Parents should be free to choose the education setting that works best for their children, but the Obama Administration is taking steps that may effectively outlaw single-sex options. As The Hills’ Lydia Wheeler explains:
The Obama administration is moving to outlaw public school curriculum establishing single-sex classrooms, where boys are taught about bikes and girls are quizzed about bracelets.
“As we receive increasing inquiries about single-sex offerings we want to be clear what federal law allows: protect civil rights and promote achievement,” Catherine Lhamon, the department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a news release. …
The different teaching techniques being employed in core classes at K-12 co-ed schools, advocates say, violate Title IX, a law passed in 1972 requiring general equality for boys and girls in every educational program that receives federal funding.
Disparities, critics say, range from the subject matter taught in classroom to the approach of instructors. …
The new guidance only impacts co-ed public schools, requiring that they identify what objectives they want to achieve by offering single-sex classes, avoid relying on gender stereotypes, and evaluate programs every two years.
But advocates of single-sex education say the new rules will kill a good thing that’s working in some districts. …
Parents and students need individualized options. Parents seek out single-sex schooling options because they believe they’re best for their children.
The bottom line is that boys and girls are different, and their learning strengths and needs may therefore be different in general. It is not the job of the federal government to impose a sameness on every American boy and girl.
Political agendas or preferences should not trump the desires of parents who know and love their children best.