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?" (end of PV)
For proponents of single-sex boys' schools and issues raised by single-sex
schooling in general, I refer the list to a 1993 2-volume publication from the
U.S. Department of Education: "Single-Sex Schooling: Perspectives from Practice
and Research" and "Single-Sex Schooling: Proponents Speak". The first volume is
a review of the research (with a very good reference section), and in the latter
volume is a paper by Richard Hawley titled "A Case for Boys' Schools" as well as
a couple of other papers with a focus on boys.
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: AAUW study
Author: edequity@tristram.edc.org at Internet
Date: 4/25/98 12:06 PM
I had a look at the brief information on "Separated by Sex" available
on the website, and again was struck by the charter of the AAUW:
"the nations' leading advocate for education and equity for women and
girls".
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
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