I seem to be unable to search Google News or Google Scholar this morning. I knew I had a Google-dependency problem, but I didn't realize how strong it was. So instead, I'll review another website:
A couple of months ago, I received an email from Laura Compian at the website Education.com, inviting me to look at that website's content on gender differences. It's been sitting in the to-do list for a while. The site uses Leonard Sax's research as the main source, and doesn't mention Hyde. In fact, I don't see any opposing viewpoints about whether there are benefits to single-sex education.
I don't know where the idea that opposing viewpoints are confusing came from, or that a lay audience wouldn't be interested in seeing this. The email from Compian described the articles as "parent-friendly", but reading them, all I see is "dumbed down".
NB: The author has a pretty strong bias against single-sex education, especially when teaching methods are tailored to one sex or the other. Differential teaching seems to make for a self-fulfilling prophecy about men and women having different thinking styles and skill sets.
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Monday, May 18, 2009
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2 comments:
Thanks for taking a look at our gender differences special edition and reviewing the content. We very much appreciate your thoughtful and candid feedback. We do strive to provide balanced and thorough information to parents, and we would like to include more information on the disadvantages of single-sex schooling.
Do you have thoughts that you would like to "put to paper" on the topic? Or, do you know of other experts who may be able to comment on this issue?
Thanks,
Laura Compian, Ph.D.
Education.com
@Laura:
I can recommend several with better credentials than I've got.
Honestly, although I had a heated conversation with her a while ago, I'd start with Rosalind Barnett, of Brandeis University, and her co-author Caryl Rivers (Boston University). Janet Shibley Hyde (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison) is a definite must-read as well. If you can get Cordelia Fine (University of Melbourne, AU) to write, it will be well worth it.
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