State secondary co-education?

One of the strangest and most illogical characteristics of Malta's state educational system is the fact that male and female pupils are educated together in primary schools, are then educated separately in secondary schools and are re-united again at the post-secondary level. This does not make any sense and it is high time that state education becomes co-educational at all levels.

The arguments brought forward by those who oppose state co-education at the secondary level are baseless. First of all, one must keep in mind that co-education in secondary schools exists in the independent sector of Maltese education and has proved to be successful, both in social and in academic terms. State secondary schools should follow the example of the independent schools.

Those who oppose co-education argue that the presence of the opposite sex in the classroom is a distracting factor for the pupils. Pupils will be more interested in such things as impressing the other sex, dating and other non-academic aspects of co-educational school life. Extremists also paint a picture of gloom and doom, citing the possibility of a huge rise in schoolgirl pregnancies. All this is utter nonsense, of course, as the positive outcome of co-education in the local independent schools has amply demonstrated. What about academic results, some will ask. The fact is that there is no educational research that even comes near to conclusively proving that single-sex schools are conducive to better academic results than co-educational schools.

However, there is a great amount of educational research showing the personal and social benefits of co-education. Male and female pupils learn to treat each other with respect and dignity and this makes it easier for them to do the same with the other sex when they enter the world of work and when they form serious affectionate relationships with the other sex.

Co-education is not simply the mixing of boys and girls in school. It denotes a philosophy about learning and equality. "Equality" does not mean "uniformity". The pupils learn that males and females are equal in society but that they also have different perspectives on the same issues and that both the female and the male approach to problem-solving has a great deal to offer, that is, they complement and supplement each other.

Furthermore, co-education is very effective in challenging sexist attitudes. In a truly co-educational school, boys and girls participate in all activities, even those usually stereotyped as being either the sole domain of females or of males. Thus, if a musical is being organised, boys could help to sweep the stage floor while the director could be a girl with male assistants. In this manner, boys and girls in co-educational schools have less traditional sex-role attitudes and expectations than their single-sex school counterparts. This is borne out by the findings of several educational studies.

Likewise, the curriculum of a co-educational school offers a wider choice of subjects than that in a single-sex school. This offers opportunities to break down the barriers of male and female bastions in particular subjects. At the end of the day, it is society that will benefit if more girls take up science subjects and if more boys take up home economics.

The first will lead to greater female participation in industries where female workers are under-represented while the second will lead to husbands who are all-rounders at a time when this is becoming a necessity as more and more married women enter or re-enter the world of work.

Females and males interact in all aspects of modern life, so why separate them when they start secondary school? Our state education planners should start thinking seriously about converting secondary education from single-sex to co-educational. In this age of fast progress and continuous changes, can we afford not to do so?