Same Sex Classrooms

PRO Expert: Being a teacher for the past eight years has given me a little insight into the way in which students learn, particularly how boys and girls differ in learning styles. This lead me to look at the possibility of real differences within the brain that might attribute to this. According to the Medical Education Online article "the frontal and the temporal lobes are significantly larger in women." These two lobes are responsible for language and communication skills. It is clear that in the classroom setting girls are much more verbal and have an advantage in being able to express themselves. Another difference discussed in the Medical Education Online was that the parietal lobe is bigger in men. This area targets logic and mathematical abilities including spacial relations. Moreover, women have a large, deep limbic system (compared to males) which is the area of the brain that controls emotions. this then explains why women are more in touch with their feelings and feel more connected to others. Overall, men tend to be more left brained and women tend to have greater access to both sides. In knowing this, it is evident that the biological makeup of both males and females are different, therefore require different learning styles.

According to Leonard Sax, the founder of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education, "general expectations in most classrooms, that students raise their hands, work cooperatively, ask for help, and refrain from disruption, are easier for girls than for boys to meet. This is why he feels so may male students are falling behind." I know for me, I noticed this change a lot in the classroom. Girls tend to be prepared, organized, quiet, and attentive. Girls tend to raise their hands more and share ideas. Boys on the other hand tend to be inattentive, have trouble sitting still, are less apt to volunteer or share their ideas, and disrupt class more frequently. As a mother of both a girl and a boy, these fundamental characteristics are clear. My girl and boy are definitely programmed differently. My daughter's strengths are more verbal and written language, and emotional whereas my son is more physically active, into everything and anything he is not supposed to be in, and has trouble sitting still. In knowing this, I would be more than willing to at least try same sex classrooms.

Furthermore, if same sex classes are to work, it will take more than just segregating the sexes. It will also take teachers to change their mind set and teaching style as well. For girls, a teacher may look at the emotional connections, cooperative learning, and for boys there would need to be a louder more hands-on approach to learning. Sax further states that "teachers will need new training and need to have natural empathy for one gender style over the other for this to work." Based on my findings and where our students are in the world from a global perspective what do we really have to lose?