Newington College has plans to admit girls by its 170th anniversary in 2033. Photo: Newington College.
On the first day of the new school year, parents of boys attending Newington College in Sydney gathered outside the school to protest against the announced decision to make the school co-ed by 2033.
Although they clearly want to retain the status quo of what they deem to be an ‘elite’ all-boys private school, the exact reasons why they’re so angry are harder to discern from the interviews.
In fact, I struggle to understand why parents choose to send their kids to single-sex schools in the first place – presumably, it’s based on some ideological standpoint about how children learn better when segregated by sex. Or perhaps it’s simpler than that and parents just want their kids to have the same school experience they had at the same institutions they attended.
Personally, I can’t think of anything worse than a single-sex school, and considering the shift to co-ed that many private schools are undergoing (including Canberra Grammar, which has been fully co-ed since 2018), I’m not alone in this opinion. There is no consistent research that can demonstrate that single-sex education results in better academic outcomes for boys or girls, whereas it’s not hard to see the social and psychological benefits of co-educational environments on all kids.
For a start, school is an important opportunity for young people to learn about social dynamics and engage with more people outside their immediate family and friends. This should include all genders, just as their future interactions in society will include all genders.
Equally, having diversity of all kinds in classrooms leads to more various and holistic discussions inclusive of more perspectives, which is vital to creating well-rounded world views.
But beyond those obvious benefits, it has to be acknowledged that gender identities are more fluid than the binary of boys and girls, and separating students is no longer as simple as picking a school according to the sex they were assigned at birth.
Regardless of your views on non-binary or transgender identities, they exist and it’s understandable that young people don’t want to be categorised in contradiction to how they identify. Equally, as young people grow and explore their gender identities or sexualities, being in an environment where they can experiment without drawing attention or being distinctly in the minority is important to offering a safe space for their development.
Up until now, it has seemed like a simple enough issue – both co-ed and single-sex schools exist, and the choice has been left up to parents.
As more single-sex schools make the shift to integrating all genders, however, it seems the writing is on the wall – it isn’t financially viable to stay single-sex, with enrolments dwindling and the social tide turning towards co-ed.
I’m glad to see this change, but I am also aware that I attended co-educational public schools and only ever heard the negatives of single-sex education from friends anecdotally.
Reading about the parents protesting at Newington College, I couldn’t work out if their frustration was about the change to the traditions of an institution many feel a close connection to as alumni or if there were more specific concerns about the impact on boys already attending the school.
Am I missing something here? Do you send your kids to single-sex schools, and if so, why? Or am I right in thinking the days of single-sex schools existing are numbered?
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