Cookie cutters are great for cookies, but not so good for kiddos. And I have yet to see an educational “system” that could be truly called a “master” system in that it would never have any more successful competitors under certain circumstances — that is, unless it was such a generic “system” that it was of no practical use (i.e., not really a “system” at all).

“In 2002, because of these studies and bipartisan support, the US law of 1972 that made coeducation in public schools mandatory was revoked and funding was given in support of the single-sex option. There are now associations of parents who are advocating for single-sex education.”

30 Years without funding will affect any legitimate interest group. And as most things under such strained conditions, the opinions produced would vary. The remainder of the wiki article has it’s share of opinions, the page being flagged for unverifiable information, possible bias here and there. Here’s another interesting article on the subject:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/jun/25/schools.gender

Myself, I can’t say one system is substantially better than the other but I do applaud any efforts to re-establish single-sex schools as a viable option for parents. However with the information available, I’d be highly suspicious with an idea that promotes itself as some sort of “master”, the only true educational system.

Actually, I generally agree with what you are saying, but I think the point I’ve tried to make (however poorly!) still stands. In the effort to make assembly line education more tailored to a student’s needs, I still think making gender distinctions is the easiest way to get the most bang for the buck. Is it a perfect fit? Certainly not — again, one reason that, personally, we’ve chosen homeschool. But all such choices in our current system of things will be a matter of choosing the most pleasing (or least displeasing) set of pros and cons.

And, in actuality, as you demonstrate by example in your post, even within unigendered classrooms one will encounter a variety of people with different personalities and learning styles, so it wouldn’t be accurate to say that such variety would be lost in such classrooms/schools. And while all learning styles may apply to individuals of each gender, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a tendency for one gender or the other to have concentrations in differing styles — if anything, there is good reason to expect it. The fact that it has long been politically incorrect to discuss this in those halls of academia responsible for policy and textbook creation hasn’t helped. (And the differences go beyond the relatively strict boundaries of what would be called “learning styles” — I would not categorize the “chairs vs. stools” difference, for example, as a difference in learning style so much as I would call it a difference in the most beneficial environment.)

Thanks for the comment, and have a great Sabbath!