The Gender Role Perceptions of Male Students at a Prestigious, Single-Gender, Catholic High School.

Abstract

Barriers to equity in education impact both genders. For girls this includes classroom teachers showing a preference to boys while ignoring the needs of girls, a lack of girls being pushed into upper level math and science classes, textbook bias that favors the male perspective, sexual harassment, pressure to look good, a lack of female administrators, and ending up in lower paying career tracks despite receiving higher report card grades than boys (Sadker, 2000; Sadker et al., 1994; Sadker, Sadker, & Klein, 2001; Sadker, Sadker & Steindam, 1989). Boys experience their share of problems such as greater difficulty with reading comprehension, greater discipline problems, a lack of male role models especially during the early grades, lower report card grades despite the presence of higher achievement scores, more likelihood to be placed in special education classes, higher drop out rates, and self-esteem problems due to a failure to live up to athletic and other male role expectations (Sadker, 2000; Sadker & Zittleman, 2003; Thiers, 2006). The benefit of single sex schooling on the academic and social development of students is a topic that has received considerable attention. Many writers (Barber, 2006; DeBare, 2004; Farr, 2005; Flowers, 2005; Sadker & Zittleman, 2004; Watson, Quatman & Elder, 2002; Van de Gaer, et al., 2004) believe that removing the other gender from the academic environment offers students a better chance to concentrate on their studies, as opposed to spending time and energy trying to impress the opposite sex and living up to prescribed stereotypes and gender role expectations. Bracey (2007) identifies four philosophical camps of thought--educators and reformers who believe: (1) that coeducation is the best arrangement for all students; (2) coeducation should remain the norm, but single-sex alternatives should also be allowed to help address special needs; (3) poor, minority, and disadvantaged students need single-sex education to help combat negative street messages about learning; and (4) that because boys and girls learn so differently, single-sex schools should be the norm so that learning can be maximized. A brief summary of the larger discourse that addresses single-sex education followed by a discussion about the gender role perceptions of students who attend those schools is provided. Single-Gender Education Gollnick and Chinn (2009) report that single-gender schools focus on developing the confidence, academic achievement, and leadership skills of both genders by using their unique learning styles and cultural experiences. Salomone (2006) found that single-sex schools provide the potential for students to engage in the full assortment of course offerings and extracurricular activities beyond those typically identified with one sex or the other. Prior to World War II, officials in several big city school districts made frequent usage of single-sex education. Tire IX of the 1972 Education Amendments Act, however, changed all of that. Donohue (2003) reports that civil libertarians and feminists were able to convince government officials that separate classes for boys and girls were inherently discriminatory. The argument prevailed for 30 years until 2002 when, as a result of No Child Left Behind legislation, the Bush Administration provided new flexibility for public schools to once again experiment with single-sex options. This resulted in the creation of 15 single-gender public schools during the first year, but the arrangement most commonly endorsed has been segregated courses within a coeducational setting (Vail, 2002). By January of 2006, 211 schools offered single-sex learning, with 42 of them completely single-sex (Thiers, 2006). By August of 2008, there were five hundred public institutions offering single-sex classrooms and schools (Sax, 2008). A large portion of the debate has been fueled by a need to provide a better learning environment for young girls. …