Tuesday, July 21, 2009

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A tried and proven method It is difficult to take a look at the current problems within the education system without admitting the worth of gender separated schools. The country's male student population is, sadly, severely lagging behind their female counterparts from as early as the primary level. Statistics show that nationally the academic performance of boys has been less than stellar compared to girls for many years. A tried and proven method of getting better grades among male students in countries around the world has been the introduction of gender-segregated schools. It has long been accepted that males and females possess very different styles of learning, and the single-sex schools cater to this differentiation. It has been found in a study that girls learn better in quiet and slower-paced settings whereas boys learn best when they are in fast-paced environments where they can move around and learn through hands-on exercises. Countries like England and Australia have traditionally embraced gender-segregated schools with much success. A study in Australia examined six years of test scores for 270,000 students and discovered that male students in single-sex schools scored, on average, 15 to 22 percentiles higher than their peers who were schooled in co-educational facilities. Researchers at Cambridge University in England found that single-sex classes were a major contributor in accomplishing higher educational achievement. Closer to home, many Caribbean countries have girls and boys schools, where teachers can attest to encountering more academically-focussed and more disciplined students. Perhaps it is time for The Bahamas to introduce this concept. Some of the more obvious benefits of single-sex schooling include a decrease in distractions for students, an environment that is more conducive to concentrating on school work and one that allows students to feel comfortable asking and answering questions in class without feeling embarrassed. Perhaps one of the most relevant benefits, bearing in mind the current state of affairs in the nation, is that single-sex schools allow students to be who they are and eliminates some of the societal pressures. They do not have to worry about how they are dressed, who they are friends with or who they should impress. This becomes increasingly important in a time where young males, pressured into acting "macho", perpetrate violent acts against each other to impress their female counterparts. The single-sex schools may present a non-judgmental environment whereby males may feel more comfortable expressing their emotions, and showing interest in subject areas that they may have otherwise shied away from. This frees them from the pressure of having to live up to the stereotype of the typical male. They can then feel free to take up subjects such as drama, art or sewing that perhaps would be seen as gender-specific in a co-ed setting. The idea of single-sex schools in The Bahamas may be met with some resistance by those who think the environment will foster socially inept students who have trouble adjusting to co-ed environments when they get to college or the workplace. However, there is room outside of the class for students to engage with the opposite sex. They may take up an extra curricular activity or attend church or social events where they are exposed to their peers of the opposite sex. There is also the unrealistic notion by many that grouping young people of the same gender together and disallowing that very basic human interaction with the opposite sex can result in them "becoming homosexual". Nonetheless, the undeniable positive effects that separating the sexes can have on the nation's students should seriously be considered. Saturday, June 20, 2009