And an entire room is devoted to morning yoga exercises. Still, there is no mistaking the emphasis placed on engineering and science at the Girls' Middle School. Each carrel in the computer laboratory is named for a famous woman. One is Ada Lovelace, who wrote the programming for the computer Charles Babbage designed in the 19th century. Before math class at the Girls' Middle School earlier this month, a few of the new sixth graders, all 11 years old, talked to a reporter about what it was like to be at a school where boys have as much impact by their absence as by their presence.
Parents seem to agree.
Since 1991, after two decades of decline, the average number of applications to girls' schools each year has been 32 percent higher. The survey was done last spring by the Goodman Research Group and was sponsored by the coalition. The sooner you expose them to the possibility of science and technology, it can't help but spark and encourage the possibility of sustained interest. Our interpretation is that good education is grounded in basic principles. And once in place, girls can succeed in a coed environment as well.