Issue date: 9/10/04 Section: Opinion

Throughout history, society has gone through many phases dealing with societal norms in the areas of education, culture, religion and morals. Sometimes these phases are cyclical, which can be a good or bad thing.

The recent trend is single-sex education in public schools. After nearly a 40-year absence, people are starting to realize that the education system that was in place for the last part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century was successful.

The bottom line is the same: Separate the girls from the boys.

There are many factors influencing success. For instance, whenever the distraction of boys is taken away from girls or vice versa, students no longer have to worry about how they dress, who they have to impress or who their friends are. Instead, they are able to concentrate more on academics.

Also, in single sex classrooms teachers can focus on the environment in which the particular gender learns better. Dr. Leonard Sax, a Maryland physician and psychologist, found in a study that girls tend to learn in a quiet and slower paced environment and liked to be called by their first names whereas boys like things energetic, fast paced and prefer to be called by their last names.

This is a nationwide trend re-appearing with the number of single-sex public schools increasing from four to 140 over the last eight years, according to Sax. And the trend keeps growing. CNN reported at least 10 single-sex schools were to open this fall in Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and South Carolina.

This trend has such a positive impact on public schools that the U.S. Department of Education is looking to change parts of Title IX, the law that bars sex discrimination.

According to studies done by the National Association for Single Sex Public Education, over the last 40 years, co-educational schools may have done more damage than good. To a point, these schools help reinforce gender stereotypes rather than breaking them down.

The single-sex school trend is seen in other countries such as England, Australia and Jamaica. Studies have shown the difference between co-educational schools and single-sex schools has been significant, mainly in the areas of standardized test scores and grades. The single-sex public schools are producing higher grades and test scores than co-educational schools.

If these schools are as successful as people perceive them to be, one must hope that eventually colleges will continue the trend. That is where the history of the success of single sex education is, especially at A&M.

The single-sex education trend should not be mistaken for some passing fad. Separating the sexes has positive, long-term impacts that universities around the nation - maybe even Texas A&M - should consider.

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