Is a single sex-boarding school adequate preparation for later life? Over the last 50 or so years the number of single-sex schools, boarding schools and the two put together have greatly diminished (there remain only 10 single sex public schools). This has come about for many reasons, one of these is the lack of business that a school gets it caters only for one sex thus many single-sex boarding and non-boarding schools have been faced with going co-ed or going bust. But one of the most common queries of parents and pupils alike is whether a single sex boarding school is adequate preparation for later life.
It is obvious, from the decline of single-sex private and public boarding schools that much of the population either cannot afford or do not like single-sex schools of any sort. It is true that being cooped up in a single-sex school for the first 18 years of your life cannot only promote gayness but also make many feel isolated socially from the other sex.
English: Nigerian boarding school students.
English: View of Anderson Hall at Asheville School...
English: Pupils at Carlisle Indian Industrial Scho...At Eton the punishment for being caught in bed with another boy is suspension. On the other hand the punishment for being caught in bed with a girl is expulsion (except for the head boy who is allowed a wife). There would no doubt be perfectly good reason for this (if we gave them about 2 weeks to come up with one ) but it is easy to see how Eton could be seen as "pro-gay" if this rule was wrongly misinterpreted. This therefore is not a plus point for single-sex schools as a reputation for being the cause for converting many straight young people to becoming gay.
In a co-ed school I believe that education cannot be quite up to the standards of a single sex school. I...