Due to the fact that, there are significant differences in the ways male and female learn, gender separations in terms of education (teaching boys and girls in separate classrooms or schools) have been promoted.

In fact, the most profound difference between girls and boys is not in any brain structure per se, but rather in the sequence of development of the various brain regions. The different regions of the brain develop in a different sequence, and different tempo, in girls compared with boys.[i]

A number of studies have been conducted to determine whether single-gender education has a positive impact on students’ achievement.  Despite the fact that, the concept of single-gender format primarily attributed to private schools only, many public schools have started to offer single-gender schooling. In 2002, a dozen of public schools in the United States began offering single-gender education. With the lapse of time, this number has changed drastically. The number of private schools with same-sex education opportunities has reached up to 500.[ii]

It would be unfair not to mention that fact that, I have graduated from single-gender school, and I am totally supporting this idea and convinced that it facilitates the learning process and has a positive impact on students’ outcomes, such as test scores, graduation rates and so on. However, as follows from American Council for Co-Educational Schooling (ACCES), some studies showed that single –sex education is a controversial issue. [iii] It is not surprising that “coeducation advocates agree that there are some small physiological differences in male and female brains. But they also say there’s a lack of evidence that these differences matter to learning at the individual level”.[iv] To begin with, the arguments of coeducational supporters are mainly based on stereotyping and diversity.[v] They believe that single-sex education is harmful, because it does not give a chance to interact with all sorts of people. In other words, sex-segregated classrooms eliminate the opportunity to learn how to cooperate with the opposite sex members in society.

[i]Leonard Sax, (May 17, 2010). Gender Differences in the Sequence of Brain Development

[ii] According to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education.

[iii]“Single-Gender Education: Does it Work?”. Retrieved from the Dominican University’s Website, page 1.

[iv]Coed versus single-sex ed. American Psychological Association’s Website.

[v]National Association for Single Sex Public Education.