Re: Legality of single-sex education -Reply

PEGGY WEEKS (peggy_w@nde4.nde.state.ne.us)
Wed, 18 Mar 1998 08:28:22 -0600


Mt niece put this in an interesting way. She was one of the 1st
generaltion to be integrated w/ p.e. I'll never forget her assessment of
the results of being in an integrated class: "Hey, Peggy," said the then
young teen, "I discovered that not all the boys are jocks- and that not all
the girls are weaklings." Go for it, Roger!!!
PEGGY WEEKS<peggy_w@nde4.nde.state.ne.us>

_________________________________________________

>>> Roger Crabtree <crabtree@barrow.com> 03/16/98 11:04pm >>>

I teach middle-school physical education to classes made up of males
and females. As we prepare to schedule students for next year's
classes, I am again struggling with the gender make-up of my classes. It
is very difficult to allow for equal success and participation when a
class is overwhelmingly made up of stong-willed and strong bodied
males. An earlier comment, "to call in the National Guard" if necessary to
make educational gender equity work made me smile as it is near the
truth.
I am in the trenches here and requesting back-up...please suggest
books, summer conferences, inspiring kicks in the pants, or any other
ammo. Please spare me long philosophical or legal debates - give me the
short and dirty version of gender equity in PE as that is all I have time to
digest.
"Roger Crabtree" <crabtree@barrow.com>
_________________________________________________

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>


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