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U.S. GOVERNMENT 1: Changing Classrooms in Schools

For many students, middle school is a time of major changes in their lives. But for some students at West Jackson Middle School in Jefferson, Georgia, the new school year brings a major change in the classroom as well.

A group of 115 sixth graders at the school will be participating in same-gender classrooms, where the students will be either all girls or all boys. This format will be applied to language arts and reading classes. Officials at the school decided that reading was a particularly important area to focus on because the academic and social interests of girls and boys are dramatically different at the sixth grade level. Although the classes cover the same grammar and other language skills, the boys’ class will be reading “My Side of the Mountain,” which follows a male lead character, while the girls’ class is reading “Esperanza Rising,” a book that revolves around a female.

Teachers say that boys and girls--especially during the sensitive time of junior high--are extremely focused on social issues such as appearance and popularity rather than on academic accomplishments. Boys appear to be less focused on reading, while girls lack confidence in math and science. The cause of these differences, one teacher at West Jackson told MainStreetNews.com, is that the students feel social pressures to only show interest in the subjects that are traditional for their gender--math for boys, English for girls. By separating the genders, teachers and parents alike hope that the girls will be able to boost their academic confidence and boys can express themselves through writing and the arts.

The students at West Jackson started school almost two weeks ago, but there are already signs of positive results from the experimental program. According to MainStreetNews.com, one girl in the program told a teacher that “she could be herself and she didn’t have to worry about what she looked like, and she could ask questions (in the classroom).” Complete understanding of the program’s success won’t be available until the spring when standardized test scores and grades can be compared to traditional classrooms.

The program, which is one of about 160 public school single-gendered programs across the country, was given as choice to parents and does not separate the students based on academic ability or other categories.

--Written by Morgan Diamond

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