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Tim Flinders wrote:
>
> Linda: I think the single sex academy experiment should be allowed to
> continue without court challenges so that we can study them and find out
> just what effect they do have. If they turn out to benefit both genders,
> than I think the single-sex option should be allowed within the public
> school setting in ways that do not violate Title IX.
>
> I am not so sure that I share the AAUW's concerns (and I am an AAUW
> member) that single sex education would result in the disproportionate
> allocation of resources towards the all-male schools that was true in the
> pre-Title IX era. These schools would be under a level scrutiny (from both
> the public and the state) that simply didn't exist in those days.
>
> I'd also like the debate on single-gender schools to shift from the
> all-or-nothing concerns that characterize the current discussion, to
> looking at ways within our current mixed-gender system for creating
> opportunities (daily, weekly, occaisionally at least) when boys and girls
> can be in single-sex settings. Having taught gifted elementary students for
> twenty years, and once or twice (by serendipity) under single gender
> circumstances, I believe strongly that there are defininte advantages for
> both boys and girls to be with their own gender, at least part of the time.
> I wish there were easier ways to accomodate this, short of total
> educational reform.
>
> As an educator, I continue to work within the traditional educational
> setting for equity reforms. But were I the parent of a daughter, and had
> the wherewithal, I'm not sure I'd send her to a public mixed gender school.
> For whatever reasons (I haven't looked carefully yet at the recent AAUW
> report), women from all-girls schools achieve higher and find their way
> more readily into positions of influence and authority, than their
> mixed-gender counterparts. Were I a parent of a daughter, at this point in
> time anyway, I'd be looking (regrettably) for a good all-girls school.
>
> Tim Flinders <flinders@wco.com>