Single Sex Education is Better than Co-Education

Thank you for posting punctually and clearly!I will begin my counter refuting his refutations.Counter Refutations1. Many other studies show performance due to presence of other students.The study cited no exam results and I am sure they are not as drastic as that which we can see in the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, where boys received a 49% up in their grades without girls.2. We can not force boys to love painting or girls to love computers.Of course we can't, but single-sex schools teach students that gender differences are in the mind, and that they can explore any subject previously deemed "boyish" or "girly" without fear of being judged.3. I believe that girls not choosing professions is due to the chauvinism of men.First of all, their entire refutation is an opinion with no evidence. Second of all, to entertain my opponent's belief, the chauvinism of men is perpetuated in co education schools! Just the fact that girls are cheerleaders and boys are football players extends the stereotype that somehow boys are more powerful and strong than girls, and that a girl's only purpose is to stand on the sideline and "cheer for the people that actually do the work". We cannot be teaching girls that certain things are off bounds because they are dominated by men.4. To understand the gender completely one needs to interact with many persons and experience companionship of various people having different personality traits. School is not the only method of learning people's opinions. My opponent is correct, there are many people with many different values and opinions. What he has not stated is why you can't learn these opinions outside of class. Arguably, students meet more people outside of class then they do inside.Refutations1. Students at co-education schools learn to interact better with the people of opposite gender.Children will gain sufficient exposure to other genders in their adult life. At school, they need to be around who they feel comfortable with. As to your quote, it seems that the writer of the article adapted well in to the real world and is experiencing no problems now that she is out of college.2. Co-education provides a platform for students of one gender to compete with those of the other gender.Children shouldn't be taught that "they are worse than boys" in some subjects. This just perpetuates bad stereotypes. Kids don't need competitiveness with the other gender to thrive.3. Co-education helps in exchange of views and opinions between the students of opposite genders.I agree that boys and girls have similar opinions, but teacher's give students the valid opinions they need. Teachers can easily show kids two perspectives and let them learn from the experience.4. The level of understanding and learning by students depends upon efficiency of teacher and not specialized methods.This is false. Not only do children need good teachers to thrive and learn, the efficiency of teachers are very reliant on specialized methods. Teachers know what is best for each student and how to teach them. Teachers are incredibly influential to a student's learning (haven't you ever had a good teacher or a bad one?), and giving them specialized methods improves a student's academic life greatly.5. Education doesn't mean only academic performance. Involvement of both boys and girls is necessary in many other activities of life.My opponent says "Imagine a school football team without cheerleaders and a prom night with only boys and girls." First of all, single sex schools provide inter school events. Most schools belong to inter school groups where they can interact with other schools for things like prom night. It would be painstaking to mention every single inter school league, and false to say that every single school belongs to one, but I can safely say that many schools do. These schools compete together, have events together, do community service together, etc. Also, do we really need cheerleaders at a football game? Sure, they motivated the players a bit, but cheerleaders perpetuate gender stereotypes. Having girl cheerleaders teaches children that girls should stand on the sidelines while the men do the work.