The influence of co-education is on a primary and secondary school level, and college attendance, and as to how this has been an advantage or disadvantage to the education system, or alternatively if there have been no ramifications at all, is debatable. Specific circumstances effect education such as socioeconomic, race, religion, even gender, most notable when the gender of a teacher effects students education. An analysis of social, behavioral, and developmental differences support the gender change in college attendance, from men to women, occurring over the last several decades, while experts remain in dispute over the effect of co-education on the educational process.
Evolving social differences reveal that more women are attending college and it has been a progressional change from 1950 onwards. To begin, from the 1950s to the 1970s women attended college “to pursue various female-intensive occupations, such as teaching and social work, to major in fields such as education, English, and literature, and to find suitable mates” (Goldin 2). In the 1970s there was a social change in the female outlook from a focus on marriage and just a job, to putting greater emphasis on a career, thus a change from arts to more science, and serious scholarship. By the early 1990s more women than men were pursuing degrees and a decade later the ratio changed to 1.35 female to each male graduating from a four-year college directly proving women outnumbered men.
Studies support that the behavioral differences between genders, beginning in high school, contribute to the marked change in college attendance, and are twofold. First, conduct requiring disciplinary action and behavior issues that are higher in boys, while the actual time spent studying on homework is less in boys, those this is not universal as family background and socioeconomic factors remain an element. Additionally supporting the differ is the findings of a higher rate of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in boys rather than girls.
Developmental differences in each gender can contribute to the impetus to attend college. For example, a difference in organizational skills or a gap in maturity are both contributing factors. One developmental factor that affects both genders of students, is how the gender of the teacher affects the individual student. Another developmental factor affecting the student is the gender of the teacher. One study reveals that in the subject areas—science, social studies, and English— the overall effect of having a woman teacher instead of a man raises the achievement of girls by 4 percent … and lowers the achievement of boys by roughly the same amount, producing an overall gender gap of 8 percent (Dee. 72)
This research sustains the importance of further studies, to show not only the effect on the student but how to best implement the information as it relates to each gender of student.
Co-education and its effect on the educational process continues to be argued and debated by educational experts. At the primary and secondary level co-education sets a foundation for future education, directly affecting each gender, yet since the enactment of No Chid Left Behind Act passed in 2002 single-sex education has grown in popularity. Educational authorities agree that there is no assurance of success just separating boys and girls, however, schools utilizing practices for gender-specific teaching may have more success at teaching focused on boys’ and girls’ strengths. Recently NASSPE Executive Director Leonard Sax stated “What we’re doing right now — pretending that gender doesn’t matter — is not working,” he says. “We are losing ground.” (Novotney 2011). Co-education is a contribution to a continuous changes in the educational process, as on December 10, 2015, President Obama signed The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) updating educational processes that affect students of every gender.
In conclusion, the influence of co-education does affect the educational process. While studies have shown that due to social, behavioral and developmental differences, the gender of students pursuing college has switched from men to women; it is still co-education that is the main subject of contention and dissension between educational experts, reinforced with each new study that argues the advantages and disadvantages to the education system. In my view, whether it is co-education or single-sex education, the key is to educate the individual to their highest level, no matter if their gender is male or female.
- Dee, Thomas S. “How a Teacher’s Gender Affects Boys and Girls.” The Why. Education Next, 2006.(69-75) Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
- Goldin, Claudia, Lawrence Katz, and Ilyana Kuziemko. “The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap.” NBER WORKING APER SERIES (n.d.): n. pag. NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH. April 2006. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.
- Novotney, Amy. “Coed Ver[s]us Single-sex Ed.” American Psychological Association. n.p., Feb. 2011. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
