Single-Sex Schools: A Flawed Plan for Michigan
The biggest problem with the idea that single-sex schools are a potential solution is that schools for girls were created because they couldn’t enroll in all-boy schools. It has nothing to do with single-sex schools being superior in some way to co-ed schools. Now that school code and Michigan’s Elliott-Larson anti-discrimination legislation have outlawed single-sex schools as an option for public schooling, it is best to leave it in the past with other mistakes made due to prejudice and privilege . A similar program in California has already failed, and there is no reason to believe that the results would be different in Michigan. Had Michigan actually looked at the multitude of problems that led to the failure of the California project, perhaps we wouldn’t even be debating this at all.
Granholm doesn’t seem to see it that way. Instead, she is siding with the bill’s promoters, who have stated that their bill already has support in Detroit as proven by the parents who’ve already placed their children on a waiting list for same-sex schools. When taken out of context, it would appear that there is a desire for same-sex schools in Michigan, but what we have to understand here is that Detroit’s public education system is so notoriously rife with corruption and ineptitude, so infamous for failing its attendees for generations, that what we are seeing may just in fact be parents jumping on the latest bandwagon to get their kids out of schools that are dangerous, overcrowded, underfunded, and failing to educate the populous.
It seems it would only make sense, considering that all the studies being touted on the merits of single-sex schools vs. co-ed schools are invariably flawed. Even the U.S. Department of Education has stated that much of the research done on same-sex schools and classes does not meet proper research standards.
It is not so cut-and-dry as they are proposing. Same-sex schools do not succeed because they only offer education to one gender. They succeed because they are better funded, have smaller class sizes, encourage parental involvement, have better teachers, and have an admissions process that allows them to select the pupils that they believe can contribute to the image of the school, which is typically a private school. Haven’t we worked for those same things in our co-ed public education system? Hasn’t that been what’s been wrong with our school system the way it is? Instead of proposing a single-sex solution and funding that, why don’t they look at what did make those education systems successful and see if that will work? I do not consider it responsible to propose and fund radical changes without looking at the proposal, particularly in a school system that has repeatedly failed to meet its students’ most basic educational needs. If they can’t currently offer those necessary components to Detroit’s students, what makes them think that separating the children by gender will turn things around?
Another pressing issue is that the bill, as written, includes no safeguards that were effectively stripped away by changing the school code and eliminating the anti-discrimination protections. Separating children based on gender is discrimination. There isn’t any way around that, and trying to pretend that we live in a utopia where gender doesn’t matter, while separating the boys and girls from each other, is hypocritical and harmful. It is blind to the facts.
The fact is, if you isolate one gender, particularly in the influential childhood years, they start to develop an unhealthy mentality. It is competitive, isolationist, and promotes misconceptions and more discrimination. I hate to use the term ‘slippery slope’, but come on here. If we start separating the boys and the girls, what happens if one school does better than another based on a host of potential issues? Because the schools are single-sex, that will instead be touted as the reason why one school is failing. If it’s the girl’s school, it’s because girls are stupid. If it’s the boy’s school, it’s because boys never pay attention. Try shouldering that burden, that you didn’t ask for and don’t contribute to, while trying to complete your education.
This is our next generation and we should care about what we are teaching them, both in the textbooks we give them and in the society we create for them. If integration is so key, for all minorities including the handicapped and the economically disadvantaged, why are we supporting segregation? Why are we reinventing a wheel that never got us anywhere worthwhile and was eventually put out to pasture for the host of problems it created?
Education is failing in this country for myriad reasons, but not one of them is because girls and boys are so inherently different that they cannot learn when forced to share a classroom. If girls are failing at math because the classroom is silently geared toward boys, the way they learn, and the unspoken concept that it is somehow okay for girls to fail at math, that doesn’t make it responsible to kick all the boys out of the classroom.
Attitudes need to change to promote inclusion and to understand and respect the differences of all students in the way that they learn and relate to one another and the material they are studying. Separating males from females will only lead to the extension of this problem, instead of us taking responsibility for the fact that we are biased. If bias creates the problem, why are we encouraging more bias? Seems to me like we’re shooting ourselves in the foot.
It would be far more responsible to look at the programs around the country and even in this state that have improved the education system and are thereby increasing opportunity for our next generation. Those programs have shown significant progress in cutting through the barriers to education that our students face, and have lowered the rates of illiteracy and dropping out, both of which lead to lower potential for these children for the rest of their lives. These programs are already funded and have oversight and statistics justifying the work that they are doing and showing the impact these programs are having on students. In Michigan, the dropout rate has decreased by 30% according to a Kids Count study. When children stay in school, their future potential increases.
Literacy is another very important issue, and there are innumerable programs in this country for people of all ages, nationalities, socio-economic backgrounds, and educational levels to improve literacy in the US. It appears that many of these programs are still running and the statistics showing whether or not the programs are working are difficult to find. However, it would be ludicrous to assume that people who cannot read can learn at anywhere near the level of a proficient reader. If someone cannot read, the doors to opportunity and the world are closed to them. It would only make sense that we do our best to try to eradicate illiteracy in this country to the best of our ability. We need to evaluate the programs that are making progress so that we can find out what is working and what has not. The funding is there, the goals are there, the statistics that they are trying to change are there. It is not reasonable to just let other people work on it while trying to implement radical changes that can stall or halt the progress of these necessary programs.
It is not cost- and time-effective to ignore programs in this country that are already running and funded, whether they are making progress or not. People who tackle all of the facets that lead to low school attendance and our failing education rate can offer us valuable insight into the problems we are facing and how to manage them. Unlike the bills approved and pending approval that will allow single-sex schools in Michigan, these programs have oversight and there are consequences if they fail to achieve a goal that must be documented before the program is implemented and during regular reviews of the program. They have to justify their continued funding or they put the program in jeopardy. Michigan’s proposed and pending single-sex schools legislation has no such safeguards in place to make sure that we are spending taxpayer’s money efficiently, and if the program doesn’t work, we will have no way of knowing it, nor will there be a set time or failure rate where the program ceases to be funded. This type of irresponsibility should not be funded by taxing the people it is supposed to assist. If our legislators can’t come up with a better proposal with clear goals, appropriated funding, and adequate continuing research in place, then the bill should have been left on the desk of the person who failed to create a responsible proposal.
Education in this country is in serious crisis, and it is understood that there is a need for drastic change. However, that change must be well thought out, properly implemented, and properly funded. The single-sex schools idea is not a direction that we should be pushing our children toward. If we don’t stand up and take responsibility for the factors that lead to this kind of crisis and truly get to the bottom of why our schools are failing and how we can better serve the population so that children learn and aren’t kept from education by discrimination, financial difficulties, familial problems, drugs, violence, pregnancy, culture, and high drop-out rates, then I think perhaps we need to go back to school ourselves because we are still not educated enough to handle real-life decisions with huge potential consequences.
