When boys and girls aren’t restricted by the stereotypes oftentimes promulgated by the opposite sex, they are free to explore interests they may not have followed had they gone to school in a coed environment. Many of those stereotypes, such as girls are not as good at math as boys, are often promoted and supported by students in coed classrooms. Boys and girls tend to be true to their own desires when they attend same-sex schools.
Children are taught what roles they are expected to play in the world while they’re still in school. Whether they are at a single-sex institution or a coed facility, it’s the educators who pass on the expectations of each gender through their curriculum and their own belief systems. Without proper training of the teachers so they can understand how their own socialization affects students, the social roles expected of boys and girls will not change dramatically, no matter where they attend class.
Children learn about sexual identities and the roles each plays in a relationship more often from their peers, often supported by the biases promoted in the classroom. Because sex education is not taught sufficiently in coed or same-sex schools, children are left to their own devices to figure out appropriate masculine and feminine behaviors. They also learn that there is acceptable and socially unacceptable behaviors attributed to each sex. Single-sex educational environments at least give student the room to form their own identities before entering a mixed environment, without the taunting and pressure of their peers to act a certain way around the opposite sex.
Students who attend single-sex institutions leave school unprepared to interact and effectively communicate with the opposite sex. While they may have a firm grip on their own identities, children leaving same-sex schools enter a working environment that puts them in direct relationship with coworkers of the opposite sex. Boys and girls often don’t have respect for the opposite sex when they haven’t had enough experience with them. Finally, boys and girls in coed educational environments learn how to befriend the opposite sex without romantic or competitive interests, skills highly valued in the workplace.