My question to those on this list who are concerned about boys as
well as girls: where are studies of equity for boys? What are you
doing to advocate for boys?
Having said that, I agree with Linda Purrington's fear of gender
apartheid. As a boys' advocate, I must say the prospect of a return
to single sex schools scares me, especially if it is driven by moves
to protect girls from boys, rather than promoting the welfare of all
children.
I feel that single sex classes are a bandaid solution to much deeper
problems. We need to look the fundamental issues that are causing
girls and boys not to achieve their full potential. The issues are
different but overlapping. There seem to be some sex differences
which are biologically based (especially in the early years) and many
social gender differences which dominate in later years. By no
stretch of the imagination can we classify all boys as this or all
girls as that, so single sex schooling might benefit some children
but disadvantage others. Only schooling which caters for the needs of
each individual child will be truly equitable, and the answers to
that will not be found by turning a blind eye to any single group.
Here in Australia "equity" in education continues to be synonymous
with adressing girls' issues. I suspect the situation is no
different in the States.
If anyone intrested in broadening the agenda to include boys, I
invite you to join a discussion group I host called "boysed" which
you can subscribe to be sending a message to majordomo@pnc.com.au
saying: subscribe boysed <your email address>
Thanks for the interesting discussion,
Peter Vogel
pvogel@ibm.net