Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aero!uts.amdahl.com From: greg@uts.amdahl.com (Greg Bullough) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: womyn-only space vs. men-only space? Message-ID: Date: 30 Nov 90 18:56:50 GMT References: <1990Oct31.185009.701@athena.mit.edu> <46160@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> <1990Nov16.162945.19383@iti.org> <1990Nov26.050132.24561@iti.org> Sender: nadel@aerospace.aero.org Reply-To: greg@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Greg Bullough) Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA Lines: 51 Approved: nadel@aerospace.aero.org Status: R In article <1990Nov26.050132.24561@iti.org> dhw@iti.org (David H. West) writes: > > BALTIMORE - The first thing Dontaye Carter noticed about his new third- > grade class was who wasn't there: girls. > > "You do it better because there aren't no girls around to make you > act silly. It's fun to come to school now." Unfortunately, third-graders' opinions about what constitutes an appropriate education environment are not necessarily accurate. Young Master Carter clearly has yet to understand that it isn't the girls who "make you act silly," but rather, the fact that he hasn't yet learned to function effectively in a mixed-gender environment. In my opinion, the all-male classroom will only reinforce the problem and (perhaps permanently) delay its resolution. On the other hand, a certain period of removal of distractions may permit a developing mind to direct itself away from distractions. Thus, Master Carter may return to a co-educational environment better able to cope. I would hope that such would be part of the plan. >[The lengthy next paragraph contains the phrase "removing classroom >distractions like girls", this time explicitly attributed to >"administrators", as reported opinion, not as a verbatim quote. I believe that the same statement could probably be made in complementary fashion. For all young people, the presence of the opposite gender can be a distraction. It's apparent, though, that the school system in question is focusing on the particular problem of young black males not achieving their potential--- ---perhaps because they have that particular problem. One of the good things about modern education is that there is less "Johnny and Joey don't have problem X, so why should we provide help for Jimmy who does?" and more focus on giving every child in the system what they need to achieve educational success. Thus I don't believe that the intellectual foundation behind the comment was sexist. >Do those soc.feminism readers who support womanspace see the above as >a supportable instance of boyspace? Not if it means because the boys themselves "want" it. Call me old- fashioned, but I believe that education is not a democratic process, as regards the curriculum, environment, and standards. I believe that educated people, not students, ought to make decisions about how best to turn students into educated people. Seems to me that the decision of whether to provide single-sex classrooms needs to be based on a balanced view of what will best result in, after 12 years, the achievement of goals in both effective and affective education. Greg Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com