Single sex education

 

what are your opinion on single sex education?

single sex primary school?

single sex secondary?

single sex college?

single sex uni?

i personally LOOOOOOOOOOVE with all my heart single sex school. I went to mix priamry school and did about 2 years of mixed secondary school and those years are cherished and remembered fondly. then i went to girls school for 4 years in secondary and 2 years in college (total of 6) and i just loved it. i love the environment, i love the way its just us, girls, and trust me, we're different enough, we're diversified, we have our own minds and our own interests and hobbies and whatnot. single sex school isnt full of girls dressed the same, talkign the same way and doing all those girly subjects. there were the tomboys the girly girls the flirts the everything, you naem it, it was there.

we didnt need boys to help us develop or help us identify ourselves against. i dont think its a good idea to have an "opposite". and even though boys arent our opposite they're as close as you can get and they end up being put in that position and while growing up i think we (girls) end up getting to know ourselves while using THEM as a backdrop. but with girls school. its OUR world, OUR place. you grow up how YOU want and i think you do a lot more growin up there. there's no backdrop. there's no "i now know where i stand against boys, my self development is completed"; no, you jsut keeeep on discovering yourself. and rediscovering and rediscovering and as you discover the world around you, (there's other things to the world then boyz amazingly, there's religion and cultures and ethnicities and all those other amazing things) you take it in and make it part of yourself. and i think thats amazing.

im not saying that being in mix school you cant do selfdiscovering but because of the presence of another gender and the differences are so flagrant (is that an english words that means "very in your face"? coz its a french word that means "very in your face"...) that some of us might stop when we've figured ourselves out against them. my point is, i feel that in a single sex school you're more likely to self discover further than if you were in mixed secondary. please note that I AM saying that you will also self discover in a mixed secondary school, just not as much.

seems i think self discovery is a major thing. thats something i just discoverd right now actually. but yeah, i believe secondary school is the place to build yourself, learn about yourself, change yourself until you become someone you like. and no, this process doesnt end at the end of year 11 but i think it slows down after college. or maybe it wont. ive no idea, im not there yet. but think back to year 7 (i know, might be painful and cringeworthy but thats coz you did some changing!) then think end of KS3 aka year 9. then think year 10 and 11. those gcse years are just amazing years right? think abt what you wanted to be when you grew up at all those stages, think abt the friends you had and how they changed. friends are your mirror but thats for another discussion

but all that self discovering will only happen if you're single sex school isnt a "girls are like this, you must be like this too" but a school that is open to everything and will offer you ALL opportunities not even considering sex in the process. and i think most state single sex schools are like that. (beign to two)

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i'll just quickly cover the educational side of single sex school coz that seems to be the point of school and i should jsut mention it right? even though its totally boring. in my area the top 3 schools are single sex school. wouhou! the top 2 are religious ones but thats ALSO for another discussion. im just stating some facts here. this article says there isnt much diff and the man, Smithers, seems to have travelled the world to work this out. 

my personal opinion is that boys and girls are two different little things. not opposite mind. just DIFFERENT. just like two pieces of puzzles arent opposites but different. and they would learn in different ways and instead of giving yourself a headache trying to sovle an unsolvable case of making the perfect teacher lesson plan for a mix school then i think teachers could actually start RE enjoying and REmember why they became teachers if they didnt have to aim for the grail. give them single sex classes. please. let the teachers be happy!

thats all really.

oh actually, one more thing; every single person is different and im sure they are girls who would leanr better using the "boys method" aka more hadn on and shorter focus time but hey, thats not why school were invented. if you want to cater for every single single single little tiny differences in kid (thts beyond holy grail) then i think we need to go back to teaching our kids at home but thats AGAIN for another discussion. so yeah. everybody's different. one of the major differences are caused by sex so if we want to start catering for the smaller differences then we need to start separating and one possible separation is gender separation, i think that'll allow to cater for the smaller differences. (the way i see it and pelase feel free to ignroe it coz its in bracket is: imagine a spectrum of im not sure what and there's boys on one side and girls on the other and there's a bit of mix area, there's only two ends. one on girl side the other on boy side. if we cut the spectrum in half. there'd be 4 ends. 2 for boys, 2 for girls. also. trying to put our arms roudn that just one spectrum is pretty impossible, cut it in half and have ladys putting their arms aroudn the girls side  and men putting their arms around the boys side seems more comforting.)

in this above bracket i mentionned something abt girls teaching girls, boys teaching boys. not sure if THATs for another discussion...

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now. single sex primary. my precious little baby sister started at single sex primary but now transferred to mixed. (also changed her uniform from red to royal blue. i like royal blue) i think its fine to be mixed at that age, reception, year 1, year 2, kids dont even know the diffrences amongst themselves yet. but already as they go up primary they start to divide and play amongst themselves (and i must say, animosity is created also, "boys are digusting" "girls are so boring") so is mix primary all that good? maybe reception, year 1 should be part of a lwoer school that is mixed then year 2 onwards become single sex. coz ive seen it, the division, even though its mixed when you see them lining up boys are ALL together and girls are ALL together. in PE as well. boys and girls end up separated.

so yeah, my concluion, right now, and its still raw (abt a week old) is that after maybe year 1 or 2 then single sex education could work in primary schools.

 

i have plenty of fonds memory of mixed primary school. and let me tell you. girls are annoying. but i think i could have found just as great friends in girls. i wasnt friends with boys coz they were boyz (even though that sums it up pretty easily, but thats coz of all those stereotypes) we were friends coz of personality and likes, but thats the story of friendship isnt?

 

[color=orange] this is not a copy pasted original message, i actually WROTE this stuff, yeah, right now. so you can read it (and im sure you feel obliged now) [/color]  [size=5] and can you see its orange, neutral happy orangy colour! [/size]  [font=Comic sans] and yeah im showing off my editing skills [/font]

I thought you were talking about sex education in a single-sex environment at first.

(yes I have read it all. I find it very quick and easy to read long stuff on my iPod. )

"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi

sex ed or single sex education?

if latter, develop please.

Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?

Lilly I like your article you make a convincing argument but personally I'd have gone mad or just dropped out in an all girls school. I don't hate my own kind my best friends are all girls now but in school I had a bunch of mixed friends and I found the boys' perspective very enriching which has shaped my personality and view towards men and which is a very positive one.

laila wrote:

Lilly I like your article you make a convincing argument but personally I'd have gone mad or just dropped out in an all girls school. I don't hate my own kind my best friends are all girls now but in school I had a bunch of mixed friends and I found the boys' perspective very enriching which has shaped my personality and view towards men and which is a very positive one.

ive been thinking abut it all a lot. and tbh, while in mixed school i pretty much only had guy friends.

but my point is, i dont think you were friends with them because they were BOYS but more because of their personality and hwo they think. this is why when i went to secondary school and found girls who werent like my primary school girls then i became friend with them.

and thats why i believe you can survive girls school. coz there WILL be those girls with those personalities that are simialr to your guy mates' ones.

Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?

I think you can still develop as a person and be yourself in a single sex school, without 'really' needing a guy to be in your company. In my opinion, year 1 and year 2 may be a little too young. I'm saying that because you don't want to restrict the child and keep them in a little tiny bubble. They need to discover the world and understand differences. When they grow up, they need to realise that there is not 'one' dominant sex only. There are both, male and female, man and woman. If the child is restricted they may not know how to approach a situation (either get too excited, all hyped up or begin to jump up and down because they've never talked to a guy- embarrassing to see, or they'll just hide their face under a book and walk in the opposite direction- which is a little disrespectful!) Later on, it would be useful to know how to work with the opposite sex, whilst being modest and not getting too close and in their face, either. The child, well now an adult, needs to know that there must be barriers and they need to know what religion says about the issue at the same time.

 

The religion outright forbids free mixing doesn't it?
I like the idea of single sex schools. My daughter who is 6 came home the other day and said her friend in class has a boyfriend.
From that point of view it's not good.
A woman at work told me once that her daughter is a bit of a tomboy and don't really like the idea of having a boyfriend, but felt forced into it by others in the class who DO have boyfriends.
I know not all the class acts like that, I never did.
It's one of those difficult issues.

 

I've seen the situation. Its all peer pressure (or being forced by friends) and wanting to do what everyone else seems to be doing. Sometimes people do actually know whats right and wrong but easily fall into it. Then theres those who actually lack the knowledge and some parents don't think much of it at all, so can't see the problem (talking about non-Muslim here).

 

Northen Southener wrote:
The religion outright forbids free mixing doesn't it?.

Really?

where?

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

You wrote:

Northen Southener wrote:
The religion outright forbids free mixing doesn't it?.

Really?

where?

I've heard many people say it (parents, uncles etc) but I've never heard it as a quote which is why I asked it as a question.

Can anyone on here confirm or deny this (with evidence)?

 

Confirmation requires evidence, denial doesnt as new rules always require evidence but some thing not being forbidden generally doesnt

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

You wrote:

Confirmation requires evidence, denial doesnt as new rules always require evidence but some thing not being forbidden generally doesnt


I think NS would like a clear yes or no and some info on the issue...

"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi

People have different opinions.

Some will say segregation is a must

Others will say that segregation is just one of many answers to what is required and may not be required.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

I've only been to a single-sex secondary school so I know no differently really. I can't compare with a mixed environment because I don't think primary school is the same really. Although my sixth form was mixed but I had like 2 boys in one class and that's it. Last year, there were like 3 more boys in my classes but still, it wasn't a big deal. Some of the girls got a bit over-excited cuz of the boys but they were annoying anyway even without the boys and disrupted the lessons anyway. 

I read a while back that girls learn better in girl-only schools, whereas boy learn better in mixed schools.

I don't really know about this self-discovery business. I know you said it's possible in both places but I'm not really buying that it occurs *more* in single-sex schools. :S Actually, I'm not sure.

I definitely agree with Hummus that segregating boys and girls at such a young age would actually be bad for society. I mean if you look at some Muslim-dominated countries where there is a lot of segregation (over segregation?) it is bad cuz cuz the guys look at any and every girl like as if they're some beautiful alien creatures who they've never seen before. And apparently there's lots of cases of homosexuality and everything just happens underground anyway. They don't understand how to be with the opposite gender and it seems to lead to more bad than good.

Northen Southener wrote:
The religion outright forbids free mixing doesn't it? I like the idea of single sex schools. My daughter who is 6 came home the other day and said her friend in class has a boyfriend. From that point of view it's not good. A woman at work told me once that her daughter is a bit of a tomboy and don't really like the idea of having a boyfriend, but felt forced into it by others in the class who DO have boyfriends. I know not all the class acts like that, I never did. It's one of those difficult issues.

I think this boyfriend-girlfriend business is reinforced by family and friends outside of school. I've seen Muslims say how their  little sons and daughters and siblings and cousins have said they have a gf/bf and they just laugh about it. Just becuase they're little, they see it as being cute and funny instead of explaining to them it's wrong. Obviously they're not really gf/bf at that age, but even those terms should be  described as being wrong. 

lol my little cousin (boy) was playing with my little girl cousins and I asked him what they played, if he had fun. He goes he did have fun so I asked him if he was now friends with my other cousins he was like "noooo...they're girls" and I was like so what and he goes "you can't have girlfriends!"....Doesn't quite get the difference between friend and girlfriend lol

"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi

TPOS wrote:

lol my little cousin (boy) was playing with my little girl cousins and I asked him what they played, if he had fun. He goes he did have fun so I asked him if he was now friends with my other cousins he was like "noooo...they're girls" and I was like so what and he goes "you can't have girlfriends!"....Doesn't quite get the difference between friend and girlfriend lol

He doesn't get the difference, because there isn't one.

An interesteing article I saw on Youtube once:

I think I agree with the content of this video. You can't be good friends and be of the opposite sex at the same time.

 

Northen Southener wrote:

You can't be good friends and be of the opposite sex at the same time.

Is this because as friendship grows, the love between the two people also grows? To be a good friend you should be helping them not inviting them to sin, is that why? 

LOL @ that video. Just seen a clear example of how its not possible!

 

Northen Southener wrote:

TPOS wrote:

lol my little cousin (boy) was playing with my little girl cousins and I asked him what they played, if he had fun. He goes he did have fun so I asked him if he was now friends with my other cousins he was like "noooo...they're girls" and I was like so what and he goes "you can't have girlfriends!"....Doesn't quite get the difference between friend and girlfriend lol

He doesn't get the difference, because there isn't one.

An interesteing article I saw on Youtube once:

I think I agree with the content of this video. You can't be good friends and be of the opposite sex at the same time.


I know...but not when you're kids. Obviously I didn't say to him, no it's ok to be friends with girls as that would be giving the wrong message. But surely when you're a kid it doesn't harm you to be just friends with the opposite gender as long as you're taught what's right and wrong etc. I mean I talked to boys and stuff...ok I wasn't really friends with them as such, but I probably did play with them sometimes, with the rest of my friends and have a laugh in lessons etc. You just gotta be taught your boundaries when you start to get older. 4,5,6,7 yr olds playing with the opposite gender is not a problem imo unless it is reinforced with the wrong message, if that makes sense.

(didn't watch the vid)

"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi

TPOS][quote=Northen Southener wrote:

You just gotta be taught your boundaries when you start to get older. 4,5,6,7 yr olds playing with the opposite gender is not a problem imo unless it is reinforced with the wrong message, if that makes sense.

(didn't watch the vid)

It makes complete sense. I agree with you.

You should watch the video - it's a good one.

 

Hummus wrote:

Is this because as friendship grows, the love between the two people also grows? To be a good friend you should be helping them not inviting them to sin, is that why? 

LOL @ that video. Just seen a clear example of how its not possible!

I don't know - I haven't really thought about it. All I know is it "could" lead to other stuff. But as TPOS said - as long as the boundaries are taught, in theory all should be ok.

It's a tough one...

 

Just clicked on it, yh I've watched that vid before. Lol not everyone thinks like that so it's not really evidence, though yes it is a good vid. I remember one of the comments saying something about how this was done in a conservative state so "they would think like that" sorta thing.

(I still agree things can lead to haraam, but just saying...)

"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi

My son has had issues with girls since nursery, they harass him. Now he's almost 6 he tells me he has many girlfriends, but he obviously means emale friends, because he always stresses he has more boyfriends lol. He did tell me one of his friends was Muslim, he said but mum he's Arab Muslim and he was trying to kiss a girl, so I kicked him but I didn't hurt him he's still my friend....i erm had to contain my laughter. I did praise him say yes son ur right he shouldn't kiss her he's not married to her lol. I did warn him, I said make sure u never do otherwise the girls parents will be having words with ur father lol  ironic really because most his friends are non Muslims and I thought they may be a problem, but his Muslim friend is the challenging one .

“O my people! Truly, this life of the world is nothing but a (quick passing) enjoyment, and verily, the hereafter that is the home that will remain forever.” [Ghafir : 39]

Hajjar wrote:

My son has had issues with girls since nursery, they harass him. Now he's almost 6 he tells me he has many girlfriends, but he obviously means emale friends, because he always stresses he has more boyfriends lol. He did tell me one of his friends was Muslim, he said but mum he's Arab Muslim and he was trying to kiss a girl, so I kicked him but I didn't hurt him he's still my friend....i erm had to contain my laughter. I did praise him say yes son ur right he shouldn't kiss her he's not married to her lol. I did warn him, I said make sure u never do otherwise the girls parents will be having words with ur father lol  ironic really because most his friends are non Muslims and I thought they may be a problem, but his Muslim friend is the challenging one .

And he's only almost 6.

What is society becoming?! Sad

"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi

Aww Sad

"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi

Titanium wrote:

YOu know what? My lil sister had 4 different friends (different ethnicities and backgrounds) at nursery and reception. and my mum hated that. SHe couldn't bond with the asian parents and didn't want to bond with the families of my sister's young friends... I thought that not only racist but unfair to my lil sister because she loved having those friends they were happy together. They had fun playing and finding out about each other. It was SO SWEET!

 

After reeption my mum forced my sister to break ties with the non-muslim friends and befriend the other coy, shy, or very rude and spoilt girls of asian and muslim backgrounds. SHe even made her change her class to the one where there were more asian girls. Since tnen she has nothing but trouble. The rude/spoilt girls rejected her friendship and the shy girls don't even like to run at lunchtime... So she is stuck in the middle with just the boys in the class. Bless her. She spends her lunchtime with the original friends she had made. well 2 of them anyway.

 

All I'm saying is do not make someone forcefully reject a friend that they made naturally without an effort.

that's the saddest thing I've heard in ages.