In the olden days, boys and girls received very different educations. They were segregated from each other, and pursued learning that was predetermined as ?appropriate? for their sex. While boys studied subjects like Latin and French, girls learned to dance and do embroidery. Equal education has been in place for a long time, now, and has most certainly been a good change for students everywhere ? both girls and boys. This is not a case of change for change sake, but a necessity of progressing with the times. However, there is something to be said for educating our children in same-sex groups. Ohio Schools are beginning to institute same-sex schools, and have found remarkable results.

Middle school students attending Ohio Schools may choose to go to one of the district's ?Single-Gender Middle Schools?. These Ohio Valley Schools are research-based and are modeled on other effectively utilized programs in various schools around the country. Some single-gender characteristics that have been identified are a year-round balanced calendar, Summer Academy, expanded school year, and mandatory uniforms.

The main argument for single-gender Ohio Schools is that they give students a strong academic climate as well as reducing distractions that are experienced by the presence of Ohio Schools students of the opposite sex.

The benefits for both boys and girls attending single-gender schools have commonalities as well as differences. Some research points out that Ohio Schools that have single gender programs are particularly beneficial for boys because they promote male bonding, optimize male character development and that males from low income and minority backgrounds especially profit from single gender Ohio Schools.

The advantages of single-sex education for girls attending Ohio Schools are that they receive expanded educational opportunities, custom-tailored learning and instruction and greater autonomy, especially in heterosexual relationships. Of particular interest, in every age, girls in girls-only Ohio Schools classrooms are more likely to explore "non-traditional" subjects such as computer science, math, physics, and woodworking. The same can be said for boys attending boys-only classrooms; they are more likely to pursue classes in foreign languages, art, music, and drama at one of the single-gender Ohio Schools. With the instinctual need to show off for the females removed through the simple fact that there are no females to show off to, boys have more freedom to choose the ?less-macho? classes.

There are detractors to the single-gender movement beginning in Ohio Schools. Some

researchers have suggested that the academic achievement in a single-sex setting hurts the benefits of coeducation. Since we do not go to work for single-gender companies, it may not make sense to some to educate our children this way. Unless your Ohio Schools child is planning to become a nun cloistered off in a far away nunnery, she is going to have to learn to co-exist and work with males. In fact, many people agree that the experience of going to school with members of the opposite sex makes it easier for Ohio Schools kids to move on to the ?mixed? or coed environments of college and the world of work.