[SilverTurtle]

I guess I'm in the minority on this one, 'cause I'm AGAINST single-sex education at any age.

I get that the students are influenced by each other. But I, too, would have been much more uncomfortable with girls-only (I play better with boys, and always have). Which is why parents and teachers and all of us adults need to start treating boys & girls truly equally. Children need to learn that there's no reason to get embarassed in front of members of the opposite gender. They're not in school to impress boys/girls, but to learn. My parents, mother especially, encouraged me to learn & let me know it was okay for me to be "smart". It was never implied that my goal was to be pretty & land a man, but rather that I was to excel to the best of my ability for MYSELF.

I had a few friends in college that came from single-sex schools (private schools, all the way through h.s.), male & female. We had many discusstions about the pros/cons of single-sex education. Their social skills with members of the opposited sex, in the classroom & in social situations, were on par with about 9th graders. It wasn't until about our junior year of college that they started becoming more comfortable speaking up in class (girls especially) & acting more "adult" out of class.

I know that studies have been done that show that girls are more likely to volunteer info in all-girl settings, participate, etc. (of course, there are no boys there to do it, so I don't know how that factors in). But if we start teaching them it's okay in kindergarten, by the time they get to college it should be a non-issue. I don't see the point in post-poning the environment, since I'm pretty sure no businesses are going to go to single-sex offices & we have to deal with men/women on a daily basis.

And while I understand the argument that boys & girls are rather hormonal during puberty, how do you deal with gay/lesbian students? Putting them with members of the same sex isn't going to ease their comfort level any, if anything it would probably hinder it.