AK's Rapid Fire

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Article Alert

I have an article in today's Christian Science Monitor on a controversy over single-sex education in Kentucky. Check it out here.

At 3:50 AM , Anonymous said...: For girls particularly, shouldn't it be a priority in whatever educational environment they are in (public/private, same-sex/co-ed, etc.), to teach them that to explore a broad variety of subjects, when such are optional, and to choose challenging subjects, is the way to reach their full potential. I tend to think that some of the prejudice against girls excelling at "traditionally male" subjects is less likely to come from the schools or teachers than from home or other influences, however, it is every school's job to break those outdated ideas. Speaking for myself, I never attended any all-girls school. Sure I was the only female in the elective "advanced" shop class in middle school, but girls outnumbered boys in my AP physics and calculus classes. There were many classes where I spoke up and asked questions more than any other student and any other girls -- but somewhere along the way I was taught that the only really foolish questions were the unasked ones. I was shocked when recruiters from well-respected all-female colleges cited the advantage of being in a class with no men meant that the women would feel "safer" to speak up in class! This was in the '90s! That message should be left far behind us in favor of the message that girls can compete and collaborate with boys without any inherent disadvantage. How do girls at single-sex schools learn that?