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Yes

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I write on the "yes" side of the debate with the understanding that anything is only as good as its organization and leadership. Simple separating boys and girls into separate facilities and programs is not enough without applying teaching strategies that reach them.

What needs to happen is the development of teaching strategies that make use of brain-based research that pinpoints how boys' and girls' brains react differently using the same stimulation. For instance, a study published in Nature Neuroscience in April 2000, demonstrated that women and men use totally different parts of their brains as they process and deliver navigation coordinates. Women tend to use concrete visuals, such as landmarks, and men use more abstracts concepts like "north" and "south."

Studies published in "Developmental Neuropsychology" and "Developmental Psychobiology" confirmed what conventional wisdom has dictated since the beginning of time: boys and girls develop language, spatial and social skills at different rates.

Socially speaking, it appears to make sense that boys and girls from middle school through high school may be better separated in an effort to overcome their hormones. But the separation, some say, also may alleviate a tendency toward what is called "gender intensification" in which boys sometimes identify certain activities such as poetry as "girly," and girls believe that wood shop is for boys. The National Association for Single Sex Public Education also reports that single-sex schools, when developed thoughtfully, can lead to improved grades and test scores.

Equally important in this debate is the gender of the teacher. Because males and females think and are socialized differently, this can affect the effectiveness of the education. One study found that boys in American elementary schools suffer because their teachers are primarily female. We see this when teachers urge mothers to place boys on Ritalin to artificially control their wayward minds and off the wall behavior. In Germany, however, where the majority of elementary teachers are male, it's the females who get the short end of the stick.

On the other hand, there is one very important aspect in this debate: We do not work in single-sex workplaces. Our work stations and tasks aren't divided by gender.

Learn more about this author, Rebecca Bibbs.
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