Equality is a difficult concept. It might not seem that way at
first glance. After all, isn’t it just the idea that everyone is born equal?
That, at least irrespective of illness and the like, we all have similar
potentials. And there’s obviously truth to that as we enter into the workforce.
In our adult life equality is obvious. One simply needs to look around the
world to see people of every race, gender and age achieving some measure of
success.
It’s something that every parent thinks about at some time. No matter whether
one has a boy or a girl a parent will want them to do their best. However, one
should pause and consider an important point from our earlier example. When we
look at equality it’s usually in the context of adult life. We usually consider
equality between men and women. We seldom move the discussion down the age
range to look at boys and girls.
And anyone who can remember their youth can attest to the fact that both
genders approach things very differently in the early years. Just in terms of
physical ability there’s often rapid shifts. Girls can be larger one year and
just a handful more they’re smaller. And that’s not even looking at how
different genders approach education.
There’s more and more evidence piling up that a single gender
school produces better results for students. And examples such as an all-girls
catholic school Bowie MD would
seem to back that up. Of course, there’s more to it than size.
For better or worse, we all carry around certain stereotypes. This is true for
the adults in a school. It’s usually done unconsciously. But in a mixed gender
environment a teacher will often pay attention to one group over another.
English teachers might favor the girls while science teachers favor the boys.
And likewise, this can often be seen in the students as well. Even more so when
they get to be of a certain age and want to impress particular
classmates.
But all of this changes when genders are segregated. And with our previous
example of a catholic school, there’s also the issue
of tradition. People tend to work well when presented with a strict framework
to build upon. And the catholic school tradition has a lengthy pedigree behind
it. Most of the difficult issues have been long solved at this point. And when
many other school systems struggle with the idea of gender separation, catholic
schools already know how to work with it.
The end result tends to be happier students. Students who are confident in
their abilities before they’re introduced to the larger world. Students who
consider themselves people first, and not anyone defined or limited by gender.
Parents who didn’t go through this school system often find themselves confused
or put off by it at first. But one needs to really look at the results. Because
the students who come out of that system really do tend to stand taller than
their peers.