Schools for boys is not a new concept, but the recommendation for an all-boys public school is going to face rough waters on its path to implementation. Toronto’s public school board’s director of education, Chris Spence, is proposing “hundreds of boys-only classes and an all-boys elementary school,” a move that may prove to be very controversial.
This is on the heels of yet another controversial move by the board to open an Africentric school in Toronto, and on top of a system that offers numerous specialty schools and programs, focusing on science, arts and alternative teachings.
But with the effectiveness of single-sex schools in question, and questions about the responsibility of separating the sexes, it may be hard for a public board to go down the single sex route.
Of course, there have been private and independent single sex schools for a long time (although the last all-boys school in Ottawa just went co-ed), and many parents feel that an all-boys setting is just what their sons need.
The goal of most all-boys school is to keep their students active and fit, helping maintain student engagement and a thirst for learning. Have boys only also provides an environment where the boys can just be boys, feel safe sharing feelings and not have any pressures to “impress girls.”
What do you think of a public all-boys option?
It seems like counter-intuitive; most students often build up a stronger sense of their masculinity and greater confidence at an all-boys school. Since there are no girls to impress, boys consider a little or no need to show off or prove their masculinity. They learn to be more sensitive, less “macho”, and they feel free to discover disciplines like the arts that might be considered more of a “girls thing” at a co-ed school. They also have a greater diversity of male role models, which aids them in their exploration of their own masculinity. Though no school is perfect, a single-sex school is exclusively set to educate young boys in ways that guarantees their learning styles and challenges are measured and addressed.