Single-sex school report dissed

25 November 2011 - 01:57 By RETHA GROBBELAAR
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Sporty Rafaella Lipschitz, 10, says it is easier to learn when there aren't noisy boys in class Picture: LAUREN MULLIGAN
Sporty Rafaella Lipschitz, 10, says it is easier to learn when there aren't noisy boys in class Picture: LAUREN MULLIGAN

Single-sex schools provide an "artificial world".

Instead of fighting sexism, they unwittingly reinforce it, according to research by two US professors.

Rebecca Bigler, a professor of psychology and women's and gender studies at the University of Texas, and Lise Eliot, a neuroscience professor at Rosalind Franklin University, say single-sex schooling strengthens "social stereotypes and prejudice in children".

In an article published in the journal Science and the online magazine Slate, the two suggest that "gender segregation reinforces sexist attitudes" similar to the way in which racial segregation enhances racism among children.

However, principals of single-sex schools in South Africa dispute the research.

Trevor Kershaw, headmaster of Durban-based boys school Glenwood High, says a single-sex environment is better for some pupils because "there are fewer distractions" and boys can develop at their own pace.

Marna Jordaan, principal of Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool in Pretoria, says girls in single-sex schools "stop being the audience and become the players".

The self-confidence they develop means they handle interaction with men very well, she says.

Helmien Slabber, principal of Rhenish Girls' High School in Stellenbosch, says girls' schools give pupils the chance to "flourish and reach their full potential".

She disputes the researchers' findings, saying her pupils don't live in an artificial world as they get "more than enough contact with boys' schools" as the girls attend some classes at a boys' school in the area.

Guy Pearson, rector of Michaelhouse in KwaZulu-Natal, says the school runs gender workshops to ensure there are "no sexist attitudes and prejudice".

"The boys are perfectly well- adjusted around girls and are not shy or awkward, not any more than other adolescents."

But Kobus Maree, professor of educational psychology at the University of Pretoria, feels single-sex schools generate a form of "apartheid" and unequal education, not only because they keep boys and girls separate, but because they only cater for upper-income groups.

Single-sex schools, he says, create an artificial world that doesn't reflect the reality of life.

"Have you ever heard of a university for women?"

Educational psychologist Stephanie Riekert says it is unfair to say pupils in single-sex schools become sexist.

"You don't learn to be sexist from a school, but from your parents," she says.

Pupils in single-sex schools won't struggle to adapt after school and the success of their relationships depends more on their parents' example than the school they went to, she says.

BUT WHAT DO THE KIDS THINK?

TOMBOY Rafaella Lipschitz struggled to fit in at a co-educational school because she wasn't keen to play "girl games" and boys weren't always willing to include her in theirs.

Now the 10-year-old is flourishing at the girls-only Roedean School, in Johannesburg, where she is "able to be who she is", says her father, David.

Rafaella says: "I learn much faster. Girls are cleverer than boys. It's a lot quieter in the classrooms. There aren't boys throwing paper aeroplanes."

Rafaella can now be "girly-girly and sporty and competitive" if she chooses, says her dad.

At the boys-only King Edward VII School, in Johannesburg, Bradley Janse van Rensburg, 17, "enjoys the tradition and brotherhood" the school offers him.

It was "quite an adjustment" after attending a co-ed primary school but he does not feel he is missing out because he does not go to school with girls.

"In class we learn a lot more. We're focused on schoolwork. Lots of boys act differently around girls, but here no one is acting," he said.

His friends at co-ed schools are "more worried about going out and socialising".

Nicola Matthee, 18, of the co-ed Hoërskool Stellenbosch, disagrees, saying her school gives her the opportunity to make friends with both boys and girls.

"You learn to handle yourself in front of the other sex," she said, adding that she has the confidence to speak out when she disagrees with boys.

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