Advantages or Disadvantages of Co-Educational Settings - Report Example

Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher believed that co-education creates a strong feeling of comradeship (Smithers & Robinson, 2006). For this reason, he emphasized for male and female students to be taught in the same institutions without any form of discrimination in the way education is imparted. A strong reason why co-education is appealing, according to Gill (2004), is that when children are separated from each other on the basis of sex for several years, they lose the opportunity to learn about each other.

There is a lack of advantages of single-sex schools when their usefulness is considered on educational grounds per se (Kenway & Willis, 1986). Studies from all over the world have not singled out any major differences between coeducational and single-sex educational settings (Smithers & Robinson, 2006). In co-educational schools, friendships always develop in a natural way during learning activities both within the curriculum and through extracurricular activities such as games, clubs, and societies.

In the classroom, young boys and girls get the opportunity to express themselves openly and assertively in the presence of members of the opposite sex (Crump, 1990).Co-education is the most realistic way of preparing young people to take their rightful place in the wider community in a natural way. These interactions are an important basis of future, stable, meaningful relationships in life (Jones, 1990), (Robinson, 1999).In England, the old debate about whether co-educational schooling or single-sex schooling better continues to generate many claimed social and academic advantages and disadvantages of both settings (Alice, 1993).

There is enough research evidence to show the myriads of claims that have been made concerning either setting. Many of these claims are merely caricatures of a very complex reality. The high level of academic performance in single-sex schools as indicated in league tables has more to do with the process of academic selection, the socioeconomic standing of the students, and the standing of the school, and no segregation of the sexes (Robinson, 1999).This paper assesses various views expressed by scholars on the advantages and disadvantages of coeducation.

Emphasis is put on effects relating to the transition to university, choice of subjects, emotional and behavioral development, and elements of parental preferences.