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| Sunday, 19 March 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Are mixed schools better for children? Co-ed or traditional? by Rikaza Hassan
"I've studied with the opposite sex all my life. It has been a learning experience like for any school-going kid, but I feel more so than my friends in government schools," says Tharinda, a 17-year-old student of an International school. "I have learnt to interact with the guys and so have they. We do not view the opposite sex as this mystery that must be solved, but rather as human beings with slightly different bodies. We're good friends but we know our limits. Unlike most people's perceptions, just because you throw guys and girls together doesn't mean that they're going to start making out." Natasha, a 15-year-old who studies in a co-ed International school in Colombo feels she is "lucky" to have been able to go to school with boys her age. "I believe it has prepared me to make a better entrance into the big world out there, where both sexes have to interact, and know to do so within my limits. Of course there are times when disciplinary problems arise, but that is so with any school, and swift action is taken." "I think people who view International school children with disdain are stupid," says Michael, a former student of a prestigious International school that made the papers last year. "I have learnt to respect my female classmates and they're my friends. I think it's the kids who go to government schools and lack interaction with the opposite sex, who should be looked upon with disdain.
Shakeera, 18 used to attend an International school only for girls. "I found it frustrating. My classmates could only talk about boys and how they got to check this cute guy out. They looked at the girls who got to go out, with envy and wished they got to interact with the opposite sex as well. When I joined a co-ed school for my A/Ls I found it difficult at first, but since my parents were not too restrictive I got over my initial fear. Now I count both guys and girls as my good friends and I know that university is not going to be this total alien world to me." Rochelle, 17 of a leading girls' school believes "single sex education is not so restrictive anymore. We hang out with our female friends during school hours gaining up on girl talk and then we've got tuition classes where segregation does not take place. We talk to the boys and have a healthy relationship with them. Of course there are relationships and such that happen but that's a part of being a teenager. I don't think that just because I go to a girls' school I turn out to be socially in-adept." Her boy friend Malith agrees. "Our parents understand that we need to understand the opposite sex or we'll never get anywhere. Besides, I have two sisters who kept bringing their friends home ever since I was a kid, so I'm pretty much used to having female company." Kanthi, 20 however believes that segregated schools are "not a good thing." She says that her own experience has not been so pleasant. "I used to go to a strict school where we were basically told that our male counterparts were dangerous and ever ready to prey on the unsuspecting female. My parents never let me out, so I had no interaction with boys whatsoever, until I started working. I had a terrible time even looking my male colleagues in the eye at first though I am still not their friend. They consider me to be strange and most of the other women avoid me too," she sighs. And what do the parents think? Mrs. Peiris whose two children attend an International school says, "I do not see a better opportunity for my children. The standard of education is much higher and there actually is a lot of discipline, unlike most government schools, where the boys act like ruffians and the girls try to show as much skin as possible. My children have friends, do hang out, but they do not go clubbing or engage in other vices. I am extremely happy with the decision I made." The mother of three boys, Mrs. Ekanayake sends them all to a segregated school. "I think the discipline is better there, but I do believe that they need to get to know girls as well, or they'll never get anywhere in society. All my three boys have female friends who are allowed home when I'm around, but they are as my sons put it, just friends." Mrs. Kulasuriya, a resident of Homagama says she does not "see what all the fuss is about. It is only in the big cities that people have a choice between government and international schools, whereas we have no choice but send our kids to a mixed school. The children come out just fine." Her daughter Kanchana agrees with her mother. "I have both girls and boys who are my friends; we help each other out, play games in school and respect each other." Adds the mother, "After all they will have to interact with the opposite sex at some point in their lives. No parent wants to keep their children from achieving their goals." The opinions are as many as they are varied, and show no signs of reaching a compromise. Perhaps it is time to make your own decision and leave be the decisions of others. |
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Is co-education the way to go when it comes to primary and secondary
education? Or, should students be separated by their gender until they begin
higher studies or work? 
As a guy I know that it is these convent girls and other 'big' school
girls that are easy to take advantage of. They'll do absolutely anything
that they believe to be true. As for drugs and stuff, what people don't know
is that marijuana is consumed quite freely in government schools mostly by
guys. It is these kids who end up with their lives in waste at the end of
the day," he says in frustration. 
