Assignment:
Gender in Education
Just imagine....
You are one of the elected members of the local school board. Thanks to a new state initiative being pushed by the governor, your school can get a nice new hefty grant if it goes to a single-sex format that has boys in one class and girls in another for most subjects. In order to accept the money, you must make the change permanent. The idea is to see the effects of the change over a long period of time so that the state can know for sure whether single-sex classes work or not. The money is a sizable amount, more than was recently requested from voters in a recent school levy measure that lost at the polls. The school is hurting for money. The principal likes the idea. How should you vote?
Here are a few resources, as with any assignment you may seek out other academic sources as well.
Single-Sex vs. Coed: The Evidence
Single-sex education: the pros and cons
OECD Home Page (After you click on the OECD website type in same sex education in the search box and you will get a number of journal articles.)
Answer the following questions in essay format:
Based on your research make an argument for the school board to support the single sex format. In your argument identify 3 reasons from the research why this is a good idea for the educational experience of all students.
Based on your research make an argument against the school board support of the single sex format. In your argument identify at 3 reasons why this is not a good idea for the educational experience of all students.
Identify the theories structural functionalist, conflict, feminist or symbolic interactionism that back your argument for the proposal in #1. Explain the theories in detail and discuss how the points of the theory support your arguments.
Identify the theories structural functionalist, conflict, feminist or symbolic interactionism that back your argument for the proposal in #2. Explain the theories in detail and discuss how the points of the theory support your arguments.