“The Case Against Single-Sex Classrooms”-Margaret Talbot

“‘Fundamentally, men and women are more similar than different,'” Margaret Talbot quotes in her New Yorker article, The Case Against Single-Sex Classrooms. As she compares and contrasts her studies done in the nineties, Talbot concurs that single-sex education has become a help-aid for boys, rather than girls. Employing expert’s studies for logical appeal, she proves that separation benefits the girls in the math department and the boys in the reading. Whereas in the nineties she believed that single-sex classrooms were better because it helped students focus, she now questions her claim.  After hearing that “girls have been besting boys’ performance across the board:  G.P.A.s, school leadership, graduation rates, college attendance,” she justifies her outlook. How does one tell their child why he or she can not go to school with their friends of the opposite gender?Purposly trying to educate parents, Talbot’s stresses that reasons for separation sound kind of silly. By using words such as when, in one way, but, and now, Talbot creates a structure to support her mode of discourse. The implication of transitions allows for easy to see compare and contrast, as well as clearly getting her purpose, the pros and cons of single-sex classrooms, across.

http://neuroethicswomenleaders.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/neurosexism-and-single-sex-education-or-support-your-local-aclu/