Friday 16 September 2016

Don't dismiss a single-sex college

Originally Published in The Hindustan Times Education Supplement

As more and more students become interested in liberal arts colleges abroad, many discover that some of best options in the US are single-sex colleges for women only. Often the mere suggestion of such a learning environment evokes a strong “no” response from parents and students alike. “The real world is co-ed,” some parents assert. Or “it doesn’t seem normal to study without boys around,” female applicants will argue. Oftentimes, however these reactions are rooted in an outdated understanding of single-sex education, which implies that women will not be challenged enough for the “real-world” at a women’s college. Within this reasoning the fallacies are obvious – 1. Women cannot challenge each other 2. Women need to be ‘protected’ from learning environments that are infused with male aggression. 3. Women-only education is not as good as co-ed education.