Letters to the Editor
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what about single-sex classes in co-ed schools?
I had a couple of those--P.E. and Health classes. In my Catholic grade school these were co-ed, except for "The Talk" in fifth grade. In my public jr. high, both were single-sex. In high school, P.E. was single-sex and health was co-ed.
I can definately see the advantages of sex-segregating for P.E. and health classes outweighing the drawbacks. As an unusually uncoordinated person, I did not need the embarrassment of missing free throw after free throw in front of boys I wanted to impress, and I'm sure that was also the case for the many uncoordinated boys out there. I can't see that the athletic kids would have gotten any advantage from co-ed gym either, and let's face it--in the real world, unless they're in the military, men and women generally do not NEED to do physical training together.
As for health class--girls are not going to ask questions about "female trouble" in front of boys, and I presume boys are not going to be as candid either in front of girls. Both sexes need to be taught about what goes on with the other sex, but there will be less embarrassment and more information taking hold in their minds when they are not worried about what the opposite sex is thinking of them at that particular moment.
BTW, I was also in a class that (but for me) was de facto single-sex. I took Drafting as a high school freshman. It wasn't forbidden or discouraged for girls; most simply didn't want to take it. I took it because that was where the boys were. Unfortunately, the boys in question turned out to be pretty stupid meatheads, but I did learn to read blueprints. Three years later, my little brother took French I for the same reason I took Drafting. (In the minds of the boys at our redneck school, "only girls speak French.") I think he did all right with the ladies, but he ended up failing French because his mind was too much on other things...