Long Beach, California

Type: Uniforms are mandatory in all elementary and middle schools. Each school in the district determines the uniform its students will wear.

Opt-out: Yes, with parental consent

Size of program: 58,500 elementary and middle school students

Implementation date: 1994

Support for disadvantaged students: Each school must develop an assistance plan for families that cannot afford to buy uniforms. In most cases, graduating students either donate or sell used uniforms to needy families.

Results: District officials found that in the year following implementation of the school uniform policy, overall school crime decreased 36 per cent, fights decreased 51 per cent, sex offenses decreased 74 per cent, weapons offenses decreased 50 per cent, assault and battery offenses decreased 34 per cent, and vandalism decreased 18 per cent. Fewer than one percent of the students have elected to opt out of the uniform policy.

Dick Van Der Laan of the Long Beach Unified School District explained, "We can't attribute the improvement exclusively to school uniforms, but we think it's more than coincidental." According to Long Beach police chief William Ellis, "Schools have fewer reasons to call the police. There's less conflict among students. Students concentrate more on education, not on who's wearing $100 shoes or gang attire."

Seattle, Washington

Type: Mandatory uniform policy at South Shore Middle School

Opt-out: Yes, with parental consent. Students who opt out must attend another middle school in the district.

Size of program: 900 middle school students

Implementation date: 1995

Support for disadvantaged students: South Shore works with local businesses that contribute financial support to the uniform program. In addition, the administration at South Shore found that the average cost of clothing a child in a school with a prescribed wardrobe is less than in schools without such a program, sometimes 80 per cent less. School officials believe that durability, reusability and year-to-year consistency also increase the economy of the school's plan.

Results: The principal of South Shore, Dr. John German, reports that "this year the demeanor in the school has improved 98 per cent, truancy and tardies are down, and we have not had one reported incident of theft." Dr. German explains that he began the uniform program because his students were "draggin', saggin' and laggin'. I needed to keep them on an academic focus. My kids were really into what others were wearing." Only five students have elected to attend another public school.

This is what some British teenagers think about school. Do you share their opinions?

"Everything would be OK if we didn't have grades, tests and reports all the time, if there was less pressure". Martin.

"Most lessons are boring. Sometimes I just have to doodle on my desk or write letters. Otherwise I'd fall asleep." Janet.

"It's always the teacher who decides what we're going to do. What we need is more democracy." Gary.

"In my opinion homework is a waste of time!" Liz.

"I'd like school better if I could talk whenever 1 like. Normally we just have to be quiet, listen and nod our heads." Carol.

"Without a bit of discipline no one would ever learn anything. That's what I think, anyway." Mark.

"So far I haven't learned much to help me in later life. What's the point of doing art, music and maths, for example?" Steve.,

"What makes me mad is teachers who think that boys are cleverer in maths and science subjects." Jenny.

"We can't do without school. School is not a place for fun like discos." Melanie.

Read the text and make notes about how this type of education affects girls and boys under as many of the following headings as you can. An example has been done for you.

a) academic record – under-achievement in science and maths

b) self-confidence –

c) behaviour inside and outside the classroom –

d) attitude of teachers –

e) job prospects –

CO-EDUCATION: A HIGH PRICE TO PAY

Research carried out in the Eighties strongly indicated that co-education was generally better for boys than for girls. The dangers of single-sex education for boys have often been stated, and there has long been an assumption that girls benefit from co-education in the same way. Recent research tells us that this as­sumption is wrong. Girls studying in co-educational schools can, it seems, pay a high price in diminished career ambitions, poor self-confidence and under-achievement in academically rigorous subjects such as science and mathematics.

Girls' schools are working hard to compete with the independent boys' schools that are currently increasing their intake. Marlborough, the pioneer, has increased its number of girls and be­gun admitting them at 13. The battle for girl pupils is growing fiercer all the time. Averil Burgess, headteacher of South Hampstead High School, believes parents needs to consider the effect of mixed class-loom learning on reinforcing gender "stereotypes." She believes that in the halfway house type of co-education favoured by inde­pendent boys' schools, men become "macho" and girls are forced to be inarticulate and passive. This is inevitable, she says, when the school is still run by the male-dominated senior teachers with little insight into gender education issues. She points to a study by Professor Hoyle of London University showing how boys were allowed to jump the queue to gain access to limited computer fa­cilities. As a result girls' choice of career of computing suffers.

The recent introduction of co-education by Oxbridge colleges items to have had the same harmful effect on girls' academic performance as identified in schools. In 1958, 8.1 per cent of men and 7,4 of women won firsts. In 1973, the corresponding figures were 12 and 12.1 per cent. Since the mid-eighties, when both men and women's colleges have admitted members of the opposite sex, 16.1 per cent of men have gained firsts, but only 9.8 per cent of women. As Averil Burgess argues: "Maybe the girls fall too readily into the sock-washing and meal-providing mode for the benefit of male colleagues and to the detriment of their work. At least a single sex institution offers the freedom not to behave as a woman."

No one is suggesting that boys should be restricted to single-sex education; co-education is here to stay. But boys' schools with minority of girls should take care to protect the latter from social domination by the boys. Parents should consider a single-sex school as a first option for their daughters, even if they choose co-education for their son. Maybe the implicit contradiction in that statement will only be resolved when girls' schools admit boys on gender-aware terms.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 830