Co-educational schools attempt to establish uniformity in the teaching of two groups, boys and girls, who typically learn and develop at different speeds and using different methods. ‘They do not develop in the same way or at the same time; boys favour visual processing and do not have the hand-motor control that girls readily achieve in early grades’.[1] It is widely accepted that ‘boys develop more slowly than girls..that’s true at every level of analysis’.[2] Furthermore, they develop physically at different speeds, girls often developing earlier which can lead to bullying from the opposite sex for those who either over-develop or under-develop. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that, at least in the United States, elementary school boys are 50% more likely to repeat a grade than girls and they drop out of high school a third more often.[3] If they were taught separately and the curriculum and teaching was tailored to their needs, drop-out rates would not be so high nor as vastly disproportionate.
[1] Gilbert, M. ‘Single-sex schools help children thrive’. The Christian Science Monitor 20 September 2007.
[2] Bronski, M., ‘Single-sex Schools’. Znet, 25 October 2002.
[3] Gilbert, M. ‘Single-sex schools help children thrive’. The Christian Science Monitor 20 September 2007.
Point
Co-educational schools attempt to establish uniformity in the teaching of two groups, boys and girls, who typically learn and develop at different speeds and using different methods. ‘They do not develop in the same way or at the same time; boys favour visual processing and do not have the hand-motor control that girls readily achieve in early grades’.[1] It is widely accepted that ‘boys develop more slowly than girls..that’s true at every level of analysis’.[2] Furthermore, they develop physically at different speeds, girls often developing earlier which can lead to bullying from the opposite sex for