7/20/2010 8:34:24 PM permalink
lpyrett Posts: 6	Up until reading this book, I honestly did not understand the importance of having and/or offering single sex education. I was thinking that single sex education would actually deprive children of social skills, when in reality it does just the opposite. I am wondering with all of the research to support single sex education, why are we not seeing it more. I know in the area that I live- Michigan, single sex schools would be few and far between. As an educator in a public coed school, I will know be much more aware of how I group students. I will now be more apt to have many groups all girls and all boys. Prior to reading this book, I always did coed grouping with all subjects. This book was very eye opening for me and has been the topic of conversation with many of my friends.
	7/23/2010 12:28:05 PM permalink
JodiC Posts: 17	I also teach in a public co-ed school in Minnesota. I think in the Metro area they may have more opportunities for single sex school, but at a cost- they are private. I found the book eye opening and am excited to try some things just with grouping the kids within my own classroom. Still not the ideal scenario, but want to see if it makes a difference.
	7/23/2010 10:24:22 PM permalink
mmorris1 Posts: 5	I attended a private all-girls high school, and my brothers attended a private all-boys high school in the Chicago area. Those school were more common some years ago. Now, most of them have gone coed. My eyes kind of opened when I read Dr. Sax's positive comments on single gender schools. At the time, I envied my friends who went to the local coed high school because boys could mix with girls. Perhaps I should be thankful that I did not have the distraction of boys. When I think back, our lessons did appeal to our feminine side. We had excellent women role models who knew how to keep us in line.
	7/25/2010 9:56:37 PM permalink
julieann Posts: 4	I went to a coed high school and always had thought it was a lot more beneficial than a single sex school. As a result of reading the book, I now realize that I may have achieved more had it been a girls only school. In my advanced chemistry/physics class I noticed immediately that there were many more males than females. I was much quieter in that class than any others, and dreaded it each day. The teacher used a self study at your own pace method for the majority of the semester. The males were constantly monopolizing his time with their reactions to the experiments, and I just wanted some help to be able to move on. It was very frustrating!
	7/27/2010 10:34:43 PM permalink
billy Posts: 11	I also went to a coed high school and always thought that those who went to a single sex school were missing out on social skills. I better understand the importance of a single sex school and if you can attend a single sex school make sure that you are able to be a part of single sex organized activities. I do agree that there is a bit of intimidation when going to a coed school. You may not want to look dumb in front t of a guy you like so you don't participate. This book opened my eyes to the importance that goes along with single-sex schools. Around were I live single-sex school are not an option. I will for make sure my children participate in many single sex organized activities throughout their growing up years. I now know how important they are in the development of confident self-assured individuals.
	7/28/2010 8:43:44 AM permalink
bbostic Posts: 16	I thought that the book was excellent and very well written. I teach in a co-ed school and I wish we did offer same-sex classes to be able to truly witness the differences when teaching only boys or girls. Alas, that will never happen in my area because the taxes are already to high for most people and getting people to believe that it would benefit their children probably would not convince them that higher taxes for same-sex classrooms is beneficial for them. I will try to incorporate the methods in the book into my classroom starting in September. I think I'm going to put girls on one side and boys on the other to see how that goes for the first marking period. Many boys are reliant on girls for group work and I would like to see how they respond to relying on each other instead of the girls. I found the lack of dating in schools to also be alarming based on the alternative that exists today. I found myself to be truly naive concerning today's children.
	7/29/2010 9:43:58 AM permalink
GretchenM Posts: 2	I agree with Dr. Sax about gender separate classes. In our public school in Vermont, we have houses for grades. There are four classrooms within a house with a common area in the center. In this situation we could separate the genders for core courses while still giving them social time at lunch, recess, team time and other full grade activities.
	7/29/2010 12:23:57 PM permalink
Robynclare Posts: 12	This book was eye-opening for me too! I truly thought that coed education was considered more progressive and gave students a "better", more well rounded education before I read this book. I live in a large urban area and single gender schools are not even available around here as an option. There is no doubt in my mind if I knew what I know now about gender separate schools and I had that option, I would most definitely have sent my own children to this type of school. If we have all this excellent research about the benefits of single gender schools, and we are watching our academic scores drop, and our children are struggling with so many problems involving drugs, sex, mental health, etc., this seems like such an easy, cost-efficient answer.
	7/29/2010 12:32:03 PM permalink
Carole Moyer Posts: 4	Before reading Dr. Sax's book, I would've said gender separate classes were prehistoric. As many of you are saying, I would've also said it was socially a bad idea. Then as I read through his research, I reflected on my own third grade classroom and on my own daughters' comments. Having lower levels of oxytocin and serotonin, the boys often find it difficult to sit still. I've certainly noticed this over the years. In addition, the information on rest states for boys' brains made sense as I think about how girls tend to transition much faster and spend a lot of their time waiting around. Also, as a parent of 10 and 12 year old girls, I see how preoccupied they are with their social standing and their appearances. When I read the study about interviewing girls at coed schools and if they didn't answer yes to perceiving themselves as attractive, no other variable (grades, talents, family) mattered when it came to self esteem- I felt very sad. What a difference from the interviews at the gender separate schools. This is a huge distraction to girls which really could affect their academic performance! During the next school year, I plan to group children into some separate gender literature circles and possibly some flexible math groupings. I'd like to try some of the strategies that work better with each gender and see if I notice a difference in participation and understanding.
	7/29/2010 1:56:08 PM permalink
macrotty Posts: 3	I also enjoyed being a product of a co-ed high school but now I wonder if I would have done better in math and science if I had gone to an all-girls school. As a public school music teacher, I have asked administrators if it is possible to separate the genders and form all-boys choirs and all-girls choirs but scheduling has not allowed for divisions to be made. After reading this book, I know that I have to try to address boys and girls needs inside the same classroom. As I continue to build my lesson plans, I will make more use of gender-specific activities.
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