Wellesley College president H. Kim Bottomly (affectionately referred to as KBot) recently wrote
an awesome op-ed for the NYTimes defending same-sex education.
In it she says:
What in my view is irrefutable — given the extraordinary success and satisfaction of Wellesley graduates — is that women’s colleges are a vital and vibrant part of the educational landscape and should be offered to all young women as a choice. I know that our graduates (among them, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state, and Madeleine K. Albright, a former secretary of state) would confirm that single-sex education helped give them the confidence and skills to contribute significantly in all arenas.
Go KBot!
Her piece was a response to a report called,
"The Psuedoscience of Single Sex Schooling,"authored by the founders of a nonprofit called the American Council for CoEducational Schooling, which will soon be published in Science magazine. In the report, the authors claim that single-sex education is misguided, ineffective, and may actually increase gender stereotyping. It notes that single-sex schooling is on the rise (I'm assuming they are referring to a trend in single-sex charter high schools), and that much of the trend is based on assumptions that girls and boys learn differently and thus need separate classrooms and different curriculum.
I agree with the authors of the report that an idea that girls and boys learn dramatically differently and need different classrooms is both misguided and potentially harmful for girls. And I would argue that any single-sex schooling based on an idea that boys need to be free of the "distractions" that girls pose is also harmful (to girls especially).
But I strongly disagree with their conclusion that single-sex schooling, in general, is ineffective. The report spends most of its time examining all-boys schools and then applies their conclusions to all-girls schools, without taking into account the sexism girls and women face in our educational institutions.
Wellesley - the best all-women's college!!! - is disproportionately represented in politics, business, and Wall Street. And outside of those predominately male fields, generally kick ass at pretty much anything they try and do. Our list of alumnae is impressive!! They are truly women who make a difference in the world.
But it isn't just that they were smart upon arrival, although I suspect that every woman who attends Wellesley is Type A and driven enough to pick an all-women's school (her education) over boys (even though it is relatively easy to find men to socialize with and date while at Wellesley) that it is a kind of self-selecting group. I really credit it to the atmosphere of Wellesley, which is such a rich, nurturing environment for women. It is a place where it is cool to be smart and driven. A place where women talk about what kind of nonprofit they're going to start and what firm they're going to ibank with instead of getting married and having babies (although those conversations happen too). Like KBot says, it is an institution that gives women the confidence and skills they need to contribute to society. And contribute they do - I am endlessly amazed and inspired by what my fellow alums are doing with their lives.
I loved Wellesley. I credit it with turning me into the woman I am today and think it was the best decision I ever made. I am so thankful for my time there, and thankful to KBot for writing her op-ed piece, because I hope single-sex schools are here to stay, to help future generations of women become "women who will."
P.S. Shout out to my Momma, who first told me I should apply to Wellesley. A remark I replied to by rolling my eyes and screaming, "Mommmmmmmmm. You can't lock me up in a convent forever!!!!! God. I am NOOOOOOTTTTTTT going to an all-girl's school!!!!!!" Also shout out to my daddy, who encouraged me to go there and to pursue a liberal arts degree (admittedly before he thought I would major in Women's Studies).
