Restak has a lot of evidence to back up his claim that girls and boys think differently from each other. Boys are much more tactile, as in they learn better through using their hands. This includes things like making large projects or models. Girls, on the other hand, learn better through sitting and listening to a teacher. Restak stats that elementary schools are geared more for teaching girls, while universities are more for boys. Of course, this is not how the schools were supposed to be set up, but what would happen if we educated boys and girls differently depending on their sex?
Let’s go over the positives of this first. Separating the education of boys and girls would give each child an equal opportunity for success. By focusing how each child learns differently will enable the children to learn at the same rate, and help them succeed in their studies. This will earn higher grade averages and reduce the hyperactivity. The girls and boys will also have fewer distractions if they are separated. The boys will be less hyper, and therefore be able to focus while the girls will not be distracted by the disruptions of the boys and therefore will focus also. Academically, this may be a good idea for the educational systems to look into.
But there’s always a con to every pro. Although this will increase children’s grades, it will cause social problems. Discrimination between boys and girls will increase in school children. The boys and girls may not understand why they are separated, and therefore assume that they are better or completely different from the opposite gender. Even though this already happens in schools today, the amount will increase if the children are separated based on sex. They may not receive the social skills they will need in the future in dealing with other people and especially the opposite gender. Girls will more so play with girls, and vice versa with boys. They may also not learn skills they would need in the future because of how differently girls and boys learn. Boys may not learn how to take verbal direction and girls may not learn how to learn by doing.
This idea is a good one, but it can have significant changes in a child’s life. I believe that we shouldn’t separate schools entirely, but we should gear the educational system equally so that both genders would be able to succeed. Schools should split the work half and half; Half the work should be paperwork, sitting and listening to the teacher or reading from the text. The other half should be more hands on projects, such as making models or doing projects. This way, there is less stress on the boys to pay attention in class, and more of a challenge for girls. It evens the playing field, and makes it so both genders have a chance to succeed. It will also reduce the hyperactivity in boys and prepare girls for task they may have in the future that would prove challenging if they are not skilled with their hands.
I am in full agreement with you. According to the article boys and girls are different in their learning methods. Although this is true there should not be a requirement for full separation between the genders. This should encourage the board of educators for each county or even the nation as a whole to reevaluate the educational system of today to make critical adjustments for the benefits of the individual students, instead ever more frequently more and more students are being packed into schools without enough teachers and space to provide anything sufficient to the learning needs of the next generation.
ReplyDeleteYes there is indeed the positive side to separation by creating a curriculum to that is more suited to the education of the specific gender recipients however at what cost should we pursue this? Should we neglect social learning for academic learning? Or vice versa? That must not be done because in either sense we have obtained a severe miss understanding of gender and for all intensive purposes will undo what those before have done to strive for gender equality. Plausible solutions for this problem must be found before the current damage of academically ignoring our elementary boys and stunting the educational growth of university level women but the current inefficient methods of teaching.
Despite what "scientific evidence" they can provide that would justify segregating children based on sex. Every neuron of common sense just fired instantaneously. Yes I agree with you that this would give the wrong impression about differences in sex. You're damn right it would!!
ReplyDeleteYou know why?? Personally if I had experienced segregation, I would feel resentment. I would think, "what makes them think I am some how different from this group of people, based on something I can't control?"
And also, this would perpetuate differences among the sexes. It would cause even more differences in the way the sexes would be socialized. Because the classes will not have a similar level of education; they would have different teachers, and the "techniques" used to teach the students would have different levels of effectiveness because that is the nature of things. "Separate but Equal" is the greatest myth out there. How many appeals to the Surpreme Court do we need to disprove it?
I really liked your blog and when you said “Separating the education of boys and girls would give each child an equal opportunity for success. By focusing how each child learns differently will enable the children to learn at the same rate, and help them succeed in their studies. This will earn higher grade averages and reduce the hyperactivity. The girls and boys will also have fewer distractions if they are separated. The boys will be less hyper, and therefore be able to focus while the girls will not be distracted by the disruptions of the boys and therefore will focus also. Academically, this may be a good idea for the educational systems to look into.” I do agree with you and think that by separating boys and girls it would be better for the children, because they would be prone to fewer distractions. The boys wouldn’t be trying to mess with the girls or vice versa, they would be in a room with the same energy and vibe as the others. But it is also a negative because boys and girls should be able to be in a classroom and be able to learn together and should not grow up thinking that it is okay to be separated from females.
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