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Andrew Smith Mr. Bergholtz ENGL 2000 31 JAN. 2013 Coeducation: Enriching or Impairing?

Should males and females be kept together or apart in school? That is the question which parents are trying to decide with their childrens future education. Which educational approach is more beneficial for our nations youth is highly debated subject matter between parents and teachers alike. Coeducation is presented to us as an open set up while single sex comes across as an old school and traditional style of education. Since the advent of title IX in 1972 there has been a surge of coeducation schools from elementary schools to university and along with it fierce critics and proponents of the change. With the integration of the opposite sex, questions have arisen concerning the impact of the integration on the social state of their children, with some believing the inclusivity allow for a greater comprehension of opposite gender social situations, while leading others to believe that this only sets a path for distraction and unfocused state. The fuel for this subject matter has multiple sources from religion to science and more. I am mainly concentered about the resultant of the students who attend either school type and how they respond when they are placed into a new environment outside of school. My research paper will delve into both understandings of topics on the sides of coeducation and segregation and the true impact that these places have on students. This proposal will follow the roots of the debate of the topic to its place today, the people who head the topic and ultimately I will deliver a paper that will set out to disclose what each type of school does to our students.

Since 1833, when the Oberlin College Institute permitted women to enroll in their classes (Oberlin) the debate of coeducation has changed greatly over time. Due to early mans perceived notation of women shortcomings, women were not even allowed into schools. The debate against coeducation in the beginning was that women were not equal to men in intelligence or status (Soloman 35). This problem persisted until 1970 when the University of Virginia Adopted Coeducation (Rosenberg 1). Now with the problem of gender inequality behind it, the main attack against coeducation seems to be whether or not single sex schools are better for our students due to our opposite genetic hardwire (Rosenberg 1). There are many varying opinion on our nation education. Victory Lavy, a researcher of economics of education at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is a proponent for coeducation who believes in the emotional effect that girls tend to have on boys. He notes that girls tend to calm down male member of the class while also causing more cooperation. He simply states that, The more girls, the more relaxed the learning environment, the better relationships between students, the better relationships between students and their teachers (Lavy 30). Lavy field of research has a direct stake in the educational field. Alongside Lavy are Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Fitz. Both are Harvard University associates who research study has shown that, Women now receive 57 percent of all bachelor of arts degrees in the United States, and 97 percent of them are awarded by coeducational institutions (Goldin & Fitz, 377) They share the belief that coeducational approach only help to enrich. On the opposing standpoint of coeducation is Leonard Sax, who is the executive director of the National Association for Single-Sex Public Education. Sax believes that girls and boys the coeducation structure of schools today can help exclude female students from taking male oriented classes due to social pressure and vice-verse. Thirty years of politically correct

insistence that gender doesn't matter has had the ironic and unintended effect of reinforcing gender stereotypes: Fewer men are entering fields such as psychology, journalism, and foreign languages, while fewer women are entering fields such as computer science, physics, and engineering (Sax 36). Sax infers that by having single-sex schools, then schools will be able to address the genetic differences that males and females have and that this will also help free up students to explore more classes. Both sides have stakes in this debate due to how closely tied up their professions are to the subject of the topic but I believe that more research will help better tell their point of view. There is still much more research that I need to read over and study up on. Mainly I need to read more into single sex education and its perceived benefits. I also need to continue my research more deeply into what is presented to us by coeducation. This will help me with figure out how to better present my case. My research should also correspond to both sides of the argument. With this I will come closer to a much more solid statement concerning the topic and also a better way to put forth all this data. After pouring over the intel that I have gathered from the various research outlets, I have decided that I will argue for the benefit of a coeducational school system. I believe that is the style of education that show the most merit and to forecast a better future for. Also the fact that big impact the segregation can have on a student social development played a big issue for me. In conclusion, I infer that I will have to have a more specialized sort of approach to this case. I will be required navigate through the course of the debate and find where the significance lies at. Also I think that this will be a much greater deal of responsibility and require a greater effort on my part to fully complete it.

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