Do All-Girls Schools Have An Advantage?

By Mike Adamick  |  November 12, 2010 | 8:19pm
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In our Daddy Issues series, a father of a young daughter seeks guidance, hoping to raise a strong woman. He looks to feminism — and readers — for insight.

So usually I come up with a hot-button topic about raising a young girl and then pose a serious question, filing away all the advice in a mental drawer I know I’ll call upon frequently as my daughter gets older.

It’s been fantastic to read through your thoughts on everything from music to sports to parental naked time, and I’ve come to consider Daddy Issues as something of an anti-advice column: Instead of this moron offering it, I’m desperately seeking it and wholeheartedly appreciate it.

So I’m thrilled to be able to bring up a topic I — and probably many families — need help with right away. As in now. This instant. Seriously, start typing.

Here it goes: What’s best when it comes to schools for young girls … a co-ed school or an all-girls school?

We’re in the midst of a elementary school search, a process that is a lot like going to the dentist … if she also happened to be a proctologist.

We’re searching public, private, home school options and everything else we can think of. And I have to say I’ve been really impressed with a few all-girls schools. Coming from a co-ed public school system in Nowhere America, it surprised me how much I liked the all-girls schools. I thought kids just got together in classes, filled out work sheets, played some four square, ate some boogers and called it a day.

But these girls schools — they’re impressive. The ones I’ve visited so far seem like a dream come true: hallways bustling with strong, confident kids who enjoy science just as much as soccer, who aren’t afraid to raise their hands or look foolish in front of boys they’re trying to impress. But there’s got to be more to the story, right?

If you had it to do over again, would you choose an all-girls school? Or would you go with co-ed?

Mike Adamick writes at Cry It Out!. He would have gone to an all-boys school, if only to join the Warblers.

Image by Lauri Apple.

 
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