Sir, – The society we live in today is vastly different to the time when single-sex schools began, a time when parental expectations for their children, and especially for girls, who were not expected to pursue careers, were vastly different from the world we live in today. Society adapts to social change, and in today’s world, the social and economic differences between men and women have lessened and inclusivity and equity prevail. Educating young people in an environment closer to the real world is well overdue and imposing a gender segregation based on dubious assumptions on different learning styles is unfair.
Various opinions have been expressed on school feeder tables to third-level colleges, and in taking a very narrow academic focus, Brian O’Brien alludes to single-sex schools performing well in these tables and he asks why change it (Letters, March 22nd).
A school that resembles real life enables the best type of learning. Positive and supportive relationships with all people should be progressed in one’s youth, irrespective of gender, with the school surroundings an ideal setting for such development. Learning how to interact, solve problems and how to work together with the opposite gender rather than avoiding each other is an essential preparation for life. In a world where sexual violence and domestic abuse make regular news, learning together allows all genders to better understand how to treat each other in non-social surroundings and recognise the full significance of equality and respect with its associated moral responsibilities. Removing the gender exemption from a school’s admission policy and shifting the needle from male/female stereotyping to coeducation as the standard norm can only be for the betterment of society in general. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN McLOUGHLIN,
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Ballina,
Co Mayo.