Alex Kerr| staff writer
In a move that left both parents and students outraged, the Greene County School District in Georgia has made the decision to separate males and females in its high school, middle school, and two elementary schools.
Soon to be the first school district in the nation employing almost all single-sex education, Greene County’s decision to segregate the schools comes after frustrations over poor test scores, a high drop out rate, and an increase in teen pregnancies.
In the elementary schools, male and female students will be taught in separate classrooms, while boys and girls in grades seven through 12 will attend entirely separate schools.
The charter school, Lake Oconee Academy, as well as a preschool, will remain the only co-ed schools in the county. Coming nearly 40 years after the country ended racial segregation, the school board’s decision was reportedly not run by students, parents, or teachers before being implemented for next fall and the subsequent year. “At the rate we’re moving, we’re never going to catch up,” Superintendent Shawn McCollough said in a speech to Greene County parents. “If we’re going to take some steps, let’s take some big steps.”
To support the school board’s decision, McCollough used research to show that boys and girls learn differently. “It’s simply trying to accommodate different learning styles,” APU professor of biblical studies, Dr. Keith Reeves, said. “From what I’ve read, particularly during the middle school years, separating the genders probably keeps the girls more focused and the guys aren’t distracted by showing off. So much of the energy of young males is spent trying to impress the girls”
Currently ranked 332nd out of 369 schools in Georgia, Greene County high school students scored an average of 1,168 on the 2007 SAT, while the state average was 1,458, and the national average was 1,495. Only 67 percent of Greene County ninth-graders continue on to receive a diploma, while the statewide average is 72 percent.
In 2006, federal officials issued law to ease the process of switching to single sex education, which led many school districts across the nation to make the change. Currently, approximately 366 U.S. schools offer single-sex classes or are exclusively single-sex.
While federal law allows single-sex classrooms and schools, parents must also have coeducation schools as an option for their students.
The U.S. Education Department has not yet determined whether or not the Greene County School District is in compliance with the federal law.
