Why Change it if Nothing is Wrong?

Everyday when people turn on the television or open a newspaper they hear or read about public schools in Georgia. Some of the coverage is over schools loosing accreditation, but over the past few weeks the idea of having same sex schools have been covered.

Same sex schools are schools that segregate class by gender in order for them to learn better. People are doing research over this new trend everyday to see if it will work. In a research summary written by Thomas Spielhofer, Lisa ODonnell, Tom Benton, Sandie Schagen and Ian Schagen, they explain the advantages of this new trend. In the review it says, “Girls were said to be more confident in a single-sex environment, and to gain more attention from teachers. However, it was also claimed that single-sex classes can help underachieving boys.” Most of the research shows positive signs like this, but what are the negative points?

There are some big drawbacks to same sex schools that many people are overlooking. Most vocational classes are going to be effected along with the fine arts education the students receive. In the all boys school there is likely not going to be enough interest to have theatre and other fine arts classes such as chorus. So they will not have the opportunity to take these classes if the segregation happened. In high school my favorite classes were theatre and theatre related classes. It was during these classes I actually figured out what I wanted to major in when I got to college. I don’t know what high school would have been like or where I would been now if these weren’t available. Another drawback is girls will not be offered the chance to take Auto Mechanics and other such courses because there will likely not be enough students that want to take it.

Mark Hoban, a Piedmont freshman, said, “I do not think I would have done well in a segregated school. Most of the time girls in the classroom ask more questions. They are usually questions I would be to embarrassed to ask so I learn from the answers the teachers give them. Most guys would not ask questions in order to stay or look ‘cool’.”

There are many different opinions about same sex schools, but why are we worried about them? According to the Georgia Department of Education the graduation rate for Georgia is the highest it has ever been. Why would we want to change what we are doing if the policies in place are working the best they have every been?