Mixed Schools

This essay provides a discussion between the disadvantages and advantages of mixed schools. The first part of the essay begins with the disadvantages of mixed schools, about why some parents do not allow their children to attend mixed schools and even why some students themselves do not want to attend mixed schools. These are the educational, psychological and social disadvantages of mixed schools. The second part of this essay provides the benefits of attending mixed schools by looking at the economic, educational and social benefits of mixed schools. The essay then concludes by agreeing to the second side on the discussion where it clearly states that the benefits are more important.

Education is defined as the process where one learns and acquires information Alexis (2012), it is an important component of human life. Mixed school is a system of education namely common nowadays in most countries around the world. It is when both genders are taught in a same school and under the same roof. Yet, there are some reasons why parents do not want their children to attend mixed schools and also why the students themselves do not want to attend, so it is a must to recognize their importance. Therefore, this essay will examine the disadvantages and advantages of mixed schools. The disadvantages are educational, psychological and social while the advantages are economic, educational and social. To begin with, single sex schools are best choice for some parents. That is why parents worked hard so they could choose a school were there could be no disturbance to their children’s education.

Since in mixed schools there are some reasons that could disturb students in their education such as, “lack of concentration” stated by Thomson (2012), as both genders are in the same classroom there may possibly for the students to be attracted emotionally to the opposite gender as it is natural. According to Arizon State University (2011) “gender stereotyping occurs mostly in mixed schools”, as it is when each gender feels like a subject they learned in school belong to the other gender so they would not perform well in that subject. Like females feel that math and science belong to males while males feel that poetry and music belong to females so they would not to better in these subjects. Therefore, these are the reasons as to why some parents would not let their children attend mixed schools and also students themselves. Secondly, mental and emotional of students are likely to be some problems. In all mixed schools, students have mental attitudes that affect them in their studies and also emotional attitudes that even cause some students for their education.

Sexual harassment “is one of the severe disadvantages of mixed schools which continue to increase especially in mixed schooling systems…” (Thomson 2011). In addition, sex discrimination. Some students feel that there is favoritism in class works especially by the same gender teachers. For instance, if there is a male teacher in class and he keeps asking question to male students ignoring female students, it makes the genders feel’s that there is biased inside the classroom. A major problem in mixed schools also is romantic relationship which is a big distraction for students and sometimes when the students are not careful enough especially females they ended up pregnant. Hence, parents prefer to send their children single sex school to avoid these problems.

Furthermore, environment of a school is important to students. It helps students with their academic work because there is nothing they should worried about but concentrates mostly in their school works. Yet some students feel less comfortable in an environment when there are presence of their opposite gender and therefore it creates “less opportunity for both genders to work together” (Lewin, 2011, p. A19). Additionally, some students could not stand to be in an environment where there is a lot of misbehave by other genders. For instance, if the male students wanted something that the female students have they sometimes do not have the respect to ask politely, but they would act misbehaves or bully the females to give what they wanted (6 march, tete, 2013). Consequently, students choose to be in an education system where they will feel comfortable. However, there is another side to this issue.

These mixed schools also have its advantages on students. It is economic, educational and social that helps students as they continued with their education especially at University, at workplaces and also when the students are old enough and ready to start their own family. Economic issue on mixed schools is important. Most parents consider mixed schools because of its economic purposes, as it is less expensive than single sex schools. Simply because single sex schools are usually private schools, for this reason they sure should be expensive than mixed schools. Mixed schools give a chance and make life easier for parents who could not afford to send their children to single sex schools, because it’s expensive and yet both education systems teaches mostly the same subjects. Some parents have more than one child so they like their children to attend the same school so it will be much cheaper than attending different schools. Hence, parents send their children to mixed schools, so that they could afford to buy school fees.

Another point is how mixed schools help students in their learning. Students may feel uncomfortable at first but as days passes by they will realize the benefits of mixed schools and it surely helps them a lot. Such as, it helps build up the confidence between the students to communicate with the opposite gender regularly and also gives more opportunities for each gender to learn about the opposite sex, so when it comes to a topic for example in science and it’s about human body the students would feel comfortable in class to listen as they know a little about their opposite gender. In addition, according to Thomson (2012) one of the most obvious and natural advantages of mixed schools system is that it promotes a healthy competition between each gender. There is always a natural tendency to compete with the opposite sex and to be held as the winner.

Therefore, learning in mixed schools is efficient for both genders. Finally, mixed schools assist to students for their future. Students are expected to have jobs after they are graduated, so mixed schools is system of education that really help students in this area to feel comfortable around the opposite sex, once you get to spend more time around the opposite gender. For instance, Brain (2011) stated that “…he recently overheard one of the male students in a school describes his description centered around the freedom he experiences being able to just be friends with females without the demands and pressure of a sexual relationship. Also, he described some of these girls as his own family…”

Therefore mixed schools surely help and trains students to be able to socialize with the opposite sex getting ready for the future jobs and families when they are ready to start one. In conclusion, then, although we have seen that there are some disadvantages of mixed schools, yet the benefits are more important for students. As it reflects more on the real life they will face in the future, also to prepare them for workplaces as to be able to communicate with their fellow colleague of the opposite gender and also family life. Therefore, I recommended that governments should consider more on the ideas of mixed schools and as well, if they are fully against the idea of same sex marriage in the future they would consider mixed schools as best for their future.

Bibliography

Arizon State University, 2011, “Why Co-Ed”, American Council for Co Educational Schooling, 18 March, 2013 on http://lives.clas.asu.edu/acces/why.html Brain, J. 2011, “Co v Single Sex Schooling”, American Psychological Association, Vol. 42, no 11, p.11 New York Times, 2011, “Single-Sex Education Is Assailed in Report”, 22 September, p. A19. Student, University of the South Pacific, at Emalus Campus, 2013, Personnel interview, 6 March Thomson, D. 2012, “Co-education: Advantages and disadvantages of mixed schools”, Helium, 12 March, 2013 on http://www.helium.com/items/2315843-co-education-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-mixed-schooling.