Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2008

FROM THE PR INC I PAL

Exponents of co-education as a superior model to single-sex education often base their reasoning, not on academic outcomes, but on social imperatives. They argue that our world is co-ed 1 —an environment for, or serving, both men and women alike, and that the only societal segregation of sexes occurs in rest rooms, prisons and schools. Co-ed is not Co-equal

It is interesting to note that a co-ed 2 is also defined as a woman who attends a co-educational college or university. Why not a man? The implication is that a co-educational environment is for men and women are invited to attend as special participants. In fact the sentiment often cited off-the-record among school colleagues is that a co-educational environment is ‘good for the boys’. Single-sex schools give girls and boys the opportunity to be taught in particular ways to suit their very different stages of development—especially in the adolescent years. A number of co-educational schools, both in Australia and overseas, are segregating classes at various levels to better deliver programmes to both sexes. This is an expensive and inefficient exercise albeit based on good intentions, as the number of classrooms, level of resources and focused teacher training increases in this scenario. At Brisbane Girls Grammar School we are absolutely dedicated to providing the very best tailored teaching, academic and co-curricular programmes, staff professional development, mentoring and student leadership models to ensure the confidence, preparedness and awareness we instil in our girls will allow them as adult women to maintain a strong vigilance about their right to equality and an active voice in their community —a community that is not yet co-ed in the co-equal sense. Ms Amanda Bell

‘At Brisbane Girls Grammar School we are absolutely dedicated to providing the very best tailored teaching, academic and co-curricular programmes…’ young women succeeding in greater numbers with better outcomes than young men at school and university, they often find that in their careers and public life, subtle and overt discrimination still occurs. This definition implies that co-ed equates to co-equal. I would argue that our society is still a long way from being an equal environment for the sexes, especially in Australia where women comprise only about nine per cent of board directors in the top 200 companies; where women’s pay relative to men’s shows a salary gap of nearly sixteen per cent; where women still have a disproportionate responsibility for children and the aged; and where women are still under-represented in the top leadership positions in government, universities and companies. In spite of

References: 1 co-ed. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) . Retrieved March 16, 2008, from Dictionary.com web site: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/co-ed 2 co-ed. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from Dictionary.com web site: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/co-ed Hansen, M. Gender Matters, Teacher , March 2008.

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