Female
Age: 17
1.Do you attend a co-ed or single-sex school?
From K-6, I was at a co-ed school. I'm now in year 12, and have been at an all girls school since year 7.
2. Do you think a co-ed or a single-sex school is better for a child’s social skills and why?
It depends. Some people spend their whole lives at co-ed schools, and have huge problems socialising with the opposite gender. On the other hand, I go to school with a girl who has been at our school since she was in pre-school, and some of her best friends are guys. She does have a younger brother though, so guys aren't totally foreign to her. I don't intend to send my future kids to single-sex schools unless they choose to go there though, cause it can potentially screw you up pretty badly. Especially all girls school, where bitchiness reaches all new levels.
3. Do you think a co-ed or a single-sex school is better for a child’s education and why?
If your kid wants to learn, they'll learn wherever they are, so on that level, it's not a huge thing.
However - with the exception of a handful of subjects that we have with the boys school in town, all the classes at our school are entirely girls. This means that English teachers don't have to try and find books that both guys and girls are willing to read, which my friends at co-ed schools are constantly bitching about. Since girls all tend to think in fairly similar ways, we don't tend to waste as much time arguing about things, so we get more work done. And there are also no guys for people to try and impress during class. So on that level, you're probably better off at a single-sex school.
4. From personal experience, do you believe you had a better education at a co-ed/single-sex school, why?
I don't think there's that big a difference. I think I've done more work since coming to an all girls school, but aside from anything, that was when I started highschool, and I also changed from the public to private system (which is a whole other debate). I don't do all that much better than my friends at co-ed schools, and several of them actually work a lot harder than I do.
5. Do you know anyone that has changed from a co-ed to a single-sex school or vice versa? Why did they change?
I did it. Basically, I got the shits with the group of people I was at school with, and the only school in town where I could be sure I wouldn't have to see any of them again was an all girls school, where none of the other girls were going. It just happened to be a bonus that I didn't have to go to school with guys any more.
I know several people who have gone from single-sex to co-ed. A couple had parents put them in public schools because of expense, most of the others left because they got sick of the girls at school. A handful needed a wider range of guys to sleep with.