Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aero!ihlpa.att.com
From: smann@ihlpa.att.com (Sherry Mann)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: womyn-only space vs. men-only space?
Message-ID: <1990Nov30.021256.4293@cbnewsd.att.com>
Date: 30 Nov 90 18:24:51 GMT
References: <1990Oct31.185009.701@athena.mit.edu> <46160@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> <1990Nov26.050132.24561@iti.org>
Sender: nadel@aerospace.aero.org
Organization: The Comp Center
Lines: 48
Approved: nadel@aerospace.aero.org
Status: R


In article <1990Nov26.050132.24561@iti.org>, dhw@iti.org (David H. West) writes:
> 
>     Planning for the male-oriented academy, approved by the school board
>   in June, has continued despite concern in the state Department of 
>   Education about a federal ban on sex-segregated schools.
>   
>     Detroit officials hope to avoid a legal challenge by opening 
>   enrollment to all students - while still designing the program primarily
>   for black males.
> 
> ----end of quotes from The Detroit News and Free Press-----
> 
> Do those soc.feminism readers who support womanspace see the above as
> a supportable instance of boyspace?


I for one, and based on the information provided and what I have heard of
such plans, do. I think two things especially need to be considered, and
probably tracked: The need for such segregation (i.e., a problem that
would be solved by such a temporary program); and the quality of education
of those in and outside of the program. In other words, where it is shown
that a definable group of children have a problem not experienced by their
classmates, if a program such as that described would seem to help that
group of children get the same educational benefits as their classmates,
then I'm all for it. I would hope that the education of neither those in
or those out of the program would suffer as a result of the program.

I would also hope that such a program would not become institutionalized:
that as progress was made, perhaps new educational methods would be discovered,
or acknowledged, which could be integrated into the classroom and reach those
not being reached now. Also, that those in and out of the program would be
phased back together as the students' grades improved and as the teachers
learned these methods.

I think most of all, these children are not failing, they are being failed.
Just as schools often give girls short-shrift, minority students are also -
in this case boys. To put children in environments where they can learn -
as children want to do until taught otherwise, is what education is all 
about. 

I think that such a plan carries with it dangers that must be guarded
against, but if it is allowed to grow and evolve with the changes it
hopefully will bring about, it has a good chance of working.
-- 
Sammy=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The enemy of women...is not men, just as the enemy of blacks is not whites.
The enemy is "the tyranny of the dull mind." Carol S. Pearson, _The Hero Within_ 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=