Gender and Education

The Orange County Department of Education is about to embark on an intriguing if somewhat controversial experiment to determine if boys and girls will learn more if they are educated in separate, single-gender classrooms.

The concept of classes segregated by gender is not unusual in private schools, though even they have tended to become coeducational in the past few decades.

For public schools, segregated classrooms have long been off-limits, and for good reason. Racial segregation led to classes that were both separate and unequal. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered an end to that segregation. As the civil rights movement progressed, courts and laws also outlawed single-sex public schools.

To try to conform to the law, the county Education Department has structured the new schools to be equal and voluntary. Next month’s starting class will be 80 girls and 80 boys who are currently in county-run alternative schools. Those are designed for students unable to keep up in regular classes. Sometimes that’s for disciplinary reasons; sometimes it’s because of the need to work long hours to help support a family. The students are considered to be among those likely to drop out.

There have been studies showing that girls are able to learn more in single-sex classes, especially in science and math. Freed from the issue of competing with boys, they are more likely to flourish. Research is less clear on the benefit to boys, but there is an expectation that one less distraction will let them focus more on academics.

The county, using state and county funds, will allocate equal amounts to each school. Boys and girls will be at the shared facility, on Harbor Boulevard in Fountain Valley, at different times.

Ensuring that the program is voluntary and equal in all respects is necessary. No student should get an unfair advantage or suffer discrimination because of gender any more than because of race. At a time of searching for ways to improve education, this two-year experiment deserves a chance.