"Teaching Boys and Girls Separately" by Elizabeth Weil

1. "Principal Mansell reports that her single-sex classes produce fewer discipline problems, more parental support and better scores in writing, reading, and math. She does, however, acknowledge that her data are compromised, as her highest-performing teachers and her most-motivated students have chosen single-sex."

It appears that single-sex classrooms are a good idea and should be implemented nation-wide. Since boys and girls tend to learn differently, the teacher can properly help each child reach their highest potential when teaching a single sex. If test scores are increasing in schools where single-sex classes are being introduced, then it seems viable to say that they are working.

2. "'The neglect of gender in education and child rearing has done real harm.' These tragedies 'might have been averted if the parents had known enough about gender differences to recognize what was really happening in their child's life.'"

This quote directly follows references to a young boy who has been diagnosed with A.D.H.D. and depression who takes three pills a day and to a middle school girl who went from being a wallflower to an "outgoing socialite" who eventually killed herself. These are both heart-breaking stories. This just goes to show that parents as well as teachers need to be aware of gender differences. In the case of the middle school girl, if her parents had been paying attention they would have noticed that she was unhappy with who she was and decided to change herself, but when that didn't make her feel better, she killed herself. In the case of the young boy, he was probably stereotypically diagnosed with A.D.H.D. because he was an active little boy which is not uncommon. If their parents had been aware of gender differences, they may have been able to prevent these things from happening.

3. "While there's some dispute over whether there's an ongoing education crisis for white, middle-class boys, there's no doubt that public schools are failing poor minority students in general and poor minority boys in particular."

Even after No Child Left Behind was implemented, things are not changing. White, middle-class students are still performing better than minority students. Further steps need to be taken in order to ensure that all children are performing equally in the classroom, no matter their race or socio-economic status.

This article was very interesting. To be completely honest, I was dreading reading it, but I actually enjoyed it. I had never really put much thought into the different learning styles of girls and boys. Gender differences have been discussed in several of my other classes, but we did not touch upon the difference in learning styles. I think same-sex classes are a good idea if test scores are improving. It seems as though it would be easier to teach a class of either all boys or all girls. Of course we must keep in mind that there are many exceptions and some children are wrongly stereotyped and a single-sex classroom may not be appropriate for him or her.