Parents view the coeducational schooling and single sex schooling debate as a large issue that must be taken into thorough consideration when selecting a school for their child, indeed for some it is more important that others, however, it appears to be a large contributing factor to school selection overall. Throughout my own experience, and upon recalling many opinions, memories and experiences throughout my high school education experience, I have come to the understanding that gender identity is a large issue throughout secondary education.
Personally, having being sent to an all girls school, I was not at all phased by the decision my parents had made for me, they had given me the option to look into any other schools that I had desperately wished to go to, I however was just interested in where i knew i would continue to get an education, and where all my friends were going, which so happened to be the school in which i was sent. For my parents, upon speaking to them recently, they revealed that they were lead to believe that students throughout a high school environment tended to learn better when surrounded by the same sex (single sex schooling). They claimed these beliefs developed from small articles they had read over the years in newspapers on HSC and NAPLAN result related pieces, from speaking to friends with older children already in high school education, from their own experience and an idea of traditionalism. My parents explained that around the time of enrollment for secondary education, many of the other parents of children in my year 6 class had various comments, both positive and negative, to make on their decision for my education. Attacked with statistics mainly, all of these new time parents enrolling their first child into high school, all of a sudden became the experts on how I would learn better in a particular environment.
The difference between coeducational schooling and single sex schooling is not only a focal point for parents when selecting a school for their child, but a social issue for students throughout high school. This issue first became largely apparent to me when I was in my final year of primary school and a great divide emerged between the girls whom were attending the local all girls school, and the girls who were attending either local or non local coeducational schools. This issue did not cease for me until post high school. From the day i started I was surrounded by girls who were either not phased at all, were entirely phased by their surrounding environment or girls that held opinions that were easily swayed in either direction. Upon focusing on coeducational schooling versus single sex schooling, it can be understood the the idea of gender identity is where the issues generally orbit. Throughout my secondary schooling experience I witnessed first hand the sole reasons as to why single sex schooling was opposed by so many teenagers. Many people both internally and externally would associate my school in particular with higher rates of homosexuality, higher rates of bullying do to ideas surrounding girls being extremely heartless and cruel, stunted social growth as girls were not enabled to socially interact with males on a day to day basis as you would in a coeducational school and the school incurred a bad reputation in regards rumors that the school was full of girls whom were very sexually forward and promiscuous.
An article from The Age reveals that in 2010, principal of Kilvington Girls Grammar made the decision to turn the school coeducational in the following year. “Mr Charlton spent a great deal of time poring over the latest research on the merits of single-sex and coeducational schools... Acknowledging a widely held belief in the community that boys do better in coeducational schools and girls perform better in single-sex classrooms, he says the latest research reveals that any differences are not very significant.”. The article proceeds to look upon coeducational schooling in various lights in regards this particular principles decision. Personally I would have to agree with the point stated my Mr Charlton that life is indeed coed, therefore coeducational schooling would be a more naturally based environment for youth to learn.
Coming from an all girls school I would not negatively look back upon my educational experience, and any issues that i had throughout high school were not at all related to the idea that the school was single sex. I often wonder if perhaps my results from my HSC would have been any different if i had in fact attended a coed school. Personally I feel that i did feel extremely comfortable in my school environment, and i feel as though some of that is indeed owed to the single sex environment. I believe that knowing each girl in my grade personally that a coed environment would have influenced their educational situation, for some positively and for some negatively. However in saying this i am not certain, therefore my statement is merely a hypothesis. I do not disagree with either types of schooling, i feel that ultimately it comes down to the individual and the way in which they learn and how their surrounding environment influences them.
REFERENCES
Ryan, D. (2010). Single sex or coed? The gender agenda. Retrieved October 17, 2013, from http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/single-sex-or-coed-the-gender-agenda-20100827-13voh.html
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