SCHOOLS AN IDYLLIC BOYHOOD Max Davidson examines the co-ed versus single-sex debate and finds that it’s a score draw with boys’ schools holding their own 38 | SCHOOLHOUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK | Autumn/Winter 2014 14 SH-An-Idyllic-Boyhood-V1 (AH returned).indd 38 01/10/2014 10:07 A BOY’S EDUCATION t one time, it was axiomatic that boys and girls should be educated separately – teaching both sexes in the same classroom was asking for trouble. I was A educated in the 1960s and was kept apart from girls as if they were the carriers of a deadly virus. Then it became almost as axiomatic that the sexes were better educated together. Co-ed schools sprouted and centuries-old boys’ public schools started taking on girls in the sixth form, then went the whole hog. Single-sex schools began to look like an endangered species. Then came the inevitable backlash. Were these easy-going co-ed schools, with boys and girls taught in the same classroom, everything they were cracked up to be? Parents of diligent, well-behaved girls did not like the idea of geography and chemistry lessons being disrupted by uncouth yobs in the back row. Parents of boys thought, yes, girls might be a civilising influence, but they were also an almighty distraction. How could bright-but-lazy James scrape together a few decent A-levels if he was preoccupied with sending flirty text messages to bright-and-studious Emma? Where are we now? Well, the latest research, a bumper study of 1.6 million students from around the world, published this February by the American Psychological Association, suggests that BOTH sides in this long-running debate may be right. Or neither, depending on which way you look at it. The debate is tied. A score draw. ‘Proponents of single-sex schools argue that separating boys and girls increases students’ achievement and academic interest,’ says the report’s author, Jane Shibley Hyde of the University of Wisconsin- Madison. ‘But our comprehensive analysis of the data shows that these advantages are trivial and, in many cases, non-existent’. Fashionable theories that were not borne out by the evidence included the theory that girls do better in traditional ‘male’ subjects like science if they do not have to compete with boys. Not so, apparently. So back to square one, in other words, with no decisive evidence to ABOVE: One of the many annual concerts at Harrow, vindicate single-sex education or co-education as the superior academic where pupils are encouraged to perform regularly BELOW: Ludgrove boys give a lesson in precision model. There has been a mountain of research on the topic, and Autumn/Winter 2014 | SCHOOLHOUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK | 39 14 SH-An-Idyllic-Boyhood-V1 (AH returned).indd 39 01/10/2014 10:07 SCHOOLS ABOVE & LEFT: Footballers at Eton College no doubt there will be much more, but any when exploring the surrounding countryside parents hoping that the researchers will do was seen as intrinsic to a good schooling, their work for them are whistling in the wind. complementing classroom lessons. Swimming Perhaps they should simply do what feels in local rivers, in the pre-Health and Safety best for their own child? If they have a boy who days, was another great school tradition. they think would flourish far away from the Aysgarth, whose alumni include Sir opposite sex, they should not hesitate to pack Matthew Pinsent, is now the only boys’ him off to an all-boys school – and keep him boarding prep school north of Oxford, which there until he is 18, if he is happy. gives it a distinctive USP, while illustrating just There is clear evidence that girls do better how much the educational tide is flowing in than boys at school, certainly in the early years. the opposite direction. At Key Stage 1 of the National Curriculum, In the south of England, the picture is for example, girls outperform boys at reading, rosier, with a clutch of excellent all-boys prep writing and mathematics – findings which are schools – Summer Fields, Cothill, Horris Hill, replicated all over the world. Boys’ verbal skills Sunningdale, Caldicott, etc – keeping the flag lag far behind girls’, for a whole raft of reasons, Harrow and other top boys’ public schools. flying for single-sex education. Like Aysgarth, and the sullen, inarticulate boy, not saying ‘Boys develop in different ways to girls, and they make a virtue of letting boys be boys, a word while his sister talks nineteen to the at different rates. A girl of 11 or 12 is so much engaging in vigorous outdoor activities. dozen, is a familiar social stereotype. more mature, intellectually and emotionally, At Ludgrove School in Berkshire, its But there is very little consensus on how than a boy of the same age that many boys are extra-curricular prospectus sounds like the best to improve the performance of the boys tempted to stop competing and act laddishly synopsis for a TV documentary presented by who, educationally, are the slowest ships in the rather than concentrate on their studies.’ man’s man Ray Mears; clubs include Outdoor convoy. For every teacher or parent who thinks The school only has around 150 pupils, but Survival Skills, Coastguards and Smugglers, girls can somehow help boys raise their game, prides itself on creating an environment in and Mountain Biking. there is another who believes the opposite. which ‘boys can be boys’. The recipe certainly ‘What I love about all-boys schools is that Boys are DIFFERENT from girls, in myriad works for parents, with 85 per cent of those they bring out boys’ spirit and sparky nature,’ subtle ways, and the best teachers are the ones polled believing that their sons were getting says headmaster Simon Barber. ‘Last weekend, who acknowledge that difference. significant benefits from an all-boys education. the boys were playing Cops and Robbers ‘It is quite difficult for teachers to focus on Extra-curricular activities at Aysgarth in the woods, expressing themselves with a boys and girls simultaneously,’ says Anthony include knitting – which most boys would freedom that would not have been possible Goddard, headmaster of Aysgarth School, never do with girls watching – and ferreting – with girls present. I concede that boys and girls an all-boys prep school in Yorkshire, with a from which most girls would run a mile. The function rather differently in the classroom. good track record of getting pupils into Eton, school remains true to its 19th-century roots, Boys like more interaction with the teacher; 40 | SCHOOLHOUSEMAGAZINE.CO.UK | Autumn/Winter 2014 14 SH-An-Idyllic-Boyhood-V1 (AH returned).indd 40 01/10/2014 10:07 A BOY’S EDUCATION girls are more passive and sedentary. But boys such as Marlborough, now admit girls and, at all-boys schools get the main benefits from in most cases, wonder what took them so SINGLe-SEX BOYS outside the classroom. They form lasting long. SCHOOLS IN LONDON friendships with other boys, which does not But Wallis thinks it is not just force of happen so often in co-ed schools.’ habit that makes Old Etonians, say, want LONDON PRE-PREPS There is clearly a strong market for schools to send their own sons to Eton. There are like Aysgarth and Ludgrove, even if such sound educational reasons, not all of them » Eaton House School, Belgravia D schools remain the exception rather than immediately obvious, why an all-boys school » Shrewsbury Lodge, Esher D the rule. ‘I have seen no evidence of renewed might be a wise, counterintuitive choice. » The Falcons School for Boys, Chiswick D enthusiasm for all-boys schools,’ says Janette ‘There is a common misconception that Wallis, editor of the Good Schools Guide. ‘Most boys’ schools are more macho than co-ed LONDON PREPS (7–13) parents prefer co-ed schools, particularly if ones,’ she says. ‘In fact, the opposite is often they have a boy and a girl – it is just so much the case. Children of both sexes become » Bruern Abbey School DB simpler, as well as chiming with the social self-conscious and inhibited in the presence » Colet Court, Richmond D attitudes of the day. Many parents who were of the opposite sex. She told me of a boy » Cumnor House School D » Donhead Prep School, Wimbledon D educated in single-sex schools themselves, who took up tap dancing. He would never (from 4) didn’t like it and want something better for have done that in a mixed school. » Durston House, Ealing D (from 4) their own children.’ In co-ed schools, drama is often seen » Eaton House The Manor, Belgravia D » King’s House School, Richmond D (from 4) ‘Most of the parents looking at single-sex as an activity better suited for girls than » Northcote Lodge School, Clapham D schools have daughters,’ says Wallis. So it is boys; the typical spotty schoolboy would far » Rokeby School, Kingston-upon-Thames D tempting to conclude that, even though the rather excel on the sports field than chance (from 4) » Shrewsbury House School, Surbiton D top boys’ independent schools – Eton, Harrow, his arm in a production of The Importance » Sussex House School, Chelsea D Radley and Winchester – continue to be highly of Being Earnest. But put the same boy in » The Falcons School for Boys, Richmond D sought after, it is mainly because there are so an all-boys school, at less risk of attracting » The Hall School, Belsize Park D (from 4) » The John Lyon School, Harrow D (from 11) few of them. Other former all-male redoubts, titters, and he might give it a go.