Single Gender Schools

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When I was growing up, one of the schools I attended was an all boys school. I did better there in terms of academics than I did anywhere else. I also didn't face anywhere near the teasing and bullying I faced at coed schools.

There is an orgranization called NASSPE, the National Association for Single Sex Public Education, which advocates single sex education because there are benefits for both boys and girls. Check them out here:

http://www.singlesexschools.org

What they have on their site gives you alot to think about.

I wonder if this could be a way to make life easier in school for Aspies. I'd like to know if anyone else thinks the same.

I've always got on better with males than with females so I prefer coed schools.

Ditto.

I think it has definitely been proven that there is a heck of a lot less teasing and bullying in single sex schools. The main reason being that the students aren't trying to impress the opposite gender.

On an academic note, I think I would do wonderfully at a single-sex school, but seeing as the majority of my friends are guys I don't think I'd have as many friends.

In a broader sense, most with Asperger's syndrome aren't too good with the opposite sex (boy is that an understatement!). So, being away from one of the many difficulties in an aspie's life could most certainly improve their academic standards.

interestingly, statistics show that boys do better in mixed schools, whilst girls do better in single-sex schools (can't find the source just at the mo, but it's fairly ubiquitous research, and is re-iterated every few years or so, just in case we didn't get the point). now, i wonder why that is...?

there is no significant difference in the bullying in girls' schools, however (can't say i ever went to an all-boys school, so can't comment) - the bullying is slightly different, though, in that it's more insidious.

I am SOOOO thankful I got to spend my high school years in all-boys boarding school(s)! I might not have survived public high school.

Actually, I'm glad I went to a co-ed school. I spent two years in a school that was mostly boys and I hated it due to the lack of women there. I always got along better with women than with men, as most of my friends have been women.

According to what I have read, both boys and girls benefit from the single gender format. There are specific examples that have been found in England and the U.S. that show this. Read what is on the website I listed, http://www.singlesexschools.org, and you'll see what I mean.

They tell the story of Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Seattle, and some other schools that switched classes to a single sex format with positive results for both boys and girls, with the biggest effect being the boys. It's worth reading and will make you think about this subject. As someone who has been in both worlds, I can tell you I preferred being in a single gender school and if I could have stayed in a single gender school, alot of the problems I had in junior high and high school would have been avoided.

Based on my experiences, I personally would have been better off staying in an all boys school and having been in both, I would bet there are many other boys would have benefited too.

I think prom might have been even more awkward if I went to an all boys high school.

While I voted yed, I feel that Aspies could be perform better, academically, at single gender schools. It still takes the Aspies' want to learn and to perform... Something I kinda lacked toward the end...

And also, I feel that being at a single gender school, and having school my only outlet of socialisation, my social development suffered greatly to the extent I had (and probably still do) no idea hopw to act/react around females....

GA

I've never gone to an all-girls school, but I do not think I would like it much. The majority of my friends are guys and the guy teachers are usually better for my learning style. We've had a couple of all-girls classes and that has been beneficial, but I don't think I could stand not having my guy friends around.

It seems like girls care more about socialization and what people wear and how they act. My friends who are guys appreciate my random commentary during boring classes, playing chess in study hall, debates in computer class and working on physics labs together. I also enjoy having a guy's perspective on differnent things, so it's nice to be able to ask them. I'm not saying that my female peers don't care about that, but it's just different.

Most of my friends who I spend time with at school, whether it be girls or guys, are kind of more in the "outcast" group of our school.

When we did group projects in classes, many of the most reliable workers were the guys and they were also more fun to work with. The girls (in general) would always tell me everything that I was doing wrong and that I needed to do all the work, but the guys were more easy going. Maybe it's just the individual people, though.

I go to an all girls school (and I can't say that there's less bullying, I would feel that there's just as much: they try to compete with one another) and I enjoyed it, but apart from my brother and ada and Seth (who doesn't count, trust me), I didn't know any guys. So when I started Youth Theater a while back I expected them all to be anti-feminist idiots! Of course, they weren't, and most of them are absolutly lovely, but it took me a while to get used to that.

I can't really say whether it helped me or not. I worked well enough in my co-ed primary school, but I kinda stopped working as soon as I figured out I could get away with it. I guess it's quite nice not to put up with simpering girls fliting around and guys trying to... do whatever guys do, although maybe I would be more confident if I did have to put up with guys on a day to day basis - I'll find out next year as my 6th form is co-ed! I think, like everything else, it depends completly on the individual.

I don't care whether there was less bullying or better schooling or whatever, it wouldn't be worth it. Single sex schools would suck big time. Good or bad, school was one of the few times I could get contact with other people, it's not like I could've easily met them outside of school, so for someone who was a loner like me, it would make the lonliness even worse.

Really, unless you've experienced both sides of the equation, you can't really say with any certainty if either side would be better than the other...

To each their own I say. What works for one doesn't always work for another...

GA

I have no clue.

Although I have never been to an all-girls school, there are a few reasons why I don't think it would work for me, but of course, I can only speak for myself.

When I was in a mathematics program with all girls this summer, it was a really positive experience--they were nice and understanding.

However, when it comes to the way each gender learns, I would have difficulty benefiting from instruction geared toward typically female ways of processing information. (No, I'm not basing this from an online test--mostly from my experience in testing various methods of learning).

Also, no matter how nice the girls are, I frustrate them to no end in most cases. Even my friends get frustrated, but they are understanding and don't get mad at me, while refraining from being patronizing (how lucky I am!). Every time that I have been in close proximity with a female for a total of more than a few hours, I will have frustrated someone, while I have never had such problems with male peers (even if they think I'm weird, they don't get personally offended.

Besides, I go to an excellent school, where the vast majority of students are very tolerant of unusual/geeky/eccentric/strange people, and I get solid academic instruction plus two and a half hours of creative writing instruction daily without having to pay for it. My current school is far better than most mainstream schools (even though it's geared for the arts, not Asperger's), and it's coed, by the way. I really must go to bed now.