Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Girls and Boys

No, this isn't a gender-selection post. At least, not in the ART sense.

I went to a girls' school for one year in the seventh grade. I honestly didn't even think about not having boys around. Sure, I had a crush on a boy in the sixth grade, but I would have been mortified if he'd actually talked to me. But in the eighth grade (we only left for seventh while my father was on a sabbatical year) the same boy picked me as his square-dancing partner, and I was thrilled to the core. When he do-si-doed me I felt like I was floating on the gym floor.

What - you didn't have square-dancing at your school? In P.E.? We had it right after roping tricks. It was a tie-in to Texas history. Then we all went to the LBJ ranch and watched sausage-making demonstrations, which at least made the square-dancing seem not so bad.

In any case, I just don't know what to think about all-girls education. On the one hand, it would be lovely not to worry about anything romantic while at school. But on the other, is lack of exposure to half of the species a good idea? Is familiarity with boys more of a distraction, or a benefit? And for a skinny, quirky smart girl, is the fact that other girls use the attention of boys as currency reason enough to go to a girls' school?

Have any of you gone to a girls' school? Wish you did? Wouldn't even think of it?

6 comments:

Nikki said...

I went to an all girls school! Although in a different country, in what seems now to be a very different time!

I loved it - and maybe I loved it because I didn't know school any other way. But girls could be girls, and we made solid friendships that didn't get marred by boys and "romantic" links etc. Some of my best friends IRL today are girls from school. We grew up together and really bonded for life.

And it was a lot of fun - pure simple unadulterated fun. Wouldn't have it any other way!

Lost in Space said...

No advice on the school, but wanted to say that I do-si-doed in PE too. LOL.

Good luck with working it all out.

Josée Martens said...

I am conflicted on this one. I think it sends a message that girls are different from boys and I am not sure how I feel about that. Good luck deciding. I know lots of girls that did all girls schools and loved it!

Kami said...

If one was available in my area I would hope to send LB there (if everything else was up to par). I have seen a few studies that found even female teachers - and without realizing it - favor boys.

I think the quality of the education could be better because the girls are not being conditioned that boys take precedence.

There have also been some recent studies indicating segregating minorities might work in favor of minorities (all other being equal) because the kids see their value and are not marginalized.

That's my 2 cents.

just me, dawn said...

I never went to an all girl school, though my Luthern grade school separated boys and girls for PE....and we did square dancing too....course I lived in Kansas way back then :)

Anonymous said...

I went to an all girls school from 6th through 12th grades. I think the great thing about it is that you never question that what you do is based on your gender. You just do everything. So when you get out in the world, you don't worry so much about what girls can do and what boys can do. I think it helps build confidence for girls.