It's time to prioritize our children

The days of taunting those preppy, crème de la crème male elite who frequent same-sex private schools like St. Paul’s are behind us. There’s no need to label those whom, with the help of daddy’s paychecque are proud owners of Jaguars, as “fags.” The discrimination of students attending of sex-segregated educational institution is on the verge of extinction. All of this is due to the increasingly popular appearances of sex-segregated elementary and high school establishments. The sudden rise of sex-segregation among elementary and junior high schools is a rather refreshing improvement, considering the educational system’s lack of success over the past few years. This practice of sex-segregation is the key to triggering the student’s stimulus to learn in a productive manner.

Statistics taken from the Freeport News, claim that in a radius of five years, the percentage of success of Australian males who attend same-sex schools has improved from 15 to 22 per cent, when compared to their male counterparts who attend co-ed establishments. Reader’s Digest Canada claims that this movement is improving the students’ success rates — “the percentage of students passing final exams has jumped from 65 per cent to 87 per cent; and the proportion of advancing to university preparation, from 17 per cent to 30 per cent.” These are examples of the many findings proving that while simplistic, separating students by sex is highly effective in planting a seed of self-determination within the students themselves. Motivated by these samples, the USA Today reports that North Carolina’s school divisions are reforming —nearly 200 of their schools are single-sex, and an additional 192 are following suit.

The prioritization of reforming schools, which has emerged in the U.S. due to the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind Act, hits home equally for us north of the border.

I believe that the North American educational establishment’s inability to reach out towards male students while they are in the early stages of their academic career is one factor which could explain why only 13 per cent of male Manitobans attend post-secondary education, compared to 17 per cent of females. This statistic is similar throughout the West. Failure to engage the males during the elementary phase often leads to resentfulness of self as well as resentfulness towards the institution they partake in. This sense of resentfulness may explain their preference for manual labour (such as construction work) in favour of post-secondary education.

Segregating the males from the females demonstrates the belief that men learn differently from their co-ed counterparts. Teachers would serve their cause to greater effect if they capitalized on the opportunity to work one-on-one with males, without the intrusion of females. I find young males between the ages of seven and 13, tend to react more positively to hands-on learning, preferring the use of interactive teaching techniques. Applying these techniques reduces the feeling of angst among young males. The process of using hands-on learning, will help the solidification of the young male’s comfort zone within the school’s environment, decreasing the level of distress and desperation among male individuals.

The same-sex environment helps strengthen the unison and kinship among young males. Lest we forget the humiliation of the first (and numerous) times we failed to attract the opposite sex; or even worse, when our failures are matched by the success of our immediate friends who succeed in getting the girl behind the school’s shed. The omission of a female’s presence, which would otherwise bring forth the male’s need in becoming the alpha male, instead fosters camaraderie amongst one another.

The sense of kinship among young males helps those who would otherwise feel inferior in comparison to other males find a sense of belonging among classmates, degenerating the otherwise found social hierarchy found in co-ed schools. The sense of pride associated with “being part of the group” helps strengthening male self-esteem once confronting the opposite sex at social events. This justifies certain males’ need of wingmen once confronting females. It is safe to presume that an individual is more prone to success once confronting the opposite sex at a social event, if partaking within a group, than partaking individually.

Whether socially or academically, the use of same-sex classrooms improves the probability of boys’ success in life. As stated above, same-sex environments seem to increase males’ probability of achieving a post-secondary education. It all depends on the instructor’s ability to plant the seed of one’s determination of academic achievements as early as possibility. The instructor’s success of planting such a seed is often lost while teaching in co-ed classrooms (favouring the stereotypically studious females over the presumed passive males.) Segregation leads to the separate conditioning of both sexes, improving the success rates of individual males. It is not solely due to the lack of distraction occurring between sexes, but more so to the consequential need of applying the preferred teaching methods affiliated in same sex educational institutions. Isn’t a brighter education for our children worth segregating for?

Patrick Gratton is an Arts student majoring in Film Studies.