Power of Co-Education

What does a school community say about its values when it organizes around a single sex or co-ed structure? What assumptions are made about the essence of girls and boys? And what lessons do these assumptions teach students? The decision to segregate or integrate by gender is profoundly important. According to The Town School has been committed to co-education since its founding in 1913, and they believe that a school for girls and boys teaches a number of important lessons and assumptions about gender that will have a positive impact on learning and the development of children. The lessons taught in a co-ed school are essential:  that school is a place to encounter, understand, and work with the other gender; that the genders are, fundamentally, compatible; that girls and boys can – and should – learn from each other; that differences, when they do exist, can be understood.  These are powerful assumptions and can have a significant impact on student learning.  Co-educational schools teach important skills that will be called on for success in later schooling and life. In a co-education school girls and boys can also know that when they succeed they are doing so with the other gender present – as it is and will be in the real world – and this can only have a positive impact on future achievement and self-esteem. And this issue of the world as it is remains an important reason to support co-education. The world is comprised of men and women, boys and girls, and if a school’s mission is to prepare students for life in the world, then co-educational schools have an advantage and teach important skills that will be called on for success in later schooling and life.  There is also the issue of diversity. A diverse school experience – featuring contact with people from different backgrounds, cultures, belief systems, and, yes, genders – is a positive. A co-educational school does, then, offer an experience that is more real and powerful. Does this mean that gender differences are of no concern? Of course not – gender does matter - as do a large number of other variables. One must be aware, though, that much of the “research” that has been done on the subject of gender and learning is anecdotal, inconclusive, and ill conceived. It is very difficult to isolate the impact that gender has on learning when many other factors – including school structure, socioeconomic backgrounds, and the quality of the teachers and teaching – are such important contributing variables. Girls and boys can – and should – learn from each other. The assumptions about gender that are made by single sex and co-ed schools are important ones. They point to beliefs and values about how, in essence, boys and girls and women and men do, and should, interact. They make judgments about how to prepare students for their place in the world. They may reinforce – or usurp – societal conventions about the nature, behavior, and potential of girls and boys. The Town School mission is built on the belief that co-educational nursery, elementary, and middle school teaching and learning is the most appropriate and powerful model.

When Parents consider what School to send their child to?

When parents consider what school to send their child to, they often first decide whether they should send their child to a single sex school or to a co-educational one?

15-year-old Tarun returned from a party a little before midnight, and charged into the bathroom to relieve himself. "What happened, why the rush?" His mother asked. "Weren't there bathrooms at the party venue?" "Yes, there were three bathrooms, but they were all locked because couples were making out in them," he exclaimed, with irritation. Tarun's mother didn't know whether she should be upset at what youngsters in schools were up to these days, or be relieved that her son wasn't much into such 'extra-curricular activities.'

Some parents prefer to send their children to single sex schools, in order to minimise their contact with the opposite sex, and so, to some extent, prevent their children from indulging in such 'hanky panky.'

First of all, it is important to understand that just by sending your child to an all-girls or all-boys school doesn't stop them from seeking out the opposite sex. You can minimise contact when your child is in school, but you cannot stop your children meeting others through tuitions, extra classes, the neighbourhood, or through friends. If your child meets someone with who she shares chemistry, and if she makes the decision to get physical with such person, there's little a parent can do.

On the other hand, when you send your child to a co-educational school, your child will have exposure to the opposite sex from the outset. As a result, your child will not only feel more comfortable in the company of the opposite sex, but will also be able to handle advances better.

A girl studying in a co-educational school may have ten boys in her class that are interested in going out with her, and may ignore them all, preferring to just hang out with friends. On the other hand, a girl in an all-girl's school will meet fewer boys, and fewer still will show an interest in her. Such interest, since it isn't something run-of-the-mill for her, may cause her to get carried away. However, she may still have a lot of exposure to the other sex, thanks to siblings. In this case, she may be more balanced.

When making the decision of sending your child to a single sex or a co-educational school, don't base the decision on whether you want to minimise or increase your child's exposure to the opposite sex. Instead, consider the reputation of the school, the activities it offers and the quality of education and educators. Certain schools are geared towards sending students abroad for further studies. If you want your child to go abroad, this is something you may consider. Then there are other less traditional schools that focus more on activities and less on academics. If this is something that appeals to you, then give this fact more priority than the student mix. In fact, when deciding what school to send your child to, whether or not it is co-educational should be last on your list of criteria.

History Of Co-Education in USA

The roots of collegiate coeducation reach back to the years before the Civil War, when women first pined access to Oberlin and a few other colleges on terms nearly equal to men. This access owed much to the efforts of the early women's rights movement, whose leaders declared that coeducation was an essential precondition of woman's emancipation from her "separate sphere." Disappointed by the education provided at the female secondary schools of their day, early feminists feared that separate education for women would inevitably be inferior to that of men. The only way of ensuring equality, they argued, was to insist that women and men be educated together.

Coeducation appealed to the leaders of the early women's movement not simply on academic grounds but on sexual grounds as well. In their view, the segregation of young men and women led to an undue preoccupation with sex; whereas the joint education of the sexes created a more natural and therefore healthier sexual atmosphere. "If the sexes were educated together," argued Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "we should have the healthy, moral and intellectual stimulus of sex ever quickening and refining all the faculties, without the undue excitement of senses that results from novelty in the present system of isolation." Coeducation, then, promised intellectual emancipation and sexual well-being.


Women's early success at Oberlin persuaded many early women's rights leaders that coeducation would soon be achieved throughout the country. Lucy Stone summed up their views in an address at the 1856 Women's Rights Convention in New York City. "Our demand that Harvard and Yale colleges should admit women, though not yet yielded, only waits for a little more time. And while they wait, numerous petty 'female colleges' have sprung into being, indicative of the justice of our claim that a college education should be granted to women. Not one of these female colleges . . . meets the demands of the age, and so will eventually perish."


Stone could not have been more wrong in her specific prediction. Harvard and Yale did not admit women on equal terms with men for more than a century, and female colleges, far from perishing, proliferated and flourished in the years that followed her speech. Yet in a more general sense Stone was right. Despite the resistance of Harvard and Yale (and of other male preserves, especially in the East and South), by the end of the nineteenth century coeducation had become the predominant form of higher education in this country, and today more than 95 percent of all college women are enrolled in coeducational institutions.

What remains uncertain is how fully coeducation lived up to the hopes of its early advocates. Scholars have written extensively about the history of higher education, but they have directed little attention to the impact of its predominant form on women's lives. Only in the past decade have historians begun to mine the archives of the colleges and universities and to describe women's experience in a number of different institutions. Much remains to be done, but some patterns have begun to emerge.

Though advocates of coeducation achieved some success in the antebellum period, their most important gains came in the wake of the Civil War, a war that left unprecedented numbers of young women faced with the necessity of supporting themselves. By 1872 ninety-seven colleges and universities had decided to admit women. These institutions varied widely in educational quality and purpose, and most were inferior to the eastern male colleges. But a significant and growing number of institutions--including Cornell, the University of Michigan, Wesleyan, Boston University, Wisconsin, and Berkeley--- did more than any educational institution ever had to give women the same education offered to men.

Co-education in Pakistan

Co-education is a modern concept. It was first introduced in Switzerland but later on it spread to other countries as well. In our country, it is popular only in vocational institutions.

There exist two schools of thought which differ sharply in their views about co-education. One group favours co-education. It includes the people who are educated in the western traditions. They say that we should adopt co-education in our schools and colleges because our country is poor and under-developed. We cannot open separate schools and colleges both for the boys and girls. This becomes obvious in the case of vocational and technical institutions. It is very difficult for the government to open separate vocational colleges and equip them with necessary scientific apparatus and library.

There is a great dearth of skilled teachers on technical subjects in our country. That is why it is desirable to educate the boys and girls in the same institution. There is another advantage of co-education.

The interaction between boys and girls at this age helps in their practical life later on. Co-education also produces a healthy competition. The boys become more civilized and polished in the presence of girls. The girls also stand to gain something in the presence of boys.

Co-education has its disadvantages. The boys and girls might waste their time in activities unrelated to their studies. The youth is characterised by irresponsibility and immaturity. This free contact can result in laxity of morals. Therefore, it is false economy to teach them in the same institution.

Co-Education System

Co-education is a system of educating boys and girls together. In ancient times, co-education was prevalent in Greece. Today, this system of education is there in almost all the countries of the world. It is economical. It generates a spirit of comradeship between boys and girls.

The problem of shortage of trained teachers can be dealt with by this system. Boys overcome their curiosity and girls, their shyness. They learn to respect one another. Though a few conservative people are against this system, their views do not hold ground. Co-education generates harmonious relationship, a sense of co-operation, and thus, helps in the progress of the nation.

Co-education is a system of educating boys and girls together. In ancient times, co-education existed in Sparta in Greece. There was no discrimination between boys and girls. They studied and played together. Along with academic education, physical training was also given to both the sexes.

It s our experience that friendships develop in a very natural way in co-educational schools. This happens because there are so many activities, societies and clubs in the school in which girls and boys take part in a pleasant, well-supervised environment. Friendships develop naturally and genuinely because the mixing is a by-product of the event. This friendly atmosphere continues into the classroom allowing young people to express their views openly and assertively.

Co-education is a system of educating boys and girls together. In ancient times, co-education was prevalent in Greece. Today, this system of education is there in almost all the countries of the world. It is economical

The problem of shortage of trained teachers can be dealt with by this system. Boys overcome their curiosity and girls, their shyness. They learn to respect one another. Though a few conservative people are against this system, their views do not hold ground.