sex-segregated primary schools

scab-e

wtf is this about? Is it a hangover from the good old days of 1950s ireland?

i have a feeling it is unhealthy.

Nevyn

Some schools are some schools aren't, if you disagree with the ethos of a school then don't send your child there.

Hotblack Desiato

That's all very well if suitable alternatives exist but often they don't, and as we have seen recently, religious schools are under no obligation to accept kids from other faiths (or none) if there are not enough places to go round.

Some schools are now not only insisting on baptismal certificates, but enquiring as to whether the parents go to Mass as well :eek:

It's just not good enough to say to such parents "well, set up your own school then if you don't like it", parents of young kids have enough financial and time pressures these days already.

deisemum

I used to be very pro mixed primary schools but if I was deciding on where to send my boys all over again I'd opt for a single sex school

Hotblack Desiato

You can't leave us hanging like that - not without telling us why!

Scoobydoobydoo

From what I hear, and in general terms, single sex schools are better for girls, mixed is better for boys.

Hotblack Desiato

Scoobydoobydoo wrote:

From what I hear, and in general terms, single sex schools are better for girls, mixed is better for boys.

But aren't girls increasingly doing better than boys anyway? Should we be magnifying that advantage?
IMHO as a survivor of a single-sex school, it's important for boys to be able to socialise with the other sex as people not as another species, perhaps as important as any academic results.

RIRI

aparenty girls do better in single sex schools & boys in mixed

as with anything, when it comes to your kids you need to assess things as they are

deisemum

What I've found from sending boys to a mixed primary school is the prevailing girls = good boys = bold so they're the ones constantly getting in trouble. Most of the teachers are female and have that attitude. It's annoying when you see the female teacher who'll say things like "be a good girl, don't do that again, sit down" to a girl who does the same misdemeanor as a boy and the boy will get the head ate off him and give him them a punishment such as extra homework or make them stand in the sin bin during lunch break for a week.

I'm not saying boys don't misbehave but when you've constantly got girls who are telling tales on a daily basis and the little madams are wise enough to know that most of the female teachers will fall hook line and sinker for whatever they tell them even when they make up stuff about the boys. The last thing most boys will do is go and tell tales, they see that as a girly thing.

The girls are great at putting on the waterworks when they go up to the teacher yet when they're on the way back down to their seat they've got big smirks on their face. I have 7 sisters so I know how the female mind can work when it's in bit*h mode.

I think if boys are exposed to this sort of unfair treatment then it's going to have a negative effect on how they view school. I think we need a lot more male teachers. This year my younger son has a male teacher for the first time. He's delighted and thinks the teacher is "sound", his word for him because he doesn't fall for the girls carry on and this is a boy who's well behaved in school and doesn't ever get told off. My other boy is in 6th class and it's taken 8 years to find a teacher who's wise to the girls behaviour and do something about it, she warned the girls on the first day that she would not tolerate telling tales unless it's something serious. My son thinks she's the best teacher he's had yet and is volunteering for extra work. A bit of praise goes a long way.

This is from my own experience but I've heard similar from plenty of other parents with children in other schools plus some family members who are teachers.

greenkittie

I went to single sex girls primary and I really liked it. Although in saying that I always had lots of male contact and friends outside school so I turned out normal whereas some girls I know from school that didn't have that turned out a little odd in terms of thier interactions with guys. Then again who's to say they wouldnt have ended up the same way in a mixed school.

My brothers both started out in a single sex boys school and both ended up being moved to mixed schools which they much prefered. Neither of them is particularly boisterous and the macho enviroment of the single sex school just didnt suit them.

SarahMc

From what I hear, and in general terms, single sex schools are better for girls, mixed is better for boys.

That finding relates to secondary schools, this discussion is about primary schools.

I think we need a lot more male teachers

Totally agree, I *think* I read a statistic somewhere that said gaelscoilleana have more male teachers than any other type of school. Of course, maybe I didn't read that and its just a figment of my imagination!

simu

deisemum wrote:

What I've found from sending boys to a mixed primary school is the prevailing girls = good boys = bold so they're the ones constantly getting in trouble. Most of the teachers are female and have that attitude. It's annoying when you see the female teacher who'll say things like "be a good girl, don't do that again, sit down" to a girl who does the same misdemeanor as a boy and the boy will get the head ate off him and give him them a punishment such as extra homework or make them stand in the sin bin during lunch break for a week.

I'm not saying boys don't misbehave but when you've constantly got girls who are telling tales on a daily basis and the little madams are wise enough to know that most of the female teachers will fall hook line and sinker for whatever they tell them even when they make up stuff about the boys. The last thing most boys will do is go and tell tales, they see that as a girly thing.

The girls are great at putting on the waterworks when they go up to the teacher yet when they're on the way back down to their seat they've got big smirks on their face. I have 7 sisters so I know how the female mind can work when it's in bit*h mode.

I think if boys are exposed to this sort of unfair treatment then it's going to have a negative effect on how they view school. I think we need a lot more male teachers. This year my younger son has a male teacher for the first time. He's delighted and thinks the teacher is "sound", his word for him because he doesn't fall for the girls carry on and this is a boy who's well behaved in school and doesn't ever get told off. My other boy is in 6th class and it's taken 8 years to find a teacher who's wise to the girls behaviour and do something about it, she warned the girls on the first day that she would not tolerate telling tales unless it's something serious. My son thinks she's the best teacher he's had yet and is volunteering for extra work. A bit of praise goes a long way.

This is from my own experience but I've heard similar from plenty of other parents with children in other schools plus some family members who are teachers.

So, you don't like when teachers stereotype kids by gender but yet you go on to do it yourself...

deisemum

simu wrote:

So, you don't like when teachers stereotype kids by gender but yet you go on to do it yourself...

I posted about my experience of what goes on in my children's school and a hell of a lot worse than what I posted earlier has been going on in that school

simu

deisemum wrote:

I posted about my experience of what goes on in my children's school and a hell of a lot worse than what I posted earlier has been going on in that school

It sounds like a dodgy school. I don't think that's typical of mixed-sex schools, in my experience, anyways.

Crea

Deisemum,
Have to say my sister had a similar experience with her boys in school. It was quite a small school with 4 or so teachers. When they first started the principal was male and the boys loved the school, lots of activity at break time and the principal usually supervised the yard. When he left there was no adult male in the school and the atmosphere completely changed. No running in the yard, the boys would be constantly given out to for rough play (not hurting each other but horse play) and as Deisemum said the boys were bold and the girls were good. The new principal wasn't receptive to any complaints because she had previously been a teacher there and they were all pals.

Carrigart Exile

scab-e wrote:

wtf is this about? Is it a hangover from the good old days of 1950s ireland?

i have a feeling it is unhealthy.

sex segregated secondary schools is actually what is needed; both sexes seem to perform better academically when hormones are not getting activated

Jesus Wept

I think going to a same sex primary and secondary school has made interacting with the opposite sex more difficult for me in my teenage and adult life.

Dont be at yourself

ex segregated secondary schools is actually what is needed; both sexes seem to perform better academically when hormones are not getting activated

Kids dont just go to school to academically achieve. Social development is also of huge importance.

SarahMc

Actually research shows, if anything, mixed gender primary schools favour boys

"Girl students are placed at a disadvantage in classrooms due to the differential interactions teachers have with their male and female students with the result that the classroom climate worked in favour of boys by reinforcing them as 'dominant participants'" , however the research also found that primary school boys are negatively affected by a school environment characterised by a prepondrence of female teachers. (CSER)

Carrigart Exile

SarahMc wrote:

Actually research shows, if anything, mixed gender primary schools favour boys

"Girl students are placed at a disadvantage in classrooms due to the differential interactions teachers have with their male and female students with the result that the classroom climate worked in favour of boys by reinforcing them as 'dominant participants'" , however the research also found that primary school boys are negatively affected by a school environment characterised by a prepondrence of female teachers. (CSER)

I don't think it said that at all Sarah, its an almost exclusively female environment