Whilst the tables do show that girl schools our perform boys and co-ed schools, this may not be a factor which supports the idea of girls achieving at a higher rate in single sex schools. There are other factors which might shed light on why girls schools tend to top the league tables. It could be that teachers prefer to work in girls schools. Girls are perceived to be less dangerous and boisterous, even in this day and age. If more teachers apply to girls’ schools then these schools can take the best ones, leaving the less inspiring teachers to go to the local boy’s school or co-ed school. With this occurring, girls are getting far better chances in life as they are receiving better teaching. This is not fair. If all schools were co-ed, then everyone would have equal opportunities.

When girls and boys attend different schools, the school tend to stereotype themselves based on what they think their pupils want to study. For this reason, in girls schools classes like cookery, dance and humanity subjects would be offered. However, boys will be offered more practical subjects like woodwork and physical education. This could limit a student as to their strengths. A girl may have her talent in wood work stilted because her girl school did not offer it. Equally, boys could miss out on their analytical skills because they were not offered the humanity subjects. In co-ed schools, both of the genders have to be catered for ergo, girls could attend their wood work classes and boys could attend humanity classes. No stereotyping, no impeding of possible talents.

This excludes consideration of social influences that would affect girls in Co-ed schools in their choice of subjects to take for qualifications. The school advisor, via stereotyping, would encourage girls to take dance, English and other languages. These are the subjects that girls are renowned for doing well in. The school advisor would want the best results for the school and so would type cast girls into these subjects. Also, the school needs to fill up all the available spaces for each subject. Therefore, they need to get the girls to accept the ‘girly’ subject spaces as the boys would be less likely to opt for them. Equally boys would be encouraged to go for the more ’masculine’ subjects like PE and maths.

This is in addition to the pressure that the students would put on themselves. If a boy wanted to do dance, the social pressure of knowing that he would be the only boy in the class would make the boy not choose dance. A girl may want to study woodwork, but would not have the confidence to be the only girl in a room full of boys. In a single sex school, these pressures do not exist. If the subject is offered, any girl or boy who was interested would not feel ashamed in taking it knowing that everyone else in the class would be in the same position.

From family life, to professional life, to daily routine, pour world contains both men and women. Regardless of league tables, education is about preparation for life. If girls naturally perform better in an environment without boys, they need to learn how to perform just as well with boys. The problem is that in life they will not be surrounded by girls all the time, they will have to cope with boys. Regardless of qualifications, girls will perform better professionally and emotionally if they learn young how to cope with boys and ultimately, men.

Men always say that they do not understand women, perhaps because they were sent to single sex schools. Research has proved that boys who went to single sex schools as opposed to mixed schools are more likely to get divorced and suffer from depression in their 40s^[1] This is proof that we should school our children in mixed schools in order to give them the best bill of emotional health.

1. ^ Professor Diana Leonard, from London University's Institute of Education, 2009, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/why-singlesex-schools-are-bad-for-your-health-if-youre-a-boy-1831636.html

If you look at the league tables, you can clearly see that single sex girl schools have far better results, at both GCSE and A’Level.^[1] This is a clear indication that girls out perform boys, and girls in single sex school achieve more than girls in mixed schools. With a girls ability to learn at a much quicker rate than boys, co-ed schools would only force girls to learn at a slower rate. This will mean that girls who attend such school will not achieve their full potential. This is not to be promoted but condemned. Girls and boys should learn separately in order for every child to learn at their own pace.

1. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/a_level_gcse_results/

In this modern day and age women are still discriminated against in the world of work. They still have lower pay and are less likely to get the promotion compared to their male counter part. To combat this, women need to come together and be cultured into an independent and strong environment for them to aspire for more. Girls in single sex schools will have more determination to succeed. Teachers can be instructedto teach in a way that drives the young women forward into life, giving them a sense of what could be achieved if they tried. The competition in the school will be for the best grades, not for the best looking boyfriend.

Teaching teenagers in a classroom environment can be a hard task, even if they are of the same sex. Teenagers naturally are clumsy and easily distracted by less important matters. Then think of the distractions there would be with the opposite sex in the room. Boys eyes will not be on the white board and girls will be passing notes around about who they would like to kiss, date or marry. With all of this carry on, neither sex will learn anything in the classroom. Then students will form relationships with each other, and this will also distract the students. Should the relationship fail, how could both parties continue on with education as they normally would in the same class? The whole idea of co-ed education is troublesome and worrying.