal to offer the other.In academic terms it should be noted that both boys and girls at the Cathedral School attain the same distinction in terms of examination results: the percentage of A*/A grades at GCSE here is equally high for both genders, indicating that neither gender is disadvantaged by the other, in fact the reverse is true, both are enhanced by the presence of the other.Advocates of single-sex schooling sometimes make hefty claims about the academic advantages of such schools, pointing to statistically significant disparities in examination results. In truth such differences may be due more to the socio-economic background of the pupils at the school or the selectivity of the intake. In our own situation, the Cathedral School proves that co-education can be extremely successful academically, and with all the social and personal development advantages too.
There are many advantages and hardly any disadvantages in the co-educational system of education. The first advantage is that if boys and girls are taught together, there will not be any need for opening separate schools for boys and girls. Co-education is an economical system, because both boys and girls can study in same schools and they can be taught by the same staff. Secondly, boys and girls have to live together in the society in their later lives and if they are taught together from the very beginning, they can understand each other well. The girls will not feel shy in the presence of boys. The boys will also not tease the girls.Again if they are taught together, it will create a sense of healthy competition among them. In this manner, they will work hard and pay serious attention to their studies. A feeling of comradeship will also develop between the boys and girls. The boys will not indulge in in eve-teasing and the girls will not be afraid of boys. Thus they will have a balanced development of their personality.It is also a common experience that the boys behave decently in the company of girls.They do not use rough and abusive language in the presence of girls.They also dress properly and talk mannerly.Similarly, the girls will also lose their fear of the boys if they are taught with them. On the other hand if boys and girls are taught in separate schools, boys misbehave with the girls.They boys always have a curiosity to know about them.But when they study together, their curiosity is satisfied and they do not consider girls as strange creatures.Thus if co-education is introduced, there will be no problem of discipline among the students. In the western countries, there is no separation between boys and girls in the schools.
Dis-advantages of Co-Education Of course certain conservative people criticize the system of co-education.According to them, this system is against our tradition.They also fear that co-education will develop immoral relationships between boys and girls. They believe that in this system both the boys and girls will be spoilt. But these arguments do not hold much water.The fact is that there are so many advantages of co-education when boys and girls have to live later on as husband and wife, there is no need of separating them in schools. Rather it will give them the opportunity to come close to each other and understand each other fully. We should not believe in the morality of the medieval ages.The world is changing fast today and women are being given an equal status with men in the society. Let us, therefore accept the changing order and open more and more co-educational institutions in future and say good bye to separate institutions.