NJ DEPT OF EDUCATION EMPLOYMENT

In the past, even the mention of creating a single-gender public school raised controversy with a wide array of opponents, including women’s organizations. In 1996, the New York schools created the first all-girl school in the nation, and the controversy still rears its ugly head.

The Opponents.

Opponents say that single-gender New York schools undercut the students’ civil rights by denying them access to the schools. Michael Meyers, head of the New York Coalition, brought suit against the New York schools in 1996, challenging the legality of the Young Women’s Leadership School, located in Harlem, but lost the suit. He continues to look for New York schools students denied access to the school because of gender in hopes of bringing another suit, despite the school’s successes.

Opponents also contend that such schools return New York schools education to the past, where girls major in home economics, rather than mathematics or science. They even charge that if mixed-gender New York schools had the same quality of well-trained and motivated teachers, those children also would excel.

Even Sonia Ossorio, New York Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), believes such New York schools compromise women’s past struggles that today allow women to attend once-single-gender schools, such as Harvard and Yale.

• The Supporters.
• Single-gender schools, however, address the unique needs of boys and girls. They offer families options that were previously not available in the New York schools, such as small class sizes and dedicated teachers, specially trained to meet gender-specific needs.
• Students from the Harlem girls school say that their teachers push them more to do their best, and there are no distractions with which to deal. The teachers say the success of the school is due to no boys being present to distract the girls from their studies. Students stay on focus.

In year 2000, the National Coalition of Girls Schools studied 4,200 alumnae from an all-girls school and found the following:

• • 93 percent — felt they were provided greater leadership opportunities during school,
• • 91 percent — thought coursework was more relevant to their academic needs, • 85 percent — received more encouragement in the areas of science, mathematics and technology than friends who attended coed schools,

• 71 percent —were more prepared to transition to college than friends who attended coed schools,