Coeducation, the system of teaching men and women together, was once scandalous and illegal. The ban on women attending school was lifted in the Middle Ages, but it was in postcolonial America that coeducation became common practice. The implementation of national education standards and social movements towards male/female equity led to the widespread availability of coeducational schools. Today, coeducation is often the norm in public schools worldwide.
Coeducation, sometimes called mixed sex education, is a system of education in which men and women are taught together. Coeducation is now commonplace in much of the world, but for much of history it has been scandalous, if not downright illegal, behavior. Not all aspects of school life need to be integrated for institutions to be considered coeducational; for example, many universities run full classes but restrict dormitories to single-sex housing.
One of the main factors that have held back coeducational institutions throughout history is that, in most parts of the world, women have long been banned from attending school. In many cultures, a woman’s role has been centered on domestic activities such as raising children and housework. Common wisdom had long held that educating women was unseemly, useless, and potentially dangerous to womanhood. Education for women became somewhat more acceptable during the Middle Ages, but it was in postcolonial America that coeducation would become common practice.
In America’s wild frontiers, it soon became practical for boys and girls to be brought up together. Although city schools tended to remain single-sex, the vastness of the pioneer land played a factor in the development of mixed-sex schools. When only five or six school-aged children and a single teacher lived within a school strip, it became impractical for girls and boys to be educated separately. Unmarried girls, including the famous pioneering author Laura Ingalls Wilder, were also invaluable as teachers in a society where men were concerned with cultivating the land. At the turn of the 20th century, the American educational system was at the forefront of the coeducation trend.
Two main factors in the 20th century led to the widespread availability of coeducational schools: the implementation of national education standards and social movements towards male/female equity. Once women established the right to vote, own property and run their own businesses, it became impractical to deny them equal opportunities for education. The acceptance of women in previously prohibited fields, such as medicine and science, also fostered the need for equal admission to higher education, which traditionally allowed only male students.
Around the world, coeducation is often the norm in public schools. Some private institutions, especially those with a religious bent, still maintain a single sexual environment for men or women, but these are becoming much rarer in most parts of the world. While, as critics have long feared, the presence of joint sex classes undoubtedly leads to some distraction on both sides, many education experts suggest that the gains to be made by allowing women equal educational opportunities can hardly be overstated.
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