Ant 112
5/13/15
(1746 Words)

Single or Multi-sex??
We all know the obvious difference in boys and girls. Typically, we associate boys with being rougher than girls and spending much of their time playing rambunctiously and getting dirty while most girls prefer to be subdued and tidy. But is that the only dissimilarity in gender? What about school work and academic performance along with academic success? Can gender be a predominating factor in determining a child’s IQ level? Is there a legitimate difference in boys and girls when determining academic ability? And, does gender help determine any level of academic success? Some might say that these are some pretty absurd questions but others who have taught both boys and girls in any realm of subjects, on any level could tell you that there is probably some relevance to that question. Lets begin with the history of single sex schools. Schools in early 17th century America were first modeled after English learning institutions after Puritans immigrated over to the English colonies. Originally only rich white males were allowed to attend school to learn how to read and write. In many cases, most parents placed their boys into the nine month long curriculum to keep them out of mischief. For the other three months of the year, students would be released from school during the summer months to lend a hand on their family’s farms to help cultivate the land and raise animals. During the summer months, wealthy white girls attended these same schools often taught by a female instructor to learn to read and write. Of the girls who could attend the schools, many were kept at home to be taught the essentials for their future such as cooking, sewing, and the care-taking of babies and toddlers.
Fast forward one hundred years and the first coeducational schools can be found appearing in the American colonies, primarily the