Separate Schools

Some high schools in the United States are considering creating separate classrooms to educate the boys and the girls. Many parents and professionals have their own opinions on this topic; but, the real question is if boys and girls would benefit from these separate classrooms. The cons of this topic outnumber the pros in many different ways. Many believe that the idea is undecided whether it is sexist by separating the two genders. On the other hand, students won’t have as many distractions while trying to learn their basic life skills. Another con of separating the students would be, when it comes to becoming adults, students won’t ever be separated in the real world in their job. Sexism is topic that has increased interest lately in many different ways. In this instance, sexism is often related and similar to racial views. Motoko Rich of the New York Times reported “Many of the schools that offer single-sex classes have struggled with student academic performance and are in high-poverty neighborhoods dominated by racial minorities” (Rich). This gives more proof as to why
students shouldn’t be separated and how they won’t benefit from being separated. Instead of being beneficial to the students, it is actually hurting them from getting their education. Opposing my belief of this topic is an idea that is obvious.
When boys and girls are together in a room, it is human nature that a boy is going going to be attracted to that female. The two genders aren’t going to be able to have 100% of their focus on the course at hand. Principal of a single sex middle school Zachary Clayton said, “for boys it can take some of the social pressure off, they can be pretty cruel to each other when they are trying to impress a girl” (Kozma). Clayton also said, “It allows them to just take one of those pressures that a lot of middle school boys are going through out of their heads, and lets them focus on their academics” (Kozma). It is also common sense that you are unable to have 100% of your focus on a single task. If there are other people in the room of the opposite sex, the students are going to be unable to have 100% of their focus on their
academics. The biggest and most highlighted point of opposing the idea of separating genders are when it comes to being adults. It is also said that in school, the teachers are trying to prepare their students for the real world when they are out of school. With this, why would teachers want to separate the students by gender when they are never going to get that opportunity in a job. If separating people by gender would go through in the real world it would cause more harm than help. The thought would raise more havoc about people being sexist than is would be positive. Ultimately, I believe that the idea of separating students by gender in classrooms is going to cause more problems than solving them. Though there may be a good idea when thinking about the focus that the kids are going to have but the cons outnumber the pros. The thought of sexism and when the students get out into the real world makes more sense than if the students should be separated.