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Connor Smith and Tsilala Graham-Haynes are best friends. The Grade 12 students met while attending Nancy Campbell Collegiate Institute in London, Ontario. “When I’m with the guys, I sometimes feel like I have to behave like a stereotypical guy, but when I’m with Tsilala, I can be me. I can be real,” says Connor. “She is someone I can have arguments with, someone I can disagree with on certain issues, but still be best friends.”
A real world with boys and girls
At Nancy Campbell, single-gender residences mean students live in an all-boys’ or all-girls’ environment, but the students spend their days in coed classes. “When I was in Grade 2, I went to an all-girls’ school, but my mom said I wouldn’t be able to handle the real world if I continued in that type of environment, so she put me into a coed school,” explains Tsilala, who is from Bermuda.
While experts agree that there are problems with coeducation, many feel that improving a mixed education is preferable to separating students by gender. “At some point, likely in university, boys and girls will return to a coed environment and they need to know how to get along and work together,” says Paula Bourne, a Senior Research Associate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. “It is very important that boys learn to listen to and respect the intellect of girls and that girls feel comfortable speaking up in front of boys.”
Boys and girls working together
For Hoda Ghadirian, a teacher at Nancy Campbell, the focus on creating global citizens who know how to collaborate in solving problems goes hand in hand with coeducation. “Diversity—in terms of age, gender and cultural background—is valued at our school,” Ghadirian says.
With a focus on graduating confident and competent students who will have a positive impact on society, Nancy Campbell embraces the coeducational environment. “When we work in groups, girls and boys tend to bring very different things to projects,” says Tsilala. “Girls find all the different realities that they can try and boys look at things from a straightforward perspective. We learn a lot by working together.”
—by Hailey Eisen |
