HighschoolIV originally uploaded by Allen
According to this Reuters article (via wonderment), changes made in Kansas middle schools segregate student lunch periods by gender to create what some claim are a more healthy environment with reductions in, “teasing, rough-housing and flirting”.
From the article:
“The girls really seem to like it because they get their girl time without having to worry about boys,” said Michael Archibeque, principal at Pleasant Valley Middle School. “And the boys don’t show off for the girls. I think it’s the perfect age for this.”
But what Archibeque likes most is that more students are finishing their food, which means less waste and fewer students having to study while hungry in the afternoon.
The article goes on to note that the administrators feel that this setup is really working for its students and that they are performing quite well because of the changes. The students themselves appear to be pleased with the segregated lunch periods and see no reason to go back to the way they were before.
But the real question is how did we get to the point where there was time for cross-gender “teasing, rough-housing and flirting,” during lunch periods in middle school? While that all went on during lunches when I was in middle-school, it certainly was not limited to lunches and was actually diminished during that time as we were much too busy putting PB&J sandwiches behind artwork display cases as some sort of faux science experiment/time capsule to see what they’d look like in six months. And it’s not as if the cafeteria wasn’t already self-segregated. Plenty of people were “going out” but there were no mixed gender tables at lunch. Boys did their thing and girls did their thing at lunches. Have times really changed that much that they’re spending time together at lunch now?
What do you think about gender segregated lunch periods? Clearly it’s working in these districts but do you think it’s a model for other districts to follow or is it unnecessary? When you were in school did you bother with the opposite gender during lunch (or any time of the day)? Would you consider the segregation as punishment or a good thing? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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March 28th, 2011 at 7:35 am
I think this would be a great idea for folks in the late 40′s. You could set up a man eating room with TV and reading material and woman eating room with trained conversationalists. Everyone would be happy that way.
Kansas doesn’t teach evolution in school either. I’m not sure we should be looking to Kansas for cutting edge ideas in education.
March 28th, 2011 at 10:08 am
We had “boys tables” and “girls tables” during middle school. This would have been in the mid 80′s at a Catholic school in Minneapolis (to refute Sank’s comment above).
In elementary school we had assigned seating at lunch. The segregation during those years occured on the playground. There was a line down the asphalt of the “playground” (which doubled as the overflow parking lot for Masses – as in NO playground equipment). There was a pretty harsh punishment for crossing over the line to the boy’s side or vice versa.
Good times!
March 28th, 2011 at 10:19 am
I think I get this.
Symptoms:
-Hormonal boys with free time eating lunch.
-Girls in the same room inciting said hormones.
Results:
Boys wrestle each other for no apparent reason, break shit and get in trouble.
Sounds like the taxpayers are being thought of here.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:55 am
I’m sure this has to do with the increasingly earlier shift of a child into adolescence as I literally have no memory of any drama or issues eating lunch in Jr. High. I’m sure it went on, I just know it wasn’t prevalent.
Seems like if it works from lunch it might work for other things. If I recall there have been some studies that show young men learn differently than young women and that to optimize learning, you should really be teaching to them differently.
March 28th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
I have been teaching for 12 years and can honestly say the lunchtime is one of the WORST times of the school day for elementary kids. The lunchroom is loud and can be crazy at times too. I think the separate genders is a great idea. I actually teach at a gender-separate school and it works for many grades. We DO teach differently for boys and girls, as they learn differently.
March 28th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
I have a daughter in this age group, and I think this is a great idea.
March 28th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
I think that from ages 13 to 18, everyone should have a rich, eccentric, Auntie Mame-type relative who appears out of nowhere, escorts the young person to all the great places of art, culture, and history around the world and teaches him or her how to behave around adults. After that they can re-commence their formal education and exposure to people their own age.
Barring that unlikely turn of events, I think separating the genders is a good idea.
March 28th, 2011 at 8:11 pm
For what it’s worth, in Kansas the state board of education took evolution out of the state standards, which is not the same as not teaching evolution. For one thing, local districts are free to ignore much of what the state board says. And no matter, the state board is elected, which means during the next cycle the majority turned yet again, and evolution was restored to the state standards.
I think sex-segregated lunchrooms can be a good thing, but I’m surprised that so many people here have voiced support for it, as it seems contrary to the ethos of the age.
March 28th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
Tables at my middle school are very very mixed. But I don’t have to watch lunch, so I don’t much care what happens in there.
March 28th, 2011 at 8:30 pm
dm, the article claims that the benefits are long-lasting and affect their out of lunch behavior/learning. Wouldn’t you care about it then?
March 28th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
I don’t think I’d mind separate but equal education for the genders, either. I recall more than once being heckled by the boys because I spoke up with my own opinion … or the right answer.
March 29th, 2011 at 6:55 am
Single sex-classrooms and single-sex schools in Minnesota:
http://www.singlesexschools.org/schools-schools.htm#31
March 29th, 2011 at 3:29 pm
Thanks for the link love!
March 30th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
On a semi-related note, I’ve read studies in my Linguistics class which show that while most people think that women talk more in groups, it is actually men who dominate the conversation in most groups. These studies monitor how much each gender contributed to the conversation, and then asked the participants afterwards what their perceptions were of how much women spoke vs. men. Invariably, the men spoke quite a lot more, yet both men and women thought that the women dominated the talking time.
This would point to the idea that female students might do better in all-female classrooms, at least during the “formative” years when their self-confidence is still wobbly.