More Public Schools Are Splitting Up Boys and Girls

The discussion regarding coed and non-coed education is in the news once again. It seems more and more public schools are offering gender segregated instruction, Associated Press reports (See article in Washington Post).

The debate over the pros and cons of keeping boys and girls separate in the classroom is a long standing one. Despite the seeming distance on the issue between the two sides, it must be acknowledged that there are pluses and minuses in each method. Girls generally tend to be the more studious, especially in the younger grades as they develop faster than boys, and as such raise the bar for the entire classroom. On the other hand, and especially in older grades, hormone budding distractions can invite unnecessary challenges to the already vulnerable education process.

The ACLU which questions the legality of this new development believes that it does nothing but promote stereotypes and is discriminatory at the core. Proponents of the separated instruction argue that the unique characteristics of each gender is readily accepted by all and as such crafting the curriculum and its delivery to be more gender specific will increase the success and improve the impact of learning.

In the world of private education which includes Jewish and Parochial schools, this debate, although less threatened by the legal actions of such organizations as the ACLU, has been central to the development of the widely varied Jewish school system that we see today. There are coed and non-coed Jewish schools some completely and some partially. Sinai Academy today remains a boys only school. We continue to believe that the benefits of gender specific instruction outweigh the negatives. It also gives a greater flexibility in planning extra-curricular, which are just as important if not more so, activities for the students.