Research Assignment 3 - Essay Example

Research Assignment 3 The essay aims to address a two-fold objective to wit to identify two women-only colleges and universities in the US; and (2) to determine if women-only colleges and universities advance the interests of women than co-educational colleges and universities.Research Assignment 3 Co-education colleges and universities or schools accepting both men and women are popular and diversified nowadays. However, there are still colleges and universities that prefer single-sex admission, particularly women’s universities.

For instance, Barnard College in New York and Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts admits only women in their college while Marymount Manhattan College in New York and Wheaton College in Massachusetts accept both men and women in their college. Women-only colleges like Barnard College and Mount Holyoke College design a curriculum that would uplift the competence of women. Both of these colleges value preservation of the school as a women’s university. As Barnard College is affiliated with the Columbia University and Mount Holyoke College with the “Seven Sisters,” students were given the opportunity to take classes easily in either of the affiliated schools.

I noticed that these colleges value the beauty of scenery, probably because women value the aesthetic nature. Barnard and Mount Holyoke colleges maintain their own faculty, endowment, governance, and curriculum with distinguished competitive performance among other co-educational schools. Meanwhile, co-educational schools such as Marymount Manhattan College and Wheaton College consider diversity in their curriculum. Women are viewed in equal parity and importance just like men. Liberal arts curriculums of both colleges tend to enhance the leadership skills of both men and women.

Since curriculums are directed towards diversity, women’s interests are viewed equal to men’s interests. With these, I think that women’s only colleges advance the interests of women more than co-educational colleges. Bank (2011) stated that women-only colleges put women in the center of its mission, can make women achieve and hold high expectations, make women feel important, provide more opportunities for women to engage in leadership opportunities, and prioritize the women in the curriculum than those of co-educational colleges (p. 161).ReferenceBank, B.J. (2011).

Institutional Structures and Contexts. Gender and Higher Education (p. 95-164). Maryland: John Hopkins University Press.