Letters to the Editor
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I went to an all girls "finishing" school!
First, public schools are co-ed and will always be co-ed. Sometimes we can on our own decide we do not want to be in that environment and go to a different school. I did. It was a decision my family made together. We lived overseas and the American school was atrocious. My school was not a "finishing" school because I was surrounded by other women and teachers who wanted me to wear white gloves, on the contrary my teachers wanted me to play sports, be competitive, more importantly learn. At my previous American Community School my science teacher literally only spoke to the 5 boys he liked, at one point even ignoring my friend (a girl) who was bleeding. The only time he knew I existed in that classroom was when I broke dress code.
You might say, where did you live to explain these events, but even when I lived in the United States and attended public school there I felt ignored in science and math classes. When we learned about the reproductive systems I can remember being made fun of by boys because of my gender. Literally because I have a vagina.
This is not the case for all young women, but I know it was the right choice for me. I would never give up that experience, or the teachers that helped me through. The requirement to be a part of a team allowed me to actually like sports for once in my life, to be competitive. When I got to college I was one of three girls in my english class to speak, and the two other girls went to, woo guess what a private girls school in the area. Even my senior year of college, in senior level classes girls spoke up less in the classroom than boys. It is not that schools should be single sex, but that teachers should not ignore half the class. Oh and I have NEVER seen a boy shuffled out because he was a boy, I did see boys get into trouble for throwing things in a classroom and kicked out of class, but cheered on my their fellow class mates.
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CIA funded anti-male (pro feminist) efforts ?!?!?
Now I know someone's a little paranoid. What would these CIA funded efforts be exactly?
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What's wrong with having a choice?
I don't think public schools should offer only single sex education, but if it is affordable I don't see why it can't be an option for parents to choose or not.
As a product of single-sex education, and parent of boys in a boys' school, I think it can be a great experience. Call me Victorian if you want, but there is a certain freedom -- for both sexes -- when you aren't worrying about what the opposite sex thinks of you during the day. My sons' school has a lot of male teachers, and clearly it is perfectly acceptable to be a boy, think like a boy, act like a boy, joke like a boy...
It's not for everyone, and it is one, not the only, path to success. I would not claim that it is the best way, but it is a legitimate way that, as the NYT article shows, some people would like to have available to them and their kids.
(P.S. - I read the article and IMHO it is quite skeptical of the supposed "science" behind the guy's educational theories, which sound like a lot of baloney. The story refers to a number of critics who point out cherry picked research, ec.)
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one more
Expecting non-English speaking students to become fluent in English by insisting on English-only curriculum is another big problem.
And for Brightstar:
the rise in women teachers and the decline in male teachers is not a dire feminist plot. Rather, it matches the steady decline in income and prestige of the teaching profession. A generation ago (or so), a man could teach high school math, or second grade everything, and provide for his family of four, while his wife stayed home with the kids. Not so anymore. As primary education has become a "softer" subject, more men have opted out. Many women, by contrast, have viewed teaching as a good profession because (in theory) they can work, providing supplemental income for the family, and still be "at home" when their school-age children come home from school.
The few men I knew from college who got their Masters in Ed, have either left the profession entirely (going to work for dot coms or other business fields where their training has been put to other use), become coaches as well as teachers, or left teaching for principalship or superintendent positions. The many more women I know with Masters in Ed are either still teaching (while husband earns the "big bucks"), have left to raise kids (hoping to come back when the kids are in school), or have left because they divorced and couldn't afford to live on a teacher's salary alone.
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As a trans' woman
I took enough beatings from the teachers and other students. I imagine I would have faced even more beatings and had even more trouble finding myself later on.
Of course, many people would rather that I be dead than that I be who I am.
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It is common knowledge
that the CIA channels funding to feminists and their programs, people like Gloria Steinem, et al.
the purpose has always been to divide and conquer the nation, soften it as it were, by supporting any organization that has the power to destroy marriage cohesiveness, split kids from the parents, etc, introduce a police state tenor to personal relationships.
I thought this was common knowledge...
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I used to volunteer tutor in a public urban middle school
Whenever I had a group of all boys, or all girls, the kids would be active, engaged learners. Whenever it was a mixed group, the girls would play dumb and claim they didn't know how to do stuff which they did routinely. The boys, meanwhile, would put their hands in their pockets, recline back on their chairs, and answer each question with "I don't care."
Schools shouldn't be segregated by sex the whole way up, but having seen it firsthand, I'm convinced that middle schools, where the hormones are making kids just a little bit nuts, would be much more productive when segretated. Reintegrate them in high school when they're a bit more mature.