Do you think all high schools should be coed?

While I can understand the arguments for single sex schools, I would like to propose one for co-ed schools. The teenagers going to these schools will grow up to be adults. If they have spent 6 or 7 years of their lives segregated from the opposite sex, it will set them up to have difficulties when they enter the workforce that wouldn't be there if they had spent those years interacting with each other.
I have read studies where girls and boys can have different learning styles in maths and English, so maybe they could have segregated classes instead of whole segregated schools to cater for the differing learning styles.

by Sarah Bell

Sarah -what a good idea! And a good point you make also.

Great answer and definitely food for thought.

No I don't, I think there always needs to be an option for the child who for whatever reason needs a single sex environment. I am not suggesting that the sexes should be segregated for the whole educational experience.Some children at different developmental stages cope better in a single sex environment. I think it is important to cater for diverse needs and to maximise opportunities for the optimum learning experience.

by Shelley Murphy

I think the option of same-sex schools should always be available. I think it is largely a personal choice. Besides, many same-sex schools interact with same-sex schools of the opposite sex, so it is not as if they go without contact with the opposite sex. Does that make sense?

by Vee

Yes, it does Vee...

Good. :)

Whose choice though, Vee? I am trying to take my mind back to that time and I am wondering how I would have felt if my parents told me I was to go to Girls' Grammar or even a boarding school. Did I have a choice? I have no idea! I always went to the closest school and they were always state schools. Of course, I was weird because I loved school. Should we be giving kids more choice? I have never thought about this before. We were absolutely brought up with the rule that the best school was the closest school.

I have read all your answers and I am no closer to an opinion. If anything, I am thinking that perhaps kids need to have more input. In my family we all went to co-ed schools and perhaps there was no issue for us but I knew a girl who just couldn't cope and had to leave. I always thought it was very sad. Certainly, Sarah Bell has put a very good answer.

by Rice

My son went to co-ed, and many of the young high school girls could not wait to have a boyfriend.
Some even got more than that!
I prefer a all boys or all girls....they are there to get an education, and the opposite sex will distract.

It has...and will continue.
At that age, young people are trying to find 'who' they are?
So why would they need any more confusing issues.Once they have that all important education, that's up to them what they do with it.

They also have problems with each other, and some girls become overwhelmed, with feelings .Esp when a boy may dump her.

Difficult times, and young people need all the help they can get.
Focus on one thing at a time,plenty of time to have a special person in their lives.

by jonaja

Euuw . . that photo, jonaj. Must be one of those denim clad face eating vampires I've heard about.

I know :/

I don't think they should be co-ed however it seems that public schools are.
I think that some teenagers for whatever reason, may feel more comfortable without boys around them, and as this is an important time of their life, if they want opposite sex interaction, it should be sought elsewhere than at the place where they get their education.

by Finy

I think it's good if parents have a choice.

by Claire Winlow

Most definitely Yes. Society is co-ed. and you can not expose children to the same range of mixed experiences, opinion and values if you keep them in a single sex environment. If you want your child to succeed in life then you need to prepare them in a safe and nurturing environment. Give them knowledge, and provide safe opportunities to explore and interact.
Of course, if you just want you child to be a photocopy of you and what you think, then by all means keep them under tight control and limit their exposure to everything that you don't approve of.
There will be times when it is appropriate to consider what your child is ready to deal with. But remember, it's your child development that is key, not the parents sensitivities.

by natal

That's a very good point.

The research shows that one gender does better in coed schools(girls I think?) but the other does better in single-sex schools. Can't remember exactly which way around it is, but that's from an academic perspective only. It really depends on what your agenda is. Our daughter is gifted and will perform above-average even in the worst academic environments (and quite possibly even if she didn't attend any school at all and wasn't home-schooled) so for us it's never a question of which school will give her the best academic outcome (she is more than capable of achieving whatever she wants to in that sense). For us it's more about the other aspects of life that she finds challenging - the social aspects, so we choose schools based on how we think the particularr environment will help her best learn to cope socially in the world.

by kimp

Having experienced both a girls' only School for 11 years', then a co-ed for 1 year, I really cannot give a definitive answer!

I loved, & enjoyed them both, for many varying reasons'.

After the former, I did find it strange to 'see boys' at the latter, but it was an experience which helped me going into the workforce, when I completed that year.

by donjo