Boys And Girls example essay topic

Statistically, in recent years girls have out-graded boys in most examinations. Girls have been consistently beating boys at GCSE, A-Level and, now even degree level. This is often put down to girls' having longer concentration spans than boys. I agree that this may indeed contribute to girls out-achieving boys.

I think this because, obviously, the longer someone concentrates, the more they are likely to learn. This would suggest, to me, that for girls, it would be better to have single sex schools. This is because if girls achieve more than boys then it is bound to be better to have the girls working by themselves in a single sex environment. The main shift in examination results came when coursework was added to GCSEs.

This has had a major affect on boys and girls. Girls have found coursework an easy way to gain extra marks. Girls seem to be more willing to work. Boys, however become distracted at home and they might think they have better things to do. This is perhaps why girls are overtaking boys in the league tables. Many people suggest that, because boys were achieving more highly than girls, the governing board added coursework to GCSEs in order to benefit the girls.

I believe this statement to be incorrect and a biased view. This again shows the vast differences between the sexes, which would imply different teaching would need to be employed when teaching either a boy or a girl. Boys seem to prefer precise tasks which do not involve vast amounts of work to do at home or too much initiative. This is perhaps why coursework benefits girls. Girls seem to have more initiative and are more prepared to work out of school. This again supports the arguement that single sex schools are better for both sexes.

Many girls think that, when having boys in the class there is a distraction and therefore prefer working in single sex environments. Girls' also suggest that they feel uncomfortable when boys are in the room. Girls' also feel that boys try to make themselves look clever which again irritates and distracts the girls. Another suggestion why girls would benefit from mixed schools is that they are more dedicated to work and want to achieve more. Boys, however seem to not care and just mess around. This would again annoy the girls that are trying to work and may lead to a hostile working environment.

All of these statements so far suggest that girls would prefer to be in single sex schools. This is probably half the truth because, all though they want to achieve more and therefore don't want boys around, they would however like to have boys around at break times. They seem to want to have the 'best of both worlds'. This means that girls would, obviously, like to achieve as highly as possible and they are prepared to work, but they would also like to have boys in their school to socialise with. There are some other reasons why girls' might not want boys in their classrooms during lessons. For instance the girls may feel under a lot more pressure to do well or even, on occassions, do badly.

I conclude that, ideally, girls would like to have single sex classes, during lessons, but during break times it would appear that they would like to have boys around. The obvious reason why girls would like to have boys around at break times to socialise with them in and out of school. The reason for girls wanting single sex classes is that they fell that they can achieve more without the distraction of boys. Boys, however, seem to prefer to have mixed schools all of the time.

Their reasoning behind this is, that in single sex schools they don't achieve as highly as girls therefore mixed schools would be better. I, personally, agree with this. The main arguement against this statement is that the only reason that girls achieve more is because they are more dedicated and have longer concentration spans. This arguement, if correct, would imply that even if boys were in mixed schools, girls would still achieve better results than them. This, compounded with the fact that boys are easily distracted, suggests that, perhaps, single sex schools would be better for the 'under achieving boys'.

I believe that if boys had girls in their class rooms, then they would not be thinking of girls as much as they would do in single sex schools, some people, however argue that this isnt the case. They disagree because girls are out achieving boys and because of this the girls should not be 'dragged' down by the boys. I believe that having mixed schools would improve the education system because it would have boys competing with each other to 'show off' to the girls about how intelligent they are. This, however, could have an adverse effect. This would be where boys or girls would be showing off to the opposite sex about how rebellious they are.

I conclude that there are many arguments for and against single sex schools but boys and girls would, in my opinion, prefer different systems. We would not know which system works the best until put into practice, but personally I believe that the mixed system would be the best system.