Rejecting All-girls, All-boys School, College?

In the UK, there are very many single sex institutions. I visited a couple for my child - loved the head teacher, the teachers, facilities, equipment, space. However, when I saw kids playing and classes going on, it freaked me out that there were no boys. It just didn't seem right in my head.

Now my child's in a coed school but you know what? There are many parents who send their sons to my child's coed school while daughters go to a girls school. The girls of course meet boys at extra curricular and other activities. They are confident and balanced. Of course there is no social taboo about mingling with the opposite sex.

The spiel given when visiting the single sex schools is that boys and girls learn differently. After primary, most of the top schools are single sex.

I don't get it and it doesn't sit well with me. But it looks like I'm going to have to play the game.

 

Interesting theory..though i understand there is a wee bit truth in as i have seen my boy and girl do the their studying differently, but does that warrant this??

 

They say girls take on more leadership roles in all girls schools. They thrive in more structured environments. Boys need a lot of movement before they can sit down and focus. (My daughtet needs movement too) So in coed schools there could supposedly be a clash. The single sex schools here claim that their teaching methods are adapted to the gender and they are quite often seem very effective - kids I've met do seem very driven and socially adept.

They are exposed to kids of the other gender in socials etc. However learning environment is separate.

I can't answer your question about whether this is warranted though, @Shanvy I'm grappling with this myself

 

@guesshoo your post pushed me read some papers..interesting. looks like many countries think that it is good for the child (though there is a percentage that feels it is not ok)..but i am wondering if it would really help. what happens when the kids move on to university. the adapted learning system in the exclusive schools may hamper.

it would be interesting to look at numbers..

P.S. i did not mean to ask it as a question, it was just that thought stood out for me..and let us hope you get a clear idea..

 

My worry, @Shanvy is whether girls from single sex schools will be able to scale up in real life situations when they haven't already been in a competitive environment with boys before. I'm sure there are very many opinions some with statistics going either way. In the end it boils down to the individual...

 

you nailed it. this is not a one size fits all case.. sadly many parents tend to go with the overall verdict, rather than thinking what works for the child..

 

It's all about the data!

A Facebook Data Science study suggests that 28% of married grads went to the same university as their spouse. So it seems to be a good place to find a mate.

Also see this. (Note: Popup blockers may mess with the graphic).

And re: India there's this - (Finding a “suitable” husband or wife in India ‘will become increasingly difficult’). PDF of actual paper can be found here.

I only observe and take notes.