Task
Some people think that it is better to educate boys and girls in separate schools. Others, however, believe that boys and girls benefit more from attending mixed schools.
Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
Examiner’s Answer
This model has been prepared by an examiner as an example of a very good answer.
Some countries have single-sex education models, while in others both single sex and mixed schools co-exist and it is up to the parents or the children to decide which model is preferable.
Some educationalists think it is more effective to educate boys and girls in single-sex schools because they believe this environment reduces distractions and encourages pupils to concentrate on their studies. This is probably true to some extent. It also allows more equality among pupils and gives more opportunity to all those at the school to choose subjects more freely without gender prejudice. For example, a much higher proportion of girls study science to a high level when they attend girls’ schools than their counterparts in mixed schools do. Similarly, boys in single-sex schools are more likely to take cookery classes and to study languages, which are often thought of as traditional subjects for girls.
On the other hand, some experts would argue that mixed schools prepare their pupils better for their future lives. Girls and boys learn to live and work together from an early age and are consequently not emotionally underdeveloped in their relations with the opposite sex. They are also able to learn from each other, and to experience different types of skill and talent than might be evident in a single-gender environment.
Personally, I think that there are advantages to both systems. I went to a mixed school, but feel that I myself missed the opportunity to specialise in science because it was seen as the natural domain and career path for boys when I was a girl. So because of that, I would have preferred to go to a girls’ school. But hopefully times have changed, and both genders of student can have equal chances to study what they want to in whichever type of school they attend.
