Girls also seem to be especially discouraged to speak out in fear of being embarrassed in front of members of the opposite sex. Basically, there is so much intimidation that young people are not able to flourish and develop their leadership and reasoning skills in a co-ed environment. It would seem that in the eyes of single-sex education advocates, co-ed education is completely inadequate. .
While the proponents of all-boys or all-girls education seem to have some valid points, most of them can be disproved quite easily. The idea of the gender gap seems to be an archaic and sexist idea used unfairly by single-sex school advocates to support their own opinion. Confidence can be developed sufficiently in an environment of co-ed education. In fact, a young woman's confidence may be shot if she is thrust into a co-ed college or university after years of only studying with other girls. If young women are encouraged to develop confidence in an environment where both sexes are present, they will be prepared to deal with any person that they need to deal with, whether it be in college, the workplace, or beyond. The benefits that studies show of single-sex schools are the same that seem to be present when comparing public and private schools. Generally, single-sex schools are private and smaller than public schools. Because of this, class sizes tend to be smaller and the quality of teaching from these private institutions superior. Basically, the advantages that are observed can be attributed to sensitive teachers who encourage all students to participate and the fact that smaller classes allow more individual attention. It is also said that students who are of lower classes have a better opportunity in same-sex schools. Once again, this can be attributed to the generally superior education that can be received in any decent private school compared to the average public school, especially in less wealthy places.
