A class divided?
There are more than 350 public schools in the nation with at least some single-sex classes, including schools in Oklahoma. Now, a county in Georgia could become the first place where an entire school district separates boys and girls into different classrooms.
Shawn McCollough, superintendent of the struggling Greene County Schools about an hour east of Atlanta, told parents, “If we’re going to take some steps, let’s take some big steps,” according to news reports.
McCollough said benefits of the plan include curtailing behavior issues borne of the need for students to impress the other sex; breaking down barriers of intimidation that may keep students from speaking up in front of the other sex; and allowing teachers to tailor their lessons to the ways boys and girls best learn, which research shows is not always the same.
Opponents, including some parents and teachers, have said the move violates federal law because it removes the option of a public coeducational environment. (Under the plan, the preschool, the charter school and likely some electives would remain coed.)
Spokeswoman Shelly Hickman said the State Department of Education does not track exactly how many schools here have single-sex classes.
Do you think separating boys and girls into different classes is a good idea or not? Share your thoughts on the Education Station blog at NewsOK.com (http://blog.newsok.com/educationstation).
Wendy K. Kleinman
Education Reporter
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I believe there is a the federal law violation issue. I also I believe school is preparation for the real world. In the real world we have men and women working in the same environment. As a parent, I want my girls to have experience speaking their mind while boys are present. This is practice for the real world. I want my son to learn to have control over his sexual urges. This is practice for the real world. Heterogeneous schools give my children an opportunity to work through real and perceived gender barriers as well as controlling pubetic urges in a safe environment. Certainly, there are isolated problems but if same-sexed schools were the approach then when would students work through this? In college? Same-sexed schools sounds like a solution for adults not children.