You can forget about Baby X. Single-gender classrooms may very well be in our immediate future thanks to South Carolina Department of Education administrator, David W. Chadwell. According to his online résumé, the Director for Single Gender Initiatives has his MA in Elementary Education as well as Philosophy and Social Policy, so how can this highly-educated and presumably enlightened individual ignore the blatant conditioning of gender roles in his program? How can he openly advocate segregation?

Well, like any overly analytical academic, he has accredited scientific research to support his claims. Since it’s been physically proven that boys do not hear as well as girls, Chadwell suggests that teachers of all-boys classroom utilize microphones. In comparison, teachers in all-girl classes say they have learned to speak more softly and refrain from yelling. This is because “[girls] can take yelling more personal than boys.”

Oh, and the shameless structuring of gender doesn’t by any means stop there. Because boys have proven shorter attention spans, more physical lessons are ideal. For example, throwing a ball to a male student answering a question will give the rest of the all-boy class incentive to retain the information. Seventh-grade boys are using measuring tape and skateboard parts to practice their algebra. Meanwhile, girls are interviewing each other to classical music about who is shy and who has a pet puppy at home. In already established programs, boys are reading action novels and girls are evaluating cosmetics for “science projects”.

This innovative education system is supposed to better meet the individual needs of each sex. As Seanna Adcox, Associated Press writes:

And, the US Department of Education seems to agree. Just last year the government updated its rules and regulations, making it easier for schools to create single-gender programs, so long as they feel it will improve their students’ academic achievement. Leave it to S.C. to be the first state willing to possibly sacrifice our children's education and use them as guinea pigs. Are our educators finally getting desperate?

Before recently, boys and girls in were rarely segregated with exception to physical and sex education classes. Looks like our public education system will now be taking over the formerly laborious task of training our boys to be boys and our girls to girls in both elementary and middle school. Say goodbye to any hope you had of gender equality and hello to a stricter system of societal gender roles. Not to mention an even wider communication gap between the sexes.

Obviously, not everyone is keen on separating the sexes in public schools. Kim Gandy, the current president of NOW (National Organization for Women), urges states to resist experimentation with single-gender classrooms. Gandy feels that these reported favorable results may actually be due to smaller class sizes and better teachers. Good call!

Elly has always enjoyed showing up the boys in class.