Coed VS Single-sex Schools

A quick glance at the school where both boys and girls mingled, you turn away in envy at
how social everyone was with each other. According to National Center for Education Statistics
there are over 98,817 public schools in the US, only around 500 public schools offered a
single-sex education and 390 coed public schools offered single-sex classes. Although students
may feel more comfortable having an education with their own sex, they should keeps school
coed because theres no academic benefits, students would be more open to gender
stereotypes, and students will not have the opportunity to socialize and work with the opposite
sex.

One reason why I think schools should not switch from coed to single-sex is because it
has no academic benefit. According to American Psychological Association (APA) who
conducted a study on 1.6 million students around the world, single-sex schools do not educate
girls and boys better than coed. If there is a boost in achievement it is not because of the sex
factor. Janet Shibley Hyde, PhD, of University of Wisconsin-Madison says their data shows that
the single-sex advantage is trivial and in many cases nonexistent. This evidence shows that
boys and girl shouldnt be separated on the basis of sex because theres no advantage to it.

Another reason, if switched to a single-sex school from coed, students will be more open
to gender stereotypes. According to Rebecca Rigner psychologist at the University of Texas
who surveyed an all-girls school and a coed school, said that segregating by sex increases
prejudice based on stereotypes. Teachers who teach at single-sex schools are taught to
embrace the idea that girls and boys learn differently so they base their decision and lessons
around that idea and end up reinforcing gender stereotypes for example, boys would be talked
to in a loud, energetic voice while girls would be talked in a gentler tone. Shenilla Johnson a
nine-year-old girl said that its nice to have an all girls class because boys annoy you and
without them, we learn new things. While Jaheim Jones an eight-year-old boy said he
preferred a zone without girls because he believes girls are bossy. This shows students would
be more open to stereotypes and converting to single-sex schools will not help that.

Coed schools give students experience with talking and working with the other sex.
According to Forbes, when students are segregated by sex they miss opportunities to work
together and develop important social skills. Single-sex schools also leaves the students a
lasting impression that one gender is better than the other and this makes them not able to
communicate well with each other. American Psychological Association says this can cause
problems in forming adult relationships as they get older. This shows that converting to a
single-sex school can cause problems for a student socially in later years when they finish
school and join the workforce.

Those who favor single-sex school argue that boys and girls learn differently.
Neuroscience research fails to find any major evidence that boys and girls learn differently.
Though there is slight difference in the brain, it is nonexistent in most cases. To also separate
both sex because they apparently learn (though there isnt any solid evidence) differently leads
to stereotypes because of the different ways they teach boys and girls in single-sex schools.

Schools should be kept coed because theres no academic benefits, students would be
more open to gender stereotypes, and students will not have the opportunity to socialize and
work with the opposite sex. Theres more positives for coed schools compared to single-sex
schools so there is hardly any reason to convert to them. You will later be thankful that you have
experience talking and working with the other sex, it makes your job easier because you can
work with your coworkers and its all because you went to a coed school.