Whenever I see articles like this one in the Kansas City Star, Segregation by sex reverses progress in the classroom, my first reaction is not a charitable one. Such opinion pieces just do not generate a "benefit of the doubt" response from me. What is generated is a sense that someone is trying to hoodwink me.
The opinion piece in question concerns the issue of single sex education, although the level of schooling (college, high school, kindergarten?) is never specified. Early on I read:
The popular wisdom that single-sex education is "better for girls" is not supported by the contemporary, more carefully controlled studies in educational sociology.
Even though I have to admit that I've never read the studies that are being referred to, my initial reaction is to suspect that these studies are less "carefully controlled" and more "rigged." I seem to find confirmation, of a sort, when I read:
When studies control for class sizes, student background differences (such as socioeconomic status, test scores and prior academic achievements), parental involvement, resources and school selectivity, the performance differences between coeducational and single-sex schools and classes disappear.
Hmm...so for those students who are A) poor, B) poorly educated, C) do not enjoy parental involvement, D) do not enjoy good access to educational opportunities, E) are stuck in huge classes, and F) might not be so bright, single sex classrooms won't help. Which begs the question, what other single factor would overcome all of that? It is also clear that many of these are overlapping variables. Restricting schools to a single sex would, presumably, promote smaller class sizes. As well, obviously, single sex schools are being offered as a choice for students and not as a mandatory policy, which indicates parental involvement and greater access to educational opportunities, at very least.
My cynicism forces me to see such opinion pieces as an effort to maintain the status quo in American public education, one of our institutions least in need of it.
Well...maybe I should lighten up. Maybe.
No comments:
Post a Comment